Burnaby residents can now track oil tankers passing through the Burrard Inlet, thanks to an automated system launched by a Vancouver-based environmental group.
On Nov. 16, the Wilderness Committee announced the new system, which allows members of the public to sign up for cellphone alerts when tankers are about to fill up at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.
"We have designed this service to help inform members of the general public about the expansion of oil exports that has been happening quietly without anyone being properly con-sulted," said Ben West, spokesperson for the Wilderness Committee. "No longer will any tankers pass through Vancouver harbour without anybody knowing about it."
West has been an outspoken critic of Kinder Morgan's plan to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs oil from Alberta to Burnaby. The company is now assessing market interest to see if there is enough demand to justify a pipeline expansion, which would mean more tanker traffic in the Burrard Inlet. The pipeline's maximum capacity is 300,000 barrels a day but could handle up to 700,000 if fully expanded.
"This new alert system gives local residents a sense of the sheer volume of crude oil being shipped from Vancouver, and all the risk that brings - both in terms of a potential spill but also the risks of climate change that come with an expansion of tar sands oil exports," said West.
Text the word "oil" to 604-800-9180 to receive the tanker alert text messages. You will get an alert on your phone when tankers are getting ready to fill up at the Westridge Marine Terminal. (The service is free, but users will pay for whatever their current text messages rates are.) To follow the alerts on Twitter (which also include alerts when tankers are passing through the tightest spot of the Inlet) go to www. twitter.com/BurrardInletOil.
The Wilderness Committee also wants to set up a tanker traffic livestreaming camera.
