Editor:
About three weeks ago several news organizations reported on the Northern Gateway joint review panel (JRP) that bitumen "floats" and will not sink. At first I thought that cannot be right given the Kalamazoo River spill experience.
Actually, it depends on the definition of floating. Given the reports I think we would conclude that bitumen floats forever on the surface and is lighter than sea water. That is true for a spill in the first hours - bitumen will float. However, in their testimony at the Gateway JRP, Enbridge has admitted that over time, once the condensate disperses, the bitumen separates into the water column.
What does that really mean? Some will float on the surface and some will sink metres down into the water column unless you can scoop up the product within hours of the spill.
Now what is the benchmark for response to an oil spill in Kitimat or Haida Gwaii area? It depends on the weather and the response team available. The current Enbridge proposed response time is 20 hours given the weather conditions are not putting the response team at risk. I would remind Enbridge that would depend on not ignoring alarms in their boiler room to stop the flow as occurred in Kalamazoo over land.
Given their record, why would anyone in B.C. trust them to deploy an emergency response team as soon as they are aware of an inland sea spill?
At Enbridge, hope floats. In B.C., our only hope is to stop the Northern Gateway project.
Bonnie Nicol, Gibsons
