Environmental Disaster? or...Welcome Habitat for Endangered Species

This is an article published in The Onion in 2002. This is typical of the satiric articles written at the Onion. Consider this our Halloween Howl posting. Happy reading!

Sunken Oil Tanker Will Be Habitat For Marine Life, Shell Executives Say With Straight Face

October 23, 2002 | Issue 38•39


HOUSTON, TX—The 1,080-foot, 300,000-ton oil tanker Shell Global Explorer, which sank off the coast of Newfoundland last month, will provide a welcome habitat for many diverse species of endangered marine life, Shell Oil Company executives announced with a straight face Tuesday.

The new habitat, moments before sinking.

"In its new resting place, far beneath the surface of the North Atlantic, the Global Explorer is host to countless fish and an infinite variety of marine vegetation," a press release from Shell read without a trace of irony. "A ship that once helped run life above the waves now houses life beneath them."

The reading of the press release preceded public statements from Shell executives.

"We in the petroleum industry have long believed that we have a responsibility to protect and conserve the environment in our daily business operations," said Shell CEO Steven L. Miller to reporters in the face of all available evidence. "We view this commitment to projects that will conserve and protect the marine ecosystem as an important investment in our future."

"At Shell, we're proud to provide a niche for the struggling denizens of our oceans," said Shell vice-president of international shipping Dennis Gallsworthy, who apparently intended his words to be taken seriously.

Somehow maintaining his composure despite being able to hear the things he was saying, Gallsworthy added, "We have a strong commitment to protecting and preserving sea life."

On Sept. 27, radio messages from the tanker indicated it had suffered extensive damage to its hull following an explosion, which pierced its overloaded crude-oil tanks. By the time the ship slid to the bottom, Shell public-relations officials were touting its potential as an artificial habitat, often while looking straight into reporters' eyes.

"The many species of fish native to Newfoundland's Grand Banks have in recent years increasingly struggled to find feeding and breeding grounds," Miller said, as if Shell were deeply concerned with these circumstances and not, in fact, partially at fault for them. "We must take all available steps to help reestablish these species in their native waters."

Hoping to both deflect blame and take an opportunity for self-promotion, Miller took aim at the commercial fishing industry without so much as a smirk.

"The Global Explorer's new resting place will provide shelter for countless threatened, often over-harvested fish," he said. "At Shell, we're proud to use our multibillion-dollar, globe-spanning resources to aid a worthy environmental cause."

To see the rest of the article, click here.

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Yes, it's a good chuckle. But what isn't so funny is that on our coast, shipments of crude oil have been increasing. Last year, thirty-four crude oil tankers were loaded through Westridge Marine Terminal in Burrard Inlet. And I would hazard that it is more a question of when there will be an accident, rather than if.



If you consider the number of near misses there have been in the last ten years, we've been incredibly lucky. And if proposed pipeline expansions go ahead, it may be that our luck will run out.

To find out more about the proposed BC pipeline expansion project, visit our website at http://www.livingoceans.org/programs/energy/tankers/industry.aspx

Robson Bight Salvage - Mission Accomplished!

The term "Mission Accomplished" has achieved such a tawdry reputation in recent times that one has to be hesitant about using it. However, occasionally it is appropriate, and well deserved. We are happy to report that such is the case for the Robson Bight salvage operation. By 3pm today, the tanker truck laden with 10,000 litres of toxic diesel fuel had been lifted from the murky depths below Robson Bight and safely deposited on the attendant operations barge. The threat is no more. finis. mission accomplished!

The previous two days had been spent waiting, at times with great hope, and at times with frustration and real worry. Sunday morning was spent deploying and testing the great yellow metal box within which the tanker truck was to be housed during its journey to the surface. Everything went well, and both crew and officials were reportedly very pleased with the progress that had been made. The scene was set for the final lift, but the weather forecast was poor, and a decision was made to postpone it to the following day.

Almost coincidental with the decision to postpone the final lift, a maneuver to adjust the orientation of the fuel tanker and lift its wheels out of the muck was announced. Over the radio being used for communications between the operations team, the exchange went something like "we're not going to lift the truck today, but we're going to move it". To listeners worried about the possibly fragile state of the tanker after being unseen for nearly 2 years, the laconic remark came as a shock, provoking immediate recall of the "we're going to stir the tanks" comment that headed the Apollo 13 moon mission into disaster and heroism.


As things turned out, the currents 350m below Robson Bight were too strong to allow the maneuver on Sunday, so it was accomplished on Monday morning. The reports at first were that everything had gone well, and the tanker truck was now sitting in perfect position for the lift. Then, in the space of a moment, everything changed. The calm scene on the operations barge became suddenly energetic as numerous people rushed around tossing pieces and then bales of absorbent cloth into the water, and the little oil spill cleanup contingency operation swung into high gear, with booms being dragged between pairs of vessels that moved back & forth through the area around the operations barge. It was obvious that something unexpected had happened, and that an oil spill cleanup operation was underway. A couple of hours later, after an ROV inspection of the tanker truck, and no visible sign of a spreading oil spill, it was concluded that what had happened was a "burp" from the tanker as it was moved, and not a breach of its shell. As darkness fell, the prospect of disaster had diminished, and (most of) the crew slept well.

Tuesday morning dawned perfectly, with a flat ocean and a hint of sunshine to come. The crew went to work immediately, and by 9am the great yellow metal box intended to house the tanker and contain a spill of diesel if this happened on the way to the surface, was already below water. Several hours followed during which the ROV positioned the box around the tanker and secured it inside. A little before 1pm, the lift began, accompanied by radio borne expressions like "up easy", "stop" "all stop" "easy" "a little faster", until around 1:40pm the lift was stopped and divers entered the water for a close inspection of the box and tanker. The inspection completed,
apparently without any sign of trouble, the lift continued; a few minutes later the yellow roof of the box at last came into view. It took a full half hour of additional inspection and maneuvering before the decision was made to lift the box onto the deck of the attendant barge. By 3pm the great yellow box and its deadly cargo was secure on the barge. Not a drop of diesel had entered the water. danger averted, mission complete.

Everyone involved in this saga deserves sincere thanks, congratulations, and applause. It's a long list. We especially wish to acknowledge the tireless energy of the NGOs, led by Soinula's
Living Oceans Society and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, who convinced governments to act. The Namgis First Nation, Village of Alert Bay and Mount Waddington Regional District added persuasive voices. Once the decision had been made, the practical focus of British Columbia's Ministry of Environment, led by Randy Alexander, got the salvage effort underway. The Dutch company Mammoet Salvage, along with its Seattle partner Global Diving, performed their roles splendidly.

A couple of final whale notes: On Sunday, a group of transient orcas headed west in Johnstone Strait, passing just outside the salvage scene. They turned out to be the T18s, the same group of orcas that had been sighted nearby on August 20th 2007, the exact date of the barge accident in Robson Bight. And yesterday, amidst the anxiety of the salvage operation, a report came in of an entangled humpback whale in a nearby inlet. Crews from DFO and Straitwatch immediately headed to the scene, and found a young humpback, perhaps 2 years old, seriously entangled in more than a dozen trap lines. Eventually, and very carefully, the lines were cut and the whale swam free. What a day that was, and what a week this has been!

Dr. Paul Spong is the founder of Orcalab, a small land based whale research station nestled against the evergreen forest of Hanson Island in the waters of the "Inside Passage" of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. He was present as an observer at the Robson Bight clean up this weekend.

Photo Credit: Ministry of Environment

Clean Up Starts in Robson Bight

Footage of the wreckage in Robson Bight

The Robson Bight clean up effort to recover a fully laden fuel truck and a container of hydraulic oil barrels starts this month, almost two years after a barge tipped 11 pieces of equipment in this important ecological reserve. The equipment that spilled into the water contained an estimated 19,000 litres of petroleum.

It is unfortunate that only select pieces of equipment will be recovered: "the provincial and federal governments have decided, mainly because of cost, that the rest of the equipment, including vehicles, log loaders, a grappleyarder, bulldozer and ambulance, will be left on the bottom of the ocean."1

The federal and provincial government are sharing the costs of the clean up operation, which is estimated at about $2.5 million.

New "Green" Tug Cuts Pollution

I have always had an affinity for work boats and having owned a couple of old tugs I was intrigued by this example of the green economy at work by corporate and government partners both in Canada and the United States.

Under cold, windy and rainy skies, Seattle-based Foss Maritime on Jan. 23, 2009 introduced the first-ever diesel-electric hybrid tugboat. The unveiling came during a ceremony, attended by around 300 leaders from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the state of California, and Foss Maritime Company, who gathered with business, government and media representatives to welcome the world’s first true hybrid tug, Foss’ Green Assist™, to southern California. at the Foss berth on Pier D at the Port of Long Beach.

Foss says that the new green-and-white tug, named the Carolyn Dorothy, designed by Vancouver, B.C. based, Robert Allan and Associates, can do the same work as a traditional tug, while emitting about 44 percent fewer air pollutants.

The idea had been kicking around Foss' offices since 2006, based on the knowledge that tugboats tend to run on full power only 7% of the time and waste their 5,000-plus horsepower by idling 50% of the time. Knowing that railroads were moving to electric propulsion, Foss initially looked at switching locomotives, which are used to move trains inside rail yards.

The engineering firm, Aspin Kemp & Associates of Owen Sound, Ontario designed a way to run the diesel engine and the electrical motor generator through the same drive shaft, enabling Foss to switch to smaller batteries and smaller diesel engines.

While it operates like a standard ship berthing tug, the system's design would enable most existing tugboats to switch to the diesel-battery setup through a retrofit.

The 78-foot-long, 34-foot-wide dolphin-class tug cost upward of $8 million to construct, with the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles contributing a combined $1.3 million toward the construction. The ports provided the funding as part of the Technology Advancement Program, a component of their San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan.