Dr. Robin Crump had a front row seat to one of the world’s worst oil spills.

Twenty years ago, on Feb. 15, 1996, the Sea Empress oil tanker ran aground on mid-channel rocks in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in Wales.

Over the course of the following week, the Sea Empress spilled almost 18 million gallons — 80 million litres — of crude oil, making it Britain’s third largest oil spill and the world’s 12th largest at the time.

Beaches were coated in a thick brown chocolate mousse of petroleum. Thousands of birds and other creatures perished. The rare species, Asterina Phylactica, first discovered by Dr. Crump, was reduced to a handful of individuals. Thanks in large part to Crump’s efforts, the species was well on the road to recovery within six months.

A temporary fishing ban was installed due to the unknown effects of toxic poisoning. This of course lead to job losses in the industry with some fishing companies reporting the impacts took up to six years to recover from.

Sea Empress oil spill, 1996. Photo: Wales Online

Cleanup crews work to contain oil on the beach. Photo: Wales Online

“There are huge problems with pipelines in remote locations,” says Crump, a retired biologist.

I am here on the coast of Wales at the invitation of the British artist, Abigail Sidebotham, who is curating a year-long project commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sea Empress oil spill.

I have come to Pembrokeshire to give a presentation on Canada’s oilsands, but more importantly, I am here to try and learn from the experience of the oil spill here and gain a sense of what increased tanker traffic could mean for Canada’s coastal ecology and economy.

Much like parts of Canada’s east and west coasts, there is a tension between the scenic beauty and ecology — the basis of a successful tourism and fishing economy — and the demands of industry.

An oil tanker approaches the entrance to Milford Haven where the Sea Empress ran aground. The marker in the foreground indicates the submerged rocks which caused the accident. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

Oil tanker entering Milford Haven with the Valero oil refinery in the background. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

The beach and dunes at Freshwater West. Located very close to the scenes of the spill, this was one of the hardest hit beaches. Fans of the Harry Potter movies may also recognize it has the scene “Shell Cottage” and Dobby’s death and burial. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

A 2015 report from Pembrokeshire County Council states that the region’s strengths include renewable energy, sustainable tourism and the rural economy.

But the deep-water port of Milford Haven, scene of the Sea Empress oil spill, hosts an oil refinery (which was the destination of the Sea Empress, two liquefied natural gas plants, a gas-fired power station and a high-voltage national grid transmission line, which could service the region’s burgeoning wind, tidal, wave and solar energy industries.)

A section of Milford Haven and the Valero oil refinery — formerly Texaco — which was the destination of the Sea Empress. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

Comparisons to the Canadian ports of Kitimat, St. John, Burnaby and Prince Rupert spring to mind when looking at the economic potential and challenges of Pembrokeshire.

When I ask Crump specifically about Canada’s current debate regarding oilsands pipelines and tanker traffic, he responds, “It depends how much you value your wildlife, as a country, as a people and as a government.”

Oil-Covered Hail

Retired farmer and author of  “Farming for Better Profitability,” John Davies, had a farm eleven miles — 18 kilometres — inland at the time of the Sea Empress oil spill.

Sitting in the kitchen of his cottage, he reflects on the events that day.

Shortly after the spill, as the oil was coming ashore, a strong storm and high winds caused a deluge of black hail stones leaving a 2.5 inch deposit on Davies’ fields and porch.

He filled a three-gallon bucket with the hail stones. A few hours later, the hail had melted, but left behind a gallon of thick black and yellow oil.

It was “a phenomenon I had never seen before and never want to see again,” Davies said.

There were big agricultural losses after the Sea Empress spill. The chemical dispersants that were used at sea after the oil spill damaged about 15 square miles of crops, as they were blown onto the land. Like Davies, other farmers’ fields were covered with oil. This had grave results, as some drinking water was contaminated and may have caused health problems in cattle and sheep.

Although an oil spill is a dramatic and (thankfully) rare event, I am reminded of the research by retired University of Alberta professor David Schindler. Schindler found that the greatest concentrations of toxic contaminants downstream from the tar sands occurred during the spring thaw, indicating that the toxins spewing from the smokestacks and rising from the tailings ponds concentrated in the atmosphere and rained back down on us as precipitation.

This sobering thought came to mind several times as I photographed the juxtaposition of the Valero oil refinery with the agricultural land that surrounds it.

Valero oil refinery and surrounding agricultural land. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

During my stay in Pembrokeshire, I was based in the picturesque coastal village of Tenby, located along a 186-mile coastal path, regularly rated among the planet’s Top 10 walks.

South Beach and the picturesque town of Tenby as seen from a section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

Tenby. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

St. Catherine’s Island along the shore of Tenby. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

The path passes vast sand beaches, dramatic bluffs, intimate coves, sea stacks and pastoral grazing fields — interrupted every few miles by charming villages with castles, quaint inns and pubs.

It’s little wonder that National Geographic named Tenby the second best coastal destination in the world.

A small section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

A section of the rugged coastline along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

There I met with Chris Osbourne, owner and manager of the Fourcroft Hotel.

He recalled the smell of oil that permeated the community for several hours after the Sea Empress spill as the community realized that not only their quality of life was threatened, but so were their businesses.

The area was cosmetically cleaned up fairly quickly, but there were still significant losses.

“Many coach trips and individuals canceled” Osbourne said, adding he and others “lost a lot of money.”

Yet it could have been far, far worse.

The vast majority of the 72,000 tonnes of crude that spilled was very thin North Sea crude. Only about 480 tonnes of heavier crude was spilled — that’s the kind of stuff that would likely sink to the sea bed and smother it, potentially inflicting damage for up to a hundred years or more, biologist Crump said.

Crude produced in the Alberta oilsands, called bitumen, is among the heaviest forms of oil.

The Alberta tar sands, also call oilsands. Multiple pipeline proposals to tidewater, and the recent election of Donald Trump who supports the proposed Keystone pipeline, make tar sands tankers of the coasts of Canada and Europe an increasingly likely scenario in the near future. Photo: Garth Lenz

Cut with highly toxic natural gas condensate, the type of bitumen Canada wants to export would very likely sink, making it next to impossible to clean up. Recent research by Canadian and U.S. scientists found there are major knowledge gaps when it comes to the effects of bitumen on marine environments.

“If mistakes happen, and mistakes do happen, the consequences can be catastrophic,” Osbourne said.

Keep in mind that modern super tankers can have greater than triple the carrying capacity of the Sea Empress.

Canada’s coastal communities are far more dependent on the fishing industry than Wales. Wildlife populations are far greater, particularly on the West Coast. And the region is much more remote, making a large-scale clean up effort that much more difficult.

While I was in Wales, I learned about the Nathan E. Stewart, the tug that had run aground and sunk in the Great Bear Rainforest, discharging an estimated 100,000 litres of diesel. Three weeks later, the relatively small spill still had not been contained, devastating the Heiltsuk Nation.

Mistakes do indeed happen. Lead image: An oil tanker traverses Milford Haven. Photo: Garth Lenz/DeSmog

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Nobody knows how a spill of diluted bitumen would affect marine life or whether a bitumen spill in salt water could be adequately cleaned up, because basic research is lacking, says a new study.

The peer-reviewed paper, which will be published later this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, looked at more than 9,000 studies of the effect of oilsands products on the marine environment.

The paper is under embargo until Dec. 20, but the authors, from universities in Canada and the U.S., shared their findings with the federal government in hopes that the conclusions would be considered prior to pipeline decisions, said Wendy Palen, associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Simon Fraser University and one of the authors.

“As scientists, we feel a responsibility to speak out about the state of the science, especially with a government that has pledged to be evidence-based,” said Palen, who agreed to discuss general conclusions of the study with DeSmog Canada in advance of the embargo being lifted because of the government’s approval of Kinder Morgan’s $6.8-billion pipeline expansion.

The project will see capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, from the Alberta oilsands to Burnaby, triple to 890,000 barrels of diluted bitumen a day from 300,000 barrels daily. It will also mean tanker traffic from the Burnaby terminal will increase to 34 tankers a month from about five a month.

Those super-tankers, carrying diluted bitumen, will travel through the Strait of Georgia, around the Gulf Islands and southern Vancouver Island then through Juan de Fuca Strait on their way to foreign markets.

Pipeline opponents fear that a catastrophic oil spill is inevitable, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists the government’s decision was based on science and that the project would have been rejected if he believed there was any threat to the B.C. coast.

However, the study found that there are large unexamined risks to the marine environment from bitumen and claims that a spill can be effectively mitigated are unfounded because there have been no ocean-based studies of how bitumen behaves in the marine environment with rough seas and changing temperatures, Palen said.

“That means that the approval of new projects is problematic, maybe even bordering on irresponsible,” she said.

“Any new approvals of pipelines or transportation proposals are assuming a large amount of risk…The decision last week was troubling because of this knowledge gap.”

Transportation of heavy oil from Alberta’s oilsands has outpaced the science that can ensure projects are safe and although thousands of peer-reviewed studies are available on the behaviour of conventional oil and spills in fresh water, there is almost nothing on the behaviour of bitumen in the ocean, Palen said.

Review of 9000 Studies Finds We Know Squat About Bitumen Spills in Ocean Environments https://t.co/S2Zpkb8WCD #bcpoli #cdnpoli @LavoieJudith

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) December 9, 2016

One of the few studies looking at bitumen in the marine environment found it tends to float until it weathers and then sinks, but that study was conducted in the laboratory, not in the ocean.

One reason that the science is so sparse is that companies will not disclose what chemical mix is going into the pipe.

“The composition is protected as a corporate trade secret and the companies don’t have to disclose it. That’s something we called for in our letter to the Prime Minister and cabinet. We, in the scientific community, urgently need that information in order to allow science to catch up,” Palen said.

“We were quite surprised about it and concluded that some of the most basic questions remain unanswered.”

Bitumen is a very heavy oil that will not flow through a pipe without being diluted. Usually lighter petroleum products such as natural gas concentrate, refined naptha or synthetic crude oil are used to make it flow.

A previous study on diluted bitumen, by the U.S.-based National Academy of Sciences, found that, unlike lighter compounds that begin to evaporate when spilled, heavy oil weathers into an adhesive, dense viscous material when exposed to the elements.

“For this reason, spills of diluted bitumen pose particular challenges when they reach water bodies. In some cases, the residues can submerge or sink to the bottom of the water body,“ it says.

The study found that a pipeline failure that releases diluted bitumen poses danger to responders and the public, as well as to the environment.

“When all risks are considered systematically, there must be a greater level of concern associated with spills of diluted bitumen compared to spills of commonly transported crude oils,” it says

Six years ago a diluted bitumen pipeline operated by Enbridge burst, spilling bitumen into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. The spill cost more than $1-billion to clean up and put the spotlight on the hazards of pumping bitumen through pipelines.

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Environmental organizations are demanding TransCanada clarify immediately whether constructing a marine oil tanker terminal in Quebec is still part of the company’s Energy East oil pipeline project.

“[TransCanada] should reconsider its positions and show more transparency by revealing its real intentions behind its project in Quebec. The company should stop showing disregard to Quebecers and give us the real facts,” Christian Simard, director of Nature Québec said in a statement.

Earlier this week the Montreal-based news outlet La Presse reported that several sources in the Quebec government had confirmed TransCanada is no longer considering Cacouna, a port on the St. Lawrence River, as the site of an export terminal for the 4,600 kilometre west-to-east proposed pipeline.

TransCanada quickly denied the report. The Calgary-based pipeline company insists it will make a decision on Cacouna at the end of March.

The port is near the breeding grounds of endangered beluga whales and the proposal to build a terminal and subsequently increase oil tanker traffic through beluga habitat has been at the centre of controversy for months in Quebec. Ignoring the risks to belugas would likely enrage a Quebec populace already skeptical about the TransCanada project.   

St. Lawrence River

“TransCanada must confirm it has abandoned its plans in Cacouna and concede that such a platform cannot be built without having a great impact on the beluga population. Considering the fragile ecosystem of the region, which is already subject to intense pressures, we believe that the company should drop its plan to build a tanker terminal in the St. Lawrence River,” Karel Mayrand of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, stated.

Last December the Committee on the Status of Wildlife in Canada warned the St. Lawrence’s belugas are at even greater risk of extinction than they were ten years ago. The committee concluded the belugas should be on Canada’s species-at-risk list. 

“The company refuses to admit that the Cacouna terminal project is dead and that there is no plan B. The company is trying to buy time and save face among its stakeholders,” Patrick Bonin, a Climate and Energy campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, said in joint press release on Wednesday.  

Groups Warn Lack of Oil Tanker Spill Preparedness in St. Lawrence

Public concerns in Quebec about Energy East substantially increasing oil tanker traffic on the St. Lawrence may make it impossible for TransCanada to construct a terminal in Quebec if the project is approved. TransCanada has plans for a second export terminal Saint John, New Brunswick.

Two separate reports released this week argue the 1.1 million barrels-a-day pipeline will increase tanker traffic on the St. Lawrence by at least two hundred ships yearly. The reports warn an oil tanker spill on the St. Lawrence could have “catastrophic” consequences.

“The environmental consequences on both the land and the water associated with tanker accidents are usually catastrophic for the directly affected ecosystems. Cleanup and remediation efforts are always very expensive and often ineffective,” Émilien Pelletier, Professor Emeritus and Canada Research Chair in Molecular Exotoxicology in Coastal Areas at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, writes in the “Doubling Down on Disaster” report.

Illustrative map of Energy East's proposed route along the St. Lawrence in Quebec

The private company responsible for responding to an oil tanker spill on the St. Lawrence, Eastern Canada Response Corporation, is “vastly under-resourced” with only thirteen employees in Quebec. In its own study on Energy East, the emergency response company estimates it would take them twelve hours to respond to an oil tanker spill.

“Navigation professionals generally recognize the St. Lawrence as one of the most difficult waters to navigate in the world,” the second report on oil tanker traffic through the St. Lawrence states. 

Frequent changes of current, sudden weather changes, the presence shoals and ice cover in the winter are some of the factors the report cites making piloting through the 1,600 kilometres of the St. Lawrence no easy task. The river’s ecosystem is home to 1,700 wildlife species.

“After mapping out the risks and threats entailed by the proposed strategies for transporting oil through the already-weakened St. Lawrence ecosystem, our organizations do not see how these projects can be compatible with biodiversity protection, human safety and economic activities that rely on the St. Lawrence,” the report concludes. The David Suzuki Foundation, World Wildlife Fund Canada and Société pour la Nature et les Parcs (SNAP) authored the report.  

Call to Halt NEB Process On Energy East Until Terminal’s Location Clarified

Groups in Quebec once again called on the National Energy Board (NEB), federal regulator of interprovincial pipelines, to suspend the regulatory process on Energy East until TransCanada clarifies where and if there will be an export terminal in Quebec.

“Dropping plans in Cacouna will have a significant impact on the pipeline route, on the people who are directly affected by it as well as on the expert assessment on the project. It would be unfair to keep the same deadlines for the NEB public hearing process, especially since many crucial aspects of the project remain in a state of uncertainty,” Karine Peloffy, director of the environmental group Centre Québécois du droit de l’environment (CQDE), said.

The NEB restricts public participation in the regulatory process on new pipeline projects to Canadians who are “directly affected” or possess “relevant information or expertise” on a project. Without major project details like the site of an export terminal, the board will be weaker and uncertain ground when determining who is an expert or directly affected by Energy East.

Canadians must apply to the NEB to participate in the Energy East regulatory process no later than March 3rd. TransCanada says it will make its final decision on Cacouna by March 31st.

Image Credit: St. Lawrence Oilway? report  

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Today an oil tanker carrying between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels of western Canadian oilsands (also called tarsands) bitumen arrives in Bilbao, a port city in northern Spanish. It is the first shipment of Canadian bitumen to the European Union and a sign the federal government’s “pan European oilsands advocacy strategy” is succeeding.

“This shipment could open the door to more imports of dirty tarsands," says Franziska Achterberg of Greenpeace from Brussels. "Europe can’t be both a climate champion and a market for climate-wrecking tar sands. The EU must uphold its environmental credentials and stand up to the intense lobbying by the oil industry and the Canadian government."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has been lobbying the EU since 2009 to keep its markets open to bitumen. Internal documents have shown the federal government has used its embassies in Europe “to protect and advance Canadian interests related to the oil sands.”  

EU Could Lose Credibility As World's Climate Leader

The European Union has set ambitious but necessary targets to reduce its production of global-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 (based on 1990 levels). No other developed country including Canada has even come close to matching this. If the EU continues to import more bitumen it will undermine its credibility as a world leader on climate change, experts say.

“The landing of massive amounts of dirty tar sands to our shores runs counter to Europe’s stated aspirations to decarbonize transport and curtail its addiction to oil. European drivers will be forced to fill up their tanks with tar sands that will raise emissions – not lower them – and push up the costs of decarbonization by billions of euros,” says Laura Buffet of Transport & Environment.

Fives Years On, Fuel Quality Directive Still Not Implemented

For years, the EU has wanted to pass legislation encouraging European transport fuel suppliers to decrease the carbon footprint of their product. The Fuel Quality Directive confirms fuels produced from bitumen have a higher carbon footprint (12 to 40 per cent higher) than fuels from conventional oil. Because bitumen is a heavy unconventional tar-like oil it requires vastly more energy to extract and process, resulting in more greenhouse gases than conventional oil.

The Fuel Quality Directive would be a disincentive for purchasing highly polluting fuels, such as oilsands. Fearing a “dirty oil” label being slapped on Canadian bitumen if the Fuel Quality Directive is passed, the Canadian government has lobbied against it in a manner one EU politician describes as something never seen before:

“There have been massive lobbying campaigns by the car industry, by the chemicals industry, banks, food giants, etc. But so far I have not seen such a lobbying campaign by any state,” Satu Hassi, a Finnish Member of European Parliament told Reuters in 2012 about the Canadian lobbying against the directive.

7% of EU's Fuel Supply Could be Bitumen by 2020

With the Fuel Quality Directive still in limbo (the last vote on the directive ended in a stalemate), Spanish oil company Repsol’s bitumen shipment will most likely not be the last. Repsol has reportedly been investing in upgrading its refineries to process heavy bitumen. Much like Canada, very few refineries in the EU have the necessary refining equipment to turn bitumen into fuels.

“To the refiner, it’ll just be the price you can get and the product you get after refining it, so they wouldn’t care what the source is. They wouldn’t think about the carbon content at all,” Torbjørn Kjus, an oil analyst at DNB Markets told the RTCC news service.

A report earlier this year by the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates bitumen could make up nearly seven per cent of the EU’s total transport fuel supply by 2020 if oilsands pipeline projects such as Keystone XL in the U.S. and Energy East from Alberta to Saint John, N.B., are approved. Combined, the two TransCanada pipelines could pump approximately two million barrels of bitumen every day. Much of this will be exported out of North America.

Image Credit: Transport Canada

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