Evidence of meeting #82 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was moratorium.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Gagan Sikand Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
In terms of the six radar sites, what kinds of capabilities do they have? What is it that they're able to do?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I don't have the data in front of me, but essentially we are installing radars on large towers that allow us to see, with radar capability, into those areas of risk. It may be in a particular area.
We're installing a number of them on the Inside Passage of Vancouver Island. It may be, with the tower height, that they can see almost across the entire strait.
We've evaluated the risk of particular areas where we need coverage, where maybe the signals from the AIS are difficult to get. There we use radars to supplement our eyes and ears—in this case, eyes. When we've evaluated that risk, we install the radar with the capability that allows us to see where those gaps are in radar coverage.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Gagan Sikand Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
Does it give you specifics, or is it just that there is something there? Are you able to tell the size, the shape, the possible...?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Like any radar, it gives you the ability to see a particular vessel on the water. We then use data and intelligence to see what that vessel is, what it is carrying, and whether it reported in, but primarily it's looking at where that vessel is, how fast it is transiting, and in which direction. We then use other pieces of information—whether it's the PAIR reports, which are 96-hour reports, or AIS—to see what that vessel is carrying, what the ship's name is, and so on. We basically overlap them on our systems so that we are able to create intelligence of where traffic is going, what it's doing, what its ETA is into ports, and so on.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you, all of you, for joining us today.
I too want to add my congratulations to you, Mr. Lick. I had the opportunity of meeting with members of the Navy League of Canada this morning. I join our chair and all those around the table.
One simply needs to look at the mandate letter of the Minister of Transport to recognize that there really is a group effort when it comes to legislation like the legislation before us. I'll reference his letter. It says, “Formalize a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on British Columbia's North Coast, working in collaboration with the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to develop an approach.”
Certainly, from the testimony we've heard from you today, it would seem that both Environment and Climate Change Canada and CanmetENERGY continue to be engaged in research on oil spill behaviour, including how a spill of diluted bitumen compares to that of conventional crude. I heard, though, someone suggesting that we already have many techniques that would address a diluted bitumen spill.
I'm wondering—and anyone can take the opportunity to answer this—what technologies are currently available. You said there are many techniques, but what technologies are currently available to remediate the effects of a spill of the products that are currently listed on the schedule? I believe it was Ms. Kasperski who stated that much of the work done by NRCan was used to create that schedule.
What technologies are available today?
4:20 p.m.
Manager, Emergencies Science and Technology Section, Department of the Environment
The majority of technologies used today would be skimmers and booms. You corral the oil and use skimmers to pick up the oil on the water.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Are there new products or technologies being developed that would aid in a cleanup effort? Is that some of the ongoing work that your departments are doing?
4:20 p.m.
Director, Environmental Impacts, CanmetENERGY, Department of Natural Resources
Natural Resources Canada has funded research by technology developers to look at improving, for example, skimming technology for higher-viscosity oils, which diluted bitumen would be.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
I heard “yes” from Dr. Brown. Do you want to expand on that?
4:20 p.m.
Manager, Emergencies Science and Technology Section, Department of the Environment
Sure. We are looking at other technologies that could be used, such as spill-treating agents. A legislative change has been made to use those for spills from offshore platforms. We are also looking at things like in situ burning technologies that can rapidly remove a large amount of oil in a short period of time, as well as other things, such as translocation of oil—moving it on the beach and using nature, in some cases, to help remove that oil.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Is the private sector involved in developing new products or technologies? If yes, do you work with the private sector at all?
4:20 p.m.
Director, Environmental Impacts, CanmetENERGY, Department of Natural Resources
I'm aware of studies being done by pipeline companies on oil spill behaviours and technologies to address oil spills, but I don't know the exact details. However, as I said, they are doing some work in that area.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
I have one last question.
How much time do I have?
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
I'm wondering if you would comment on the importance of the government having flexibility to maintain the schedule by regulation rather than by legislation.
4:20 p.m.
Director, Environmental Impacts, CanmetENERGY, Department of Natural Resources
That's beyond me.
4:20 p.m.
Christine Siminowski Director, Canadian Oil, Refining and Energy Security Division, Energy Sector, Department of Natural Resources
I think that would be within the domain of the ministry of transport to respond to.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'll add my voice to the chorus. Congratulations, Mr. Lick. I had the opportunity to meet with the Navy League this morning and I appreciate very much what you're doing.
Could you could give me a heads-up when I'm halfway through? I'm going to be sharing my time with Mr. Badawey. In that spirit, I hope the answers can remain as concise as possible.
First, there's a threshold in this legislation at 12,500 tonnes in terms of what's not subject to the moratorium. I'll start with Ms. Kasperski.
Is this a reasonable limit? From your perspective, is this going to meet the needs of the community? We've heard different suggestions for better amounts, but do you have any issues with the threshold?
4:25 p.m.
Director, Environmental Impacts, CanmetENERGY, Department of Natural Resources
I'm not aware of how they came up with that number. That was Transport Canada.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Perhaps I'll move on, because I think it's probably a Transport Canada issue.
Mr. Lick, I'm curious about how the capacity to enforce is going to work. It's essentially a ban on the ability to load and unload in ports, rather than a policing of open waters. How is the enforcement mechanism going to work and how does that compare to any enforcement activity that's actually going on in the zone impacted by the voluntary ban today?
4:25 p.m.
Director General, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
They are different, but essentially our role, as I talked about, is certainly the monitoring of vessels coming in. I think it would probably be best to give an example.
If a 96-hour report was provided by a tanker of over 12,500 tonnes coming into our waters and it gave an ETA and it had an oil that was on the schedule as cargo, and its intention was to come into Prince Rupert, then we would inform Transport Canada at that time through our normal process of informing them. We do that every day of the year. Then they would take action and say, “No, you can't come in here.” It's a fairly simple enforcement action. They will not be allowed into those ports.
