Federal government should reduce government, public exposure to financial risks from marine spills

The British Columbia government wants Ottawa help reduce government and public exposure to financial risks associated with marine spills.

The call was made as part of the B.C. government’s ongoing participation in the Joint Review Panel’s monitoring of the Northern Gateway Project.

“B.C. will shoulder 100% of the risk in the marine environment and a significant proportion of the risk on the land should a spill event ever occur,” B.C.’s Ministry of the Environment reports. “We know we need resource and economic development, but we also expect that risks are managed, environmental protection is uncompromised and that generations will benefit from the decisions we make today.”

Federal rules and requirements should ensure that private sector insurance and industry-funded response funds are sustainable and adequate to fully cover a major response without requiring public money, notes a statement from B.C.’s Ministry of Environment.

The amount of ship owner insurance and industry funding currently available for spill response is $1.3 billion, the statement adds. That compares to the U.S. federal government’s spill fund, which is forecast to grow to almost  $4 billion by 2016.

British Columbia is proposing a joint plan of action with the federal government that would include, among other elements, limits to liability that ensure sufficient financial resources to properly address any spills; increased federal response capacity; and industry-funded terrestrial (land-based) spill co-operative with sufficient human and technical capacity to manage spill risk from pipelines and other land-based sources.