A B.C. company that specializes in marine oil spill containment says it plans to invest $100 million building new bases along the B.C. coast and adding more vessels to its fleet, should the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project be approved.
Western Canada Marine Response Corp. (WCMRC) launched a new $4.5 million oil response vessel September 1 in Burrard Inlet, which will see oil tanker traffic increase nearly seven-fold, should Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE:KMI) get the green light from federal regulators to twin its Trans Mountain pipeline.
Currently, five oil tankers and three oil barges per month move up Burrard Inlet to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.
Should the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion be approved, the number of oil tankers in Burrard Inlet would increase to 34 per month.
Western Canada Marine Response Corp., approved by Transport Canada for oil spill containment and cleanup, already has a fleet of skimmer vessels, barges and fast response vessels.
The latest addition – the G.M. Penman – is for fast responses in open water. It is equipped with two skimming arms that can be quickly lowered into the water to skim oil from the surface of the water.
"The G.M. Penman provides WCMRC with improved open water rapid response and night time operations capacity,” the company’s president, Kevin J. Gardner, said in a press release.
The company said it planned to add more fast response vessels, should the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion be approved, and would build a number of new bases along the coast.
Western Canada Marine Response Corp. maintains a staff of 24 and has access to 500 trained responders.
The largest local oil spill that the company has been involved in cleaning up was a 100,000-litre oil spill in Burrard Inlet in 2007.
In 2010, the company dispatched crews to the Gulf of Mexico to assist in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Western Canada Marine Response Corp. is funded by the oil industry. Its main shareholders are Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO) Shell Canada, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) and Trans Mountain.
