Hello all, and Welcome to our 9th Timed Discussion on the topic of
Oil Spill Preparedness in the Bay of Fundy!
For the next two weeks we'll be delving into this topic which is not
only a Bay of Fundy issue by any means. Oil spill preparedness is relevant
around the globe, but given the Bay's unique tides, special planning is
certainly required for our area.
At 3:45 am on December 18th, 2000, two oil tankers actually collided
in the Bay of Fundy near Saint John but fortunately enough, (at least) one
ship was double hulled so no oil was spilled. If there had been a spill, it
would have been larger than the Exxon Valdez and the biggest oil spill in
Canadian history. We'll have more details for you about this incident later
on in the discussion.
I'd first like to welcome our Virtual Panel members who are Susan
Farquharson, Kenneth Lee, Annie MacNeil, Kee Muschenheim, and Garnet Spicer.
We'll begin with each panellist sending out their perspectives on our Key
Questions (found below and at
http://www.fundyforum.com/tdcurrenttopic.html). After the panellists have
sent out their answers, everyone please feel free to jump in and answer them
yourself, raise new questions or respond to anything sent out so far.
KEY QUESTIONS:
1. Introduce yourself and your organization(s) to the listserver.
Also outline your involvement with Oil Spill Response in the Bay of Fundy.
2. Are coastal communities in the Bay of Fundy prepared in the event
of an oil spill?
3. Does the Bay of Fundy community have the training and resources
necessary to evaluate and respond to an emergency?
4. Are spills unavoidable, or can industry standards and technology
be improved?
5. Do you feel that the public is well informed or knowledgeable
about oil/gas industries policies and procedures it follows before and
during exploration, drilling and shipping within coastal waters? If not, how
can we improve...?
We encourage you to visit
http://www.fundyforum.com/tdcurrenttopic.html for lots of background
information, web resources, and more.
We hope you have your questions answered, get your opinion heard,
and enjoy the discussion.
Cheers,
Lesley Carter, Webmaster
Max Westhead, Coordinator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virtual Panel Member Bios:
Susan Farquharson has been executive director at Eastern Charlotte
Waterways Inc., a community based and operated environmental resource
management center in New Brunswick, since November 1996. She is responsible
for environmental programs and the development of projects that aid
communities in environmental management. She is also the Chair of the
Provincial Fundy NB CAPP Committee (FNBCC).
Kenneth Lee is a Research Scientist with the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans Canada responsible for research projects that deal with the
microbial transformation of contaminants in estuarine and coastal
environments. His current research programs are focused on: 1) the
development and evaluation of oil spill countermeasure technologies; 2) the
biotransformation/biodegradation of contaminants; 3) the development and
validation of toxicity assays to predict the risk of industrial
activities/contaminants on ecosystem health; and 4) the management of
regional assessment/contaminant monitoring programs.
Annie MacNeil has been an Environmental Emergencies Officer with the
Emergencies Section of the Environmental Protection Branch of Environment
Canada since 1992. Her responsibilities include preparation, review and
revision of contingency plans, including the Regional Environmental
Emergencies Team (REET) plan; and incident coordination in support of the
REET.
Kee Muschenheim is affiliated with the Acadia Centre for Estuarine
Research and has been a long-term contractor for DFO, in planning and
directing field and lab studies on the fate and effects of discharges from
offshore oil and gas exploration and development. His background is in
benthic ecology with a specialty in the interactions between filter-feeding
organisms and naturally-occurring particulate matter and contaminants.
Garnet Spicer has been Regional Coordinator for Coast Guard's
Community Action Partnership Program (CAPP) since 1994 . He is a member of
the National & Regional Response Team for environmental emergencies and has
spent 14 years in the Coast Guard Regional Operation Centre.
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