FACTS MATTER： Here's the truth about oil spills
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144.43544
Summary
The world is shipping way more oil, and with far fewer accidents and spills. Globally, the world ships about 3 billion metric tons of oil each year, and as I mentioned in a previous video, this includes about 20,000 oil tanker ships that come and go from Canadian ports each year. Over the last 40 years, the number of oil spills from tanker ships has fallen dramatically.
Transcript
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a moratorium on tanker ships off the northern coast of British
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Columbia. His decision immediately killed the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project and it destroyed
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the livelihood and the economic well-being of countless Canadian families who work in our
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energy industry. It also made way for environmental activists and the B.C. government to try to ban
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all ships carrying Alberta oil from our west coast. Now the environmentalists are worried about a tanker
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spill and the potentially devastating impact that that could have. They do have a point. It's a real
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concern because this type of thing has happened before. Back in 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker
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was leaving Alaska to carry oil down to California. As it was leaving it struck a reef in the Prince
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William Sound and it spilled about 10 million gallons of crude oil. This was one of the most
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devastating environmental disasters of its time. But that was 30 years ago and there's been tremendous
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improvements in shipping techniques, in safety and technology in those past 30 years. Just look at
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this one graph. It really says it all. Over the last 40 years the number of oil spills has fallen
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spectacularly. There was one tenth as many spills in 2015 as there was in 1975. But during that same
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40-year period the amount of oil that is shipped by sea has more than doubled. The world is shipping way
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more oil and with far fewer accidents and spills. Globally the world ships about 3 billion metric tons of oil
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each year. And as I mentioned in a previous video this includes about 20,000 oil tanker ships that come
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and go from Canadian ports each year. Now meanwhile the number of oil spills from tanker ships has fallen
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dramatically. In 1973 there were 100 tanker spills around the world. In 2016 the number fell to just 5.
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That includes all oil spills including very very minor ones. Now when we're talking about what is
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considered a significant spill it's a spill of more than 700 tons which is about the amount that would
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fill up a large hot tub. In 1978 there were 32 major tanker spills and in 2016 there was only one. In the past
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decade that line has fallen almost completely flat. There basically haven't been any significant spills from
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tanker ships. We should be celebrating these advancements in technology and safety not banning
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something based on misinformation, fear and conspiracies. Look I'm from British Columbia. I grew up on the water and
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protecting our environment and our coastlines is an absolute top concern. It should be for everyone. But facts matter and
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our laws and our policies should be based on an honest and realistic look at the facts at hand.
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For the True North Initiative, I'm Candice Malcolm.