British Columbia

Vancouver oil spill alert needed in 'real time' says Vancouver's mayor

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has softened his stance after criticizing the time it took for the city to be alerted to a bunker fuel spill in English Bay on April 8th.

Coast guard says it notified proper agencies within minutes, but message not passed on to everyone

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has softened his criticism of the response to a fuel spill in English Bay, but insists Vancouverites still should have known what was going on in real time. (CBC)

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has softened his stance after criticizing the time it took for the city to be alerted to a bunker fuel spill in English Bay on April 8th.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, Robertson says he's happy with the work that's been done since then.

"The mistakes and gaps happened early on and there's been a big improvement since then," he said.

"It's good to see that there's been a strong response, these last two days on the clean-up side. Crews have been in action, I don't think we see any signs in the water of the oil spill."

Still Robertson says Vancouver residents deserved to know about the spill and the response to it in "real time."

Canadian Coast Guard Assistant Commissioner Roger Girouard said that even though the coast guard sent out the proper notifications, there was a breakdown in communications.

Assistant Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner Roger Girouard says partner agencies didn't fully communicate the extent of the spill Wednesday and as a result the mayor of Vancouver was not notified. (CBC)

Robertson says he is confident those mistakes will be corrected and that the city will be involved in future incidents like this from the beginning.

Even though the city does not have the capabilities to contain an oil spill, he says it is nimble in a crisis.

"We're right here and we deal with critical incidents wherever they happen in the city on an hourly basis," he said. We're on top of it. That's not a strength of some of the federal and provincial agencies."

The coast guard's acting commissioner declined to specify where the communication breakdown occurred, but said all agencies are reviewing the chain of events to come up with a simpler, faster notification system that would be more widely broadcast.

4,000 ask to volunteer

Vancouver city staff are expected to present a report to council on Tuesday about the oil spill response, and about how to engage the more than 4,000 residents who volunteered to help clean up oil.

Robertson says a program will most likely be developed so that citizens can watch for and report more oil or fuel appearing on shore or in the water, from this spill or any future one.

Captain Tony Toxopeus, a former coxswain at the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, says the oil spill should be the catalyst to reopen the station. (CBC)

"We're going to need eyes and ears here on our beaches for weeks and potentially months ahead," said Robertson.

The mayor also revisited the issue of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station. 

"I don't think that closure was warranted. We need to have a Coast Guard base with the equipment to deal with a situation like this right here on False Creek and into Burrard Inlet on English Bay. That's not available right now and I think the Coast Guard stands by their decision to close that base, but ultimately that was a political decision."

However, on Sunday the coast guard disputed that saying personnel at the former Kitsilano base would not have been sent to the spill because the base was never manned with environment response experts.

Robertson says the city is working withe Vancouver Coastal Health to determine when it will be safe to re-open public beaches that were closed as a result of the spill.