Americas News
Lawsuits Mulled Over Vancouver Bunker Spill
More than one lawsuit in relation to this month's bunker spill in Vancouver's English Bay is expected to emerge in the near future, Canadian media reports.
“The lawyers are starting to arrive on the scene,” said Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem following reports that the city had hired an outside lawyer to potentially pursue losses in court.
According to Ballem, the Vancouver government is keen to recover the funds it spent on its part of the response.
She said that agencies have also ramped up efforts to collect as much information as they can before the threat of lawsuits potentially affects the flow of information.
It is expected that the company managing the ship will be liable for the cleanup bill, with Ballem noting that the Greek company in question has a liability cap of CAD $28 million ($22.8 million).
The federal government's Canadian Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund, which was established to cover damages caused by oil pollution from international shipping, is reportedly another option.
It was confirmed last week that the bulk carrier M/V Marathassa was the cause of the spill.
Officials on the municipal and provincial level have been vocal in recent days, with both Vancouver's mayor and British Columbia's premier having criticised the Canadian Coast Guard's oil spill response efforts as slow and inadequate.
However, separate reports suggest that the Coast Guard's response and its timing was legally appropriate.
Last week, Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner Jody Thomas also defended the agency's actions, calling them "exceptional by international standards."
