Whereas the oil spill event of April 8, 2015, into English Bay and the Salish Sea, demonstrated a clear lack of capacity to respond to oil spill events in British Columbia; And whereas the long-term viability and economies of BC coastal communities are dependent, in part, upon the protection and preservation of the local marine environment: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Province of British Columbia order an independent audit of the current state of oil spill preparedness in BC.
Ministry of Environment The Coast Guard conducted a review of the English Bay spill that includes 25 recommendations that articulate the need for the Coast Guard to improve spill response capabilities. The Province is committed to working with all of our partners to see the recommendations acted upon. Our ultimate goal continues to be a world-class marine spill regime from the federal government. The only recommendation that mentions the Province is recommendation 2 the Coast Guard, Emergency Management BC and the Ministry of Environment should jointly review alerting and notification procedures. This stems from the Province not upgrading the incident to a Code 2 until April 9 at 15:27. The Province has reviewed this specific incident and how the notification system worked and will work to ensure any deficiencies are not repeated in the future. For example, new requirements for land-based spills include improved spill notification which can also be applied to the marine side. On June 15, 2015 the Ministry announced plans to implement a world-leading land-based spill regime by spring 2017. The Ministry undertook detailed planning and design work on the proposed regime, legislation, regulations, funding model and the Preparedness and Response Organization. This included engagement with First Nations, industry, local governments and other stakeholders through fall and winter of 2015. On February 29, 2016, government introduced Bill 21 amending Environmental Management Act to implement the statutory framework for the provinces world-leading land-based spill regime. Bill 21 sets out a new spill preparedness, response and recovery regime, and - if passed - will repeal sections 79 and 80 of the EMA, which set out the current spill prevention and response regime. Related to the introduction of Bill 21, government recently invited British Columbians British Columbians to review and comment on a new intentions paper around spill preparedness and response in B.C. Until June 30, 2016, citizens, stakeholders and First Nations can share their thoughts on the newly proposed legislated requirements for spill planning and preparedness through this website: http:engage.gov.bc.caspillresponse. This public engagement period builds on previous stakeholder, industry, First Nations and public consultation on two other spill intentions papers, released in 2012 and 2014. The requirements for the world leading spill response regime are informed by research commissioned by the province from Nuka Research which assessed the current marine spill preparedness and response capabilities for B.C.s coastline. Further, the province has sought another report that will identify specific world leading practices.