We've got work to do, Salish Sea Savers!

Year-end reviews are supposed to be positive and upbeat, as everyone heads into the holidays wanting to think of nothing more than festive parties, mulled wine and relaxing time off with family and friends.

But it’s hard to relax and stay positive when it feels like we are swimming against a tidal wave of fossil fuel developments that threaten to transform BC from a green leader to an environmental laggard.

Photo credit: Leadnow on Flickr

Especially when we have a week like this one. Monday, Kinder Morgan formally files their application to the National Energy Board to triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Tuesday, Port Metro Vancouver closes public comments on the environmental assessment of a new coal terminal in Surrey. (Incidentally, on the same day, a 3-week public comment period opened on the type of environmental assessment that should be required for a new LNG project that would ship 40 LNG tankers through Howe Sound each year). Thursday, the Joint Review Panel approves the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

Really? They couldn’t stagger their announcements and give us a chance to reflect before coming back the next day with another round of threats to our coast, communities and climate? Of course, even a moderate conspiracy theorist might suggest that the timing is deliberate, and fossil fuel proponents and governments are trying to bury controversial news in the midst of holiday madness.

Although Kinder Morgan’s mammoth application (2 metres tall if printed out, as their press department was keen to point out) will take time to digest, one or two deeply disturbing facts jumped out at me. For example, a spill off Salt Spring Island could coat 427 kilometres of our world-famous beaches in oil and even without a spill. And the impacts of routine tanker traffic resulting from the expanded pipeline on our southern resident killer whales will be “high magnitude, high probability and significant.” We responded to Kinder Morgan’s application by releasing the preliminary results of our Salish Sea Spill Mapping project with our partners at Raincoast Conservation Foundation, showing what a Kinder Morgan oil spill could look like. The bottom line is this: oil can cover long distances quickly, and a spill anywhere in the Salish Sea would impact much of the south coast: our beaches, our national parks, our waterfront property – and our killer whales.

Meanwhile, a coal terminal proposed in Surrey would send 8 million tonnes of coal each year on open barges down the Fraser River and through the Strait of Georgia to Texada Island, bound for export to Asian markets. When burned, this coal would be responsible for about 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – more than a quarter of BC’s total annual emissions.

And then we have Enbridge Northern Gateway, a project that would ship supertankers laden with toxic diluted bitumen from the tar sands through the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest on the planet. It’s also a project that is opposed by the majority of British Columbians, and that has been formally rejected by the Government of BC, the Union of BC Municipalities and over 100 First Nations. It has lit a fire in BC’s environmental movement that harkens back to the days of Clayoquot Sound, and faced massive community resistance from residents of Northern BC – many of whom are today vowing to do whatever it takes to stop Northern Gateway from being built.

And that’s why, dear readers, this will in fact be a positive post and will escape a title along the lines of “Merry Pipemas, Mr. Grinch”. All of these reckless projects are ultimately about using BC to export fossil fuels – and climate change – to the world in order to increase the profits of an already wealthy industry. BC carries the risk – to our environment, our economy, our communities, our health and our reputation – and doesn’t get the rewards. And for this reason and countless others, these projects have met with determined, diverse and organized opposition. British Columbians are standing up for themselves, and for this amazing corner of the earth we are so lucky to call home – and will continue to do so whatever politicians in Ottawa and Victoria decide. We have a different vision for our future and we will stand together to make it a reality.

So for our part, with our Save the Salish Sea campaign, we want to highlight the combined impacts of these projects: the risks from the sheer number of ships jostling for position in our crowded waters; of everyday impacts on marine life even in the absence of an accident; of the total ‘carbon spill’ that will result when all these fossil fuels are burned. It’s high time everyone – citizens, campaigners, and governments – paid more attention to that big picture threat.

I am grateful to all of you who are stepping up and getting involved, whether you’re sending emails to decision makers, coming out to town hall meetings, or quietly bending the ear of your neighbour at a holiday party. It all counts... and it all deserves a toast! So, here’s to you all! Wishing you and yours the very best for the holiday season, and we look forward to working together to Save the Salish Sea in the New Year.

The greenest city… or the biggest coal exporter in North America?

Port Metro Vancouver is currently considering an application from Fraser Surrey Docks to build a coal facility at its terminal in Surrey, designed to handle coal from United States producers who are struggling to find export routes south of the border. 

When complete, the coal terminal would be responsible for about 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – more than a quarter of BC’s total annual emissions. Combined with an already approved expansion at the Neptune facilities in North Vancouver and recent upgrades at Delta’s Westshore Terminal, a green light for Fraser Surrey Docks would make Metro Vancouver the biggest coal exporter in North America. Pretty hard to reconcile with the vision many of us share for Vancouver: a clean, healthy and beautiful city and a global environmental leader.

The Fraser Surrey Docks project will directly threaten the health of our communities with coal dust and diesel particulates from the coal trains and barges that will transport the coal through the Lower Mainland, and past the Sechelt Peninsula, the East coast of Vancouver Island, Denman, Hornby and Lasqueti Islands, on its way to a new coal transfer facility on Texada Island.

The project has faced significant opposition from concerned citizens, local governments, health authorities and environmental groups – about both the impacts of the proposal itself, and the flaws in Port Metro Vancouver’s review of it. Find out more about Georgia Strait Alliance’s concerns in our letter to the Port. 

Port Metro Vancouver has given the public 30 days to comment on the Fraser Surrey Docks environmental impact assessment, and we are urging people to use this opportunity to share their concerns about the project.

Together with our partners at the Wilderness Committee, we've created a handy letter-writing tool for you to use. Please take action now, and ask Port Metro Vancouver to say no to the Fraser Surrey Docks proposal, for the sake our climate and our communities.

An Evening with the Strait

This fall, Karen Jørgensen has joined the GSA team as a volunteer and we're so happy to have her on board.  From time to time, she'll be sharing her experiences of her work with us and our coast as a guest blogger.

***

I had such a lovely evening taking part in Georgia Strait Alliance’s successful fundraising event last Thursday at the Robert Bateman Centre Gallery, in Victoria. Meeting the former environment minister John Cashore, and Doug White who is the chief of the Snuneymuxw First Nation, were just some of the highlights of the evening.

I found it both inspiring and rewarding to have the opportunity to chat with people who have the same interests and concerns as I do about our precious coastline. Talking with these people gave me a sense of hope and encouragement.

Combining the inspirational speeches and chats together with the samples of Denman Island Chocolates, wine and sustainable seafood contributed to an even better evening. In addition to being an enjoyable evening, the event was a fundraiser with all the money raised going towards GSA’s ongoing work in the region.

The Robert Bateman centre gallery certainly was an excellent location for this fundraiser. Each piece of Bateman’s interpretations of nature and wildlife had an individual story to tell. This made for a perfect surrounding for the event as it reminded me how unique and incredible wildlife really is.

For those of you who were not able to join us this time, you can still support our efforts by making a charitable donation. I really do hope to see you at one of our future events!

Helping North Vancouver make up its mind about Kinder Morgan

As federal Ministers prepare to head west to beat the drum for tar sands pipelines, one local government took a more balanced approach. Last week, the District of North Vancouver held a public information session to allow local residents to hear both sides of the argument and make up their own minds about whether the risks of Kinder Morgan’s expansion plan outweigh its benefits.

Speaking at the North Van public meeting

Photo by Ben West

I was invited to share GSA’s concerns as part of a panel that included representatives from Kinder Morgan, Port Metro Vancouver and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.  I talked about the disastrous environmental, community and economic impacts of an oil spill in North Van’s ocean backyard; the fact that, as we have been warned time and time again, we have nowhere near the physical, human or financial resources required to clean up a massive spill of conventional crude, let alone much riskier diluted bitumen; and that approval of the Kinder Morgan project would guarantee a ‘carbon spill’ with every tanker load of fuel that’s burned, and lock us into an unsustainable future that most British Columbians don’t want.

Much of the audience apparently shared our concerns, and Kinder Morgan was given a tough grilling during the Q&A. Some of the most pointed questions were about exactly what chemicals are contained in the ‘diluent’ that is mixed with bitumen to allow it to flow through the pipeline (the answer was unclear), and why Kinder Morgan’s research claims diluted bitumen would float for 10 days, while other studies suggest it would sink much sooner.

But the comment that stuck with me the most came from Reuben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He said: don’t take my word for it, or Kinder Morgan’s – find out what’s going on for yourself. In that spirit, here’s a link to a full recording and news coverage of the evening.  

If you’re a North Vancouver resident and you have concerns about Kinder Morgan’s new pipeline, now is the time to speak up. Unlike most other municipalities in the Lower Mainland, which have expressed their opposition to the Kinder Morgan proposal, the District of North Vancouver has yet to take a position. Councillors are making up their minds right now, so please reach out to them and share your concerns.

If you don’t live in North Van, you can find out where your local government stands here. If yours isn’t on the list, why not ask them to hold a similar public meeting to help them – and community members – make up their minds about Kinder Morgan?

Kick-starting cross-border organizing to protect the Salish Sea

I’m writing this from a ferry in the middle of the Georgia Strait, on my way back to Vancouver from our cross-border town hall about fossil fuel exports in the Salish Sea.

Talking at the town hall, with the tanker route
and the San Juan Island meeting in the background
Photo by Megan Spencer

A few hours ago, I was standing on a bluff just outside Victoria overlooking Haro Strait, speaking to concerned residents about the Kinder Morgan pipeline. At the same moment, allies across the border were holding their own town hall meeting about fossil fuels, just 13 kilometres across the Kinder Morgan tanker route, on San Juan Island in Washington. 

We were there to highlight the combined impacts of all the fossil fuel projects currently proposed for the Salish Sea, learn lessons from campaigns on both sides of the border, and kick-start a new wave of cross-border organizing to prevent the Salish Sea from being turned into a global carbon corridor.

We heard from Eoin at the Wilderness Committee about how community campaigns against coal in the Lower Mainland have blossomed in recent months, inspired by successes south of the border. I spoke about the environmental impacts of an oil spill in the Georgia Strait, and how unprepared we are to deal with a major spill of conventional crude at current levels of traffic, let alone a six-fold increase in tankers carrying diluted bitumen. A Victoria whale watching company, Orca Spirit, expressed their concerns about increasing tanker traffic, given their reliance on a vibrant, healthy ocean for their income. Torrance from the Wilderness Committee emphasized that the Salish Sea is one ecosystem and one climate, and we need to treat it that way if we are to be successful in our organizing.

Signing the petition to Premier Clark & WA Governor Inslee
Photo by Megan Spencer

We then made a cross-channel phone call to Stephanie from Friends of the San Juans, who shared the inspiring story of how a diverse coalition managed to defeat 3 coal export projects in the Pacific Northwest, and mobilize 100,000 people to speak out against the expansion of the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point. Folks in Victoria shared stories and asked questions of their counterparts on San Juan and vice versa.

We wrapped up by pledging to continue to work together and find new ways to link up citizens who share these concerns to take action and put pressure on decision-makers on both sides of the border, and signing a petition to Premier Christy Clark and Washington Governor Jay Inslee, asking them to work more closely together to protect the Salish Sea. Watch this space to find out how you can sign it and get involved.

It was a really inspiring day, and a perfect way to launch our Save the Salish Sea campaign on Vancouver Island!

PS. Check out some more lovely photos from the meeting on our Facebook page.

Want to be a Bright Birder? It's Easier Than You Think!

Mallard Duckling, Skaha Lake, Penticton. Photo by M. Wilson

So you want to try birding (that's bird watching, not bird hunting). Here's what you'll need to get started:

• Binoculars (optional)
• Bird identification book (optional)
• An area where you can find birds (includes your backyard)

Pretty easy huh? Birding is a great hobby for all ages. It's free to do, and you can find birds anywhere in the world. With over 400 species of birds in Canada alone, it's a hobby that's always evolving and will keep you entertained for years to come, especially if you like to travel (for example, Brazil has over 1800 bird species, 234 of which are endemic, meaning they live there and nowhere else in the world).

As far as our Stewards of the Strait pledges are concerned, Bright Birders are in short supply. Which I find strange, because I'm sure that almost every person in British Columbia has at one point gone birding, though perhaps unknowingly. Did you see that American Robin digging for worms in your lawn? How about that Red-tailed Hawk soaring high above your office? You just went birding. Congratulations!

Now as a Bright Birder, there are some very important guidelines that we here at the Georgia Strait Alliance recommend you follow while you're viewing the birds. These guidelines will ensure that you not only keep the wildlife as safe and calm as possible, but it will also maximize your enjoyment of the hobby. There's nothing worse than getting too close to a bird and scaring it away before you have time to identify it, am I right?

Great Blue Heron, Stories Beach, Port Hardy. Photo by M. Wilson

If you want to try your hand at some genuine birding, here are the rules to follow (these guidelines have been adapted from the American Birding Association's Code of Birding Ethics):

• Observe and photograph birds without knowingly disturbing them in any significant way. Avoid chasing or repeatedly flushing birds.
  • Not only will this keep the birds safe, but it will ensure you enjoy the birds' natural behaviours for as long as possible.

• Only sparingly use recordings and similar methods of attracting birds and don't use these methods in heavily birded areas.
  • This one is very important. Birds use their calls to attract mates and guard their territories. If you use recorded bird calls to attract birds to you, not only are you likely stressing them out, but you could be doing them genuine harm (you may cause them to lose mates or territory, and no one wants to do that!).

• Keep an appropriate distance from nests and nesting colonies so as not to disturb the birds or expose them to danger.
  • Obviously, any mother with a giant intruder near her babies will not be impressed. Don't scare mum!

• Refrain from handling birds or eggs unless engaged in recognized research activities.
  • Don't touch anything! Besides, birds are famous for carrying lots of diseases, mites, and ticks. If you do touch a bird, clean your hands thoroughly afterwards.

• Stay on existing roads, trails and pathways whenever possible to avoid trampling or otherwise disturbing the fragile habitat.
  • This will keep the entire ecosystem safe and pristine. The birds will thank you!

• Leave all habitats as they were found.
  • This rule applies to all recreational outdoor activities. If you stop for a picnic, make sure you bring EVERYTHING back with you. This includes everything from sandwich bags to cigarette butts. And except for maybe the occasional feather, don't bring anything back with you, no matter how beautiful that empty bird's nest is.

Unidentified Sandpiper, Fishing boat off Ucluelet. Photo by M. Wilson

Lastly, now that you're a pro at responsible birding, don't forget to teach others what you've learned. If you see someone in a local park who isn't following these guidelines, it could simply be because they just don't know any better. Imagine how good you'll feel helping others to become as responsible as you!

So there you are, you are now ready to go out and discover the amazing and diverse world of birds. Please stop by our Stewards of the Strait website and sign our Bright Birder pledge. This will ensure that we here at the Georgia Strait Alliance know that there are people out there who care for the well-being of these amazing animals. While you're there, sign a few of our other pledges as well, I'm sure there's at least one that applies to you!

Enjoy your new hobby!

- Mikaela

New Outreach Activity: Bitumen and Water Don't Mix

M&M just finished another great weekend, with beautiful sunshine to keep us company! On Saturday we went to Victoria to celebrate Mountain Equipment Co-op’s Paddlefest, an amazing event where beginner to expert paddlers were showing off their moves in the calm waters of Willows Beach. Then we finished off the weekend with a relaxing trip to Cedar, where we enjoyed a busy day at the Farmers’ Market, one of our favourite local markets. We had lots of interest at our booths all weekend, but for this week’s blog, I’d like to introduce our new activity, which we unveiled on Sunday.

With last week’s launch of GSA’s Save the Salish Sea campaign, it only seemed fitting to create an activity that would show what might happen if there were to be a spill of tar sands oil into the Georgia Strait. So we developed a visual aid to highlight the risks. Just what would happen in the event of a heavy oil spill on BC’s south coast? Unfortunately, we don’t have definitive answers at this time because an independent, comprehensive risk analysis has never been performed for a heavy oil spill in the Georgia Strait – despite the fact that tar sands oil is already being shipped through our waters. We can only hypothesize what could happen here based on independent scientific studies performed in other geographical areas and in a lab environment. These studies have shown very interesting – and controversial – results, which are summarized below. But first, just what is being pumped to our coast? The answer: diluted bitumen.

The Alberta tar sands produce thick oil called Bitumen, which has the consistency of peanut butter. In order for this oil to be able to flow through a pipeline, it must first be diluted with a diluent, usually a less dense form of oil or gas (such as natural gas condensate, which is extremely toxic and flammable). Once diluted, the bitumen (now referred to as Diluted Bitumen) can flow easily through the pipeline and becomes less dense than water. The diluent is itself a danger, containing toxic chemicals such as benzenes, paraffins, naphthene, or heavy metals.

When exposed to natural weathering such as wave action and UV radiation from the sun, spilled diluted bitumen has been shown to separate. In other words, the diluent evaporates into the atmosphere, and as a result the diluted bitumen becomes less and less dense, sinking to the bottom or becoming suspended between the surface and the ocean floor. This can cause a host of other difficulties. If spilled oil sinks in the ocean, it becomes much harder to clean up. Manual removal using booms and other collection devices can’t be used beneath the surface, and viscous bitumen is resistant to chemical dispersants. In other words, as an Environment Canada scientist put it, our existing spill response technologies are unlikely to be successful at significantly controlling a spill of diluted bitumen. Diluted bitumen has also been shown to bind to sediments in the affected water body, which make it heavier and can cause it to sink faster. Because of the Fraser River, the waters on BC’s south coast are full of very fine river sediments.

Heavy oils such as bitumen are known to have serious effects on the overall health of the environment. Some impacts that could result from an oil spill in BC waters include: death of plants and animals, harm to people living nearby, and destruction of habitat including breeding habitats. Oil of any type is extremely persistent, and studies have shown that oil can remain in the environment after 30 years, and may even persist for as long as a century.

        Photos by: M. Wilson

Our interactive display aims to visually represent how diluted bitumen may separate over time and cause the heavy bitumen to sink. Have a look at the pictures above; the blue stuff is plain old water with a little food colouring. In a bottle we mix vegetable oil (representing the diluent) with a much thicker herb salad dressing (representing the bitumen). The oil is less dense than the water so it floats on top, while the dressing is denser so it will sink in the water. However, when the oil and dressing are mixed together and poured into the jar on top of the water, the mixture floats on top. Soon after adding the mixture, the dressing starts to separate from the oil and sinks, leaving the oil floating on top. After a few minutes, a few gross blobs of dressing rest on the bottom of the jar, representing the bitumen that could stay on the sea floor and wreak havoc on the invertebrates and delicate kelp species that live there. Of course our experiment happens at an accelerated time scale and doesn’t account for wind and wave action and other factors that would affect a diluted bitumen spill in the ocean – but it does highlight the basic fact that bitumen is denser than water, and is a great way to get people talking about the risks of shipping tar sands oil.

If you’d like to see this experiment yourself, drop by our table at any of our events and say Hi (you’ll find me in Courtenay this Saturday and in Vancouver on Sunday, see our events page for more details). Or if you want more information about the proposed pipeline expansion and what you can do about it, check out the Save the Salish Sea website or the Georgia Strait Alliance website. Thanks for dropping by!

- Mikaela

Secondary Treatment of Wastewater: is it Good Enough?

Hi everyone, hope you all enjoyed a great semi-rainy weekend! I spent the weekend working alone at two Farmers' Markets, Saturday in Errington and Sunday in Cedar. Despite the less-than-ideal weather, I was amazed at how many people dropped by, and leaving the kids' activities in the car meant I was able to focus more on having some in-depth conversations with interested people. And boy, did I have some good conversations! I talked with one man for almost an hour about various conservation issues we’re working on. He supported the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline for economic reasons (but thought we should refine the oil here instead of sending it overseas to be refined, thereby further increasing our economy). His opinion was that there are many more immediate things to be worried about in the Georgia Strait. His primary concern, which we spent most of our time talking about, was sewage treatment.

Canada has always been way behind in their sewage treatment regulations. It was only last

Iona WWTP in Richmond (Photo by Georgia Strait Alliance)

year that the Federal Government finally made it mandatory to upgrade sewage treatment to the secondary level in Canada (except for small northern communities). Before that, many plants were only employing primary wastewater treatment, and were as a result likely in violation of the Fisheries Act's section which does not allow the discharge of deleterious (dangerous) substances into fish bearing waters. Wastewater, the stuff that is dumped down our toilets, sinks, and bathtubs as well as the water that drains out of our washing machines, dishwashers, and storm drains, now needs to be treated at the secondary level before it is reintroduced to the environment. Plants have been given until 2020, 2030, or 2040 to make the necessary upgrades to their systems, depending on the facility's risk (high, medium, or low, respectively). All wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) perform preliminary wastewater treatment or screening, or removing the “lumps.” In most plants today, the wastewater is left to settle, so heavy things will sink and can be removed, while liquids such as cooking oils (which are less dense than water) will rest on top and can be skimmed off. This is primary treatment, and the collected “sludge” can be processed to extract energy that can be used to offset local fossil fuel use. For all WWTPs in Canada, secondary treatment is now a mandatory upgrade. This is done mostly by bacteria and other micro-organisms, which break down 85-90% of the dissolved and suspended solids, including most pathogens, toxic chemicals such as pesticides, and heavy metals. The bacteria are then removed with the sludge they produce and the wastewater is either released back to the environment or further treated. Tertiary treatment, only used in a few cities such as Calgary (which receives an A+ on the 2004 National Sewage Report Card), removes select substances such as ammonia, phosphorous, nitrogen, and heavy metals to a further degree using advanced filtration methods, UV sterilization, and reverse osmosis.

Photo by Georgia Strait Alliance

As per the sewage treatment upgrades required for all WWTPs Canada-wide, the CRD (Victoria) and Lions Gate (in North Vancouver) WWTPs must be upgraded to perform secondary wastewater treatment by 2020, and the Iona plant (in Richmond) must perform these changes by 2030. Well that's great, but why has it taken so long? It’s unfortunate that for decades BC lagged behind the rest of the provinces in moving its communities to secondary treatment. Though they showed leadership in ordering Victoria to treat its sewage in 2006, it’s the federal laws that have moved BC forward. In Saskatchewan, secondary treatment has been the law for all WWTPs since 2002. In fact, 94% of the sewered population in the Prairies and Ontario had secondary or tertiary treatment in 1999. Only 63% of BC’s population did at that time. Victoria remains the only treatment plant in Canada to not even perform primary wastewater treatment, but will thankfully be upgraded to secondary treatment in the near future. So why has it taken BC so long to upgrade their prehistoric WWTPs? During our conversation, we hypothesized that it may simply be because residents of the mid-country provinces can physically see the effects of insufficient wastewater treatment. Treated wastewater goes directly into Canada’s rivers and lakes, almost all of which are accessible. Meanwhile, British Columbia's WWTPs dump their wastewater into the surrounding ocean and other large bodies of water, where a lot of the waste can sink to depths that only recreational divers can see, or can be carried off by oceanic currents and tides to less populated areas. Besides, the ocean is a vast body of water that couldn't possibly be affected by something so small in comparison. Could it?

I don’t even have the heart to go into the details of what this sewage does to the environment and the organisms that have the misfortune of living near the outfalls. There are documents online such as the National Sewage Report Card from 2004 and TBuck Suzuki’s “Hidden Killer” that summarize these threats thoroughly. What I will say is that while secondary treatment removes most of the dangerous compounds in wastewater, it doesn’t remove all of the hormones, toxic chemicals (like pesticides), pathogens, and heavy metals. It also doesn't remove all the organic nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which can be a food source for photosynthetic micro-organisms and can cause massive algal blooms (creating an anoxic environment below it, a problem all its own). While it is a great minimum standard, an area as vulnerable as the Georgia Strait ecosystem deserves to be protected from these compounds, and WWTPs that dump their wastewater into this area should try to upgrade to tertiary treatment as soon as they can. All that estrogen from birth control pills that’s being flushed down toilets? It’s feminizing male fish. And BC’s resident Orca population is considered one of the most toxic animal populations on the planet because of all the hazardous substances (such as PCBs and mercury, both rather effectively removed by secondary treatment) they accumulate from the poisoned fish they eat. Sewage isn't the only source of this contamination but it's one we can stop. So even though we are making a change to improve the quality of the Strait’s water, we still can reach further to protect these waters.

It’s okay, here’s the silver lining! There are things you can do!

      - Stop or limit the use of toxic cleaning products in your house (from glass cleaner to laundry detergent to dishwasher soap), there are safer alternatives for your family and the environment.

      - Never flush old medications down the toilet, any pharmacy will take them and dispose of them properly free of charge.

      - Avoid getting oil, anti-freeze fluids, and soaps in storm drains.

      - Feminine hygiene products should never be flushed; really nothing except toilet paper and the obvious should go in your toilet. Besides, it could clog your pipes (ew.).
- Tell your friends and family about ways they can help do their part. If everyone made little changes to what went down their drains, we'd have a huge and positive result!

Have a look at the 2004 National Sewage Report Card and the Government of Canada’s new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (careful, it’s wordy) for a ton of information about Canada’s sewage treatment methods. I hope you enjoyed my rant; hopefully Megan will write a happier blog post next week!

- Mikaela

Talking transition with tanker owners

As a campaigner who spends most of my time speaking out about the risks of shipping tar sands oil through the Georgia Strait, I found myself in a somewhat unusual position last week: standing in front of a roomful of tanker owners and port managers, talking about a future beyond oil.

Photo: Green Marine / Port Metro Vancouver

Although it wasn't exactly an easy sell, the crowd was more receptive than you might think. I was presenting at the annual conference of Green Marine, an industry-led program under which ports, terminals and shipowners attempt to measure and reduce the environmental impact of their operations in areas such as greenhouse gas emissions, waste management and oil spill prevention.

In media debates about increasing tanker traffic off BC’s coast, the shipping industry often takes the position that they are unfairly targeted. The sentiment is: ‘we don’t extract the oil or make the laws that govern it – we just carry it’. In my presentation, I suggested that this position wasn't going to fly anymore in BC – not when what the ships are carrying is oil, which is culturally and politically, and not just environmentally, toxic. The shipping industry is now under the microscope every day, not just when there is an incident or a spill. At least at the moment in BC, the shipping industry’s reputation is bound up with the reputation of the oil industry’s; and that reputation is not being helped by failing to acknowledge that ship owners and ports are more than innocent bystanders in the life cycle of oil.

So while we need to acknowledge that tanker safety and oil spill prevention have come a long way since the days of the Exxon Valdez, and that many members of Green Marine are working hard to reduce the direct impacts of their operations, true environmental leadership means taking into account the impacts of the products you carry. There is no doubt that the task of measuring and assessing these impacts is technically complex, and that mitigating them raises big questions about the future of the shipping industry in a carbon constrained world. They are certainly questions that are beyond the scope of a program like Green Marine in its current format – but the climate challenge demands that they be asked.

It also demands that we work together across traditional divides, which is why Georgia Strait Alliance has decided to become a supporter of Green Marine. Although we will encourage the program to raise the bar in how it defines sustainability and environmental leadership, we also need to acknowledge that many of its members are making genuine efforts to reduce their environmental footprint, and working with them to push the envelope is more effective than washing our hands of an initiative just because it doesn't yet go far enough. There are always tensions when strange bedfellows come together – but these can be productive, and building unusual alliances to find solutions is what Georgia Strait Alliance is all about.

Leaders are stepping up to oppose Kinder Morgan's expansion plans

It’s easy to be a cynic when it comes to elections, rolling our eyes at focus-grouped speeches and partisan mudslinging in the run up to voting day. This election, pipelines and tanker traffic are a hot topic, and the list of leaders taking a stand against the Kinder Morgan pipeline project is growing. Last week, we heard stirring words from the Mayors of Vancouver and Burnaby and hard facts from economists and business leaders saying ‘no’ to Kinder Morgan at the West Coast Pipeline Summit. This week, we have seen a growing number of BC political parties declaring their opposition to Kinder Morgan’s expansion plans, surprising many an election cynic and boosting the prospects for the campaign to stop the pipeline.

Image credit: Tsleil-Waututh West Coast Oil Pipeline Summit

Georgia Strait Alliance has been asking our supporters to reach out to candidates of all parties in their riding to find out where they stand on Kinder Morgan, and what they would do about pipelines and tanker traffic if they got elected. We feel that the risk of a catastrophic oil spill that would devastate the beaches, communities and precious marine life of the Salish Sea is simply too great, and safeguarding our coast and our climate demands that we oppose the project. Together with many other organizations, we have been working to encourage BC to say ‘no’ to Kinder Morgan and ‘yes’ to a clean energy future. So indications that leaders are listening to the majority of British Columbians who oppose the Kinder Morgan project are welcome – and help to reign in that election cynicism.

If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to contact your candidates: the more they hear concerns about the Kinder Morgan pipeline, the stronger a mandate the next government will have to take bold action to protect the Salish Sea.

As every cynic knows, talk doesn’t always equal action, so it will be up to us to hold our MLAs to their election promises, and push for the kind of visionary policies that would protect our whole coast forever and make BC a true climate leader.

GSA has lots of exciting activities planned this summer to bring people together to celebrate the Salish Sea and turn up the volume on the Kinder Morgan campaign – stay tuned to this blog for more details!

Dawn Breaks on an Exciting New Vision for our Waterfront

By the time the sun was rising over the city of Vancouver around 7:00 AM on March 28^th, Communities Atlas Coordinator Rebecca Adams and I had been up for hours, making our way across the Strait by ferry to the first gathering of Georgia Strait Alliance’s innovative Waterfront Initiative.  It was an inspiring day, anticipated to be the first of many occasions bringing together representatives from a broad range of sectors to discuss a common vision – the revitalization of the waterfront of Metro Vancouver, and eventually beyond to the entire Georgia Strait region.

Introducing the Initiative: Ruby Berry

The Waterfront Initiative is being developed to address the challenges faced by our urban ecosystems in the face of increasing population density and the tension between the often conflicting needs of users of our waterfront.  Modeled on the highly successful  Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance of New York and New Jersey (MWA), this initiative has been launched by GSA (under the leadership of Ruby Berry), and will be directed by  a multi-sectoral Waterfront Advisory Committee.  The project promises to help address the social, economic and ecological facets of our waterfront, resulting in a waterfront that serves the many needs of the 3 million residents of the Georgia Strait region and allows for growth within a flourishing ecosystem.

Roland Lewis' Inspiring Presentation

The MWA’s founder and CEO, Roland Lewis was the keynote speaker at the March 28^th event, held at the YMCA on Hornby Street in Vancouver.  Representatives from Metro Vancouver, local municipalities, conservation organizations, foundations, labour unions, Port of Metro Vancouver, cultural and science organizations gathered to hear first-hand about MWA’s experience bringing together over 700 organizations to work together to achieve a common vision for the waterfront of New York and New Jersey.  We were inspired by MWA’s approach, as they sought common ground and looked for issues that united often competing constituencies, an approach that fits well with GSA’s own solutions-based focus to addressing threats to the region.  If you were not at the event and would like to learn about Mr. Lewis’ presentation, watch our website for an online version, coming soon.

Participants from a variety of backgrounds were united in their excitement about the possibility of collaborating toward a common vision for Metro Vancouver’s waterfront, and were eager to start the process of figuring out what the initiative will look like for the Vancouver area.  There was a great deal of enthusiasm about the “big tent” approach to collaborating employed by the MWA – membership in MWA is by participation, offering opportunities to a broad constituency with the main criteria being buying in to the big vision.  Through this method, MWA has succeeding in galvanizing the citizens and leaders of the NY/NJ region to change their locality for a better future for all.

The coming months and years promise to be exciting, as the Waterfront Initiative gains structure, develops plans (including measureable goals) and increases its reach.  The resulting transformation of the waterfront of Metro Vancouver into a clean, accessible, productive place holds so much promise.  This vision includes opportunities for recreation, transportation, education and industry, built on a foundation of rich marine life, improved freshwater and natural areas will mean sustainable communities for all of us who live, work and play here.  This may seem a lofty goal, but as seen from the MWA‘s successes, we know that with a lot of work, strong leadership and a lot of collaboration, it is possible.  As one event participant said, it is daunting, but we need to start the process, build relationships, and keep our eyes on the long view.  

Vancouver Island Closed Containment Facility Open for Business!

I had the remarkable experience a couple of weeks ago of witnessing the last stages of construction of a home-grown, land-based, recirculating closed containment salmon farm. The facility is being built to prove the economic good sense of growing salmon in a way that doesn’t threaten the survival of wild salmon.

Namgis Nation is now growing Atlantic salmon in their state of the art facility just outside Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.

On March 18, 2013, 23,000 smolts were delivered to the facility, and will now be in quarantine for 4 months. They are doing well and growing, and are on their own “biofilter” which houses bacteria to clean the water.  Since this is a land-based, closed containment “recirculating aquaculture system”, all environmental conditions can be controlled and more than 98% of the water is recycled.  The small amount of outflow that is produced is fastidiously treated so that there is no chance of transfer of disease or pathogens between the wild and farmed fish. See our Campaign News

It’s a deliciously ambitious project that promises to answer the remaining questions about economic and financial sustainability of current closed containment technology. I say current because this is an actively innovative industry.

It takes a long time to develop a new technology, especially when the industry and government fight so vehemently against it. It’s been a remarkable journey to get to this point in aquaculture history.  One of my pivotal memories is from 2006, at a meeting held by DFO to assess the potential of closed  containment technology for growing salmon. Industry and government representatives scoffed at the possibility, declaring it a doomed enterprise from the beginning. I watched as the entrepreneurs, engineers and inventors in the room became increasingly eager to take up the challenge.  There’s nothing quite so inspiring to an inventor as saying, ‘It can’t be done.’

We’re now seeing the results of that challenge being met in the number of closed containment salmon farms in operation or development around the world. The impetus to push for closed containment technology has always been to solve the problems of the dangers posed by the open net cage salmon farms to the wild marine environment. We’re not there yet. The open net farms are still in the ocean, but we’re getting a lot closer and the argument that there isn’t a viable economic alternative is just no longer credible. For more information about the problems with open net cage salmon farms, see Salmon Farming

Farewell & Thanks!

Almost 13 years ago I was working as an environmental planner in Saanich when I got the call from then GSA Executive Director, Laurie MacBride, to offer me the opportunity to launch the fledgling Green Boating program and take it to the next level. For me, with a love of the ocean and boating, and a desire to be based on Gabriola Island this was indeed opportune. It was a chance to do something positive and proactive to help maintain and improve the health of our local part of the ocean, namely the Strait of Georgia and its adjoining waters.

In the years since I started with GSA I have been extremely fortunate to work with some amazing people and together we have accomplished much. We have worked hard though enormous challenges and all the while the focus on the health of our waters has been maintained.

All the staff have been and are incredible people who are totally dedicated to the mission of the organization. We've had some amazing boards over the years and it has been a privilege to work with them. Our volunteers continue to amaze and inspire me. My colleagues beyond GSA have also been an inspiration and it's great to know we are not alone in caring for this part of the world. To all, I thank you for everything you have done and are continuing to do. I also thank GSA for the confidence they have had it me and the tremendous support they have given me over the years.

While the essence of GSA's work is positive and proactive it is a bit of a shame that we have to spend valuable energy and resources reacting to the threats that continue to come at the Strait. While I know this work is necessary I have been (and continue to be) more excited by the projects and programs that inspire us all. I will take that positiveness with me on my new adventures and always thank GSA for it.

As for what I'll be up to; I'll be taking some time for myself but will be on the lookout for another position while I develop a facilitation & education consultancy on the side (www.mikerichardsfacilitation.com). All while enjoying our new acreage in the islands and sailing around them. I may even do some contract work with GSA if the opportunity arises.
But for now, goodbye and thanks so much for 13 amazingly rewarding years!