Page - June 16, 2008
In August 2008, a barge carrying logging equipment and a diesel fuel truck tipped its load into Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, east of Vancouver Island, B.C. The accident resulted in a diesel spill extending over 14 kilometres in Johnstone Strait, an area frequented by a threatened resident orca population.
An underwater investigation revealed that the diesel fuel truck
was resting upright and intact on the seafloor with about
10,000 litres of diesel fuel still inside, facing the potential for
corrosion by the seawater and a massive leak into the
surrounding environment.
After much deliberation and pressure from Greenpeace, Living
Oceans Society and other concerned whale organizations, the
government of Canada and British Columbia announced on April 18th
that they would perform a joint salvage operation of the fuel-laden
wreckage. However, while the clean-up decision was welcomed, a
tedious governmental planning process has left the orcas that are
returning to the area in June at risk of further contamination, as
the actual clean-up date has not been set. To read more about the
events that have taken place in Robson Bight and to find out the
latest news on the governments plans to salvage the wreckage,
see below.