Canadian Environmental Group Pushing for Impact Study of Bunker Spill that Happened 10 Years Ago

The spill took place at a terminal in Squamish, located just North of Vancouver.

An environmental group on Canada's west coast is pushing for an environmental study on the site of a bunker spill that occurred ten years ago at Squamish Terminals in British Columbia's Howe Sound, just north of the Port of Vancouver, local media reports.

According to the Government of British Columbia, on August 4, 2006, the M/V Westwood Anette, operated by Gearbulk Holding Ltd. (Gearbulk), spilled approximately 234,000 litres of fuel oil after a starboard fuel tank was punctured on a metal piling at a terminal in Squamish.

High winds are said to have blown the oil up on the shore close to the terminal and into the Squamish River estuary, heavily contaminating marsh areas and oiling birds, with minor oiling also observed up Howe Sound.

Now a decade after the spill, a local environmental group, the Squamish River Watershed Society, is working to gain government support to conduct a study to determine if any impacts from the spill remain within the estuary.

"We did studies at the time and we basically have information from 2006 ... but then for various reasons, not from lack of trying, we weren't given the support or green light to continue any studies," said Edith Tobe of the Squamish River Watershed Society.

The society is said to have recently put forth an application to Environment Canada for a grant to complete a repeat of original studies.

Tobe explains that such a study would be pure science, and would not examine responsibility of various parties involved in the spill and clean up.

Specifically, the study will "look at the concentration of the bunker C oil that still remains in the sediment and to evaluate the overall impacts and implications ... of what is occurring there," explained Tobe.

"Is it breaking down, is it becoming inert or is it still a factor?"

The potential environmental impacts of a bunker spill came into particular focus for the region last year following a bunker spill in Vancouver from the bulk carrier Marathassa.