Friends Request Help Finding Pink Cards For Oil Spill Study

Pink Cards – Contributed Photo

FRIENDS launched “this could be oil” wooden drift cards in the Salish Sea last week to simulate where an oil spill originating in the shipping lanes surrounding the San Juan Islands might end up.  If the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline in BC is permitted, shipping traffic from just that project will go from 5 ships a day to 35 ships a day, which would increase the threat of an oil spill in our waters.

FRIENDS is concerned about the impacts an oil spill would have on our economy, boater safety, shorelines and larger marine environment that both people and wildlife depend on in the Salish Sea.  Information from the drift card study will help researchers calculate where oil from a spill might end up over what length of time and along what route. The results of the study will help communities allocate resources most efficiently to prepare for a spill.  FRIENDS will also use the drift card data as we prepare comments related to safety, risks and economic issues to the National Energy Board regarding the Kinder Morgan proposal.

At least 50 of the 300 cards have already been reported from this latest drop – we need your help to find the rest.  People who find the cards are asked to report the date and location on www.salishseaspillmap.org. 

FRIENDS takes the threat of a spill seriously, and here are some highlights of why we are modeling spill scenarios:

1. The computer simulations of a potential spill from the Kinder Morgan application only go out 15 days where our drift card study goes out for months.  Preliminary results from our drift card data shows a larger area where oil could end up in a spill scenario and also has cards arriving on shore at further locations in a quicker time frame.  In the Exxon Valdez spill, new areas were being oiled up to 58 days after the grounding. The drift data for our project supports the need for a broader range of protections and quicker response time within the islands.
2. It is also important to note that the variables of wind, currents, river peak/non-peak flows all together create too many variables to accurately determine where oil might go in a computer simulation study. This drift card study ground truths data in the Salish Sea, in a variety of conditions.
3. Kinder Morgan did not include Rosario Strait in their oil spill simulation scenarios. We believe that this data is very valuable – as their ships could be re-routed through this area.
4. The drift card study engages community members on the beaches in the issue of oil spills where computer generated data is not as easily accessible to the public.

The latest drops will complement the drops that were carried out by FRIENDS last March. The recovery rate for the spring study is about 57%.  Cards from that spring drop continue to be reported as more people frequent coastal areas during the summer months.

Although past cards have shown Victoria to be especially vulnerable to a spill along the Kinder Morgan tanker route, some have travelled widely along the coast, including as far south to Bainbridge Island and as far north as Cape Scott off northern Vancouver Island and farther northwest to Haida Gwaii.

We are working with our Canadian partners Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Georgia Strait Alliance on this study.  For more information, to see study results from all partners, or to report a drift card, please visitwww.salishseaspillmap.org.

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