Protecting the Birds of the Salish Sea

On June 4 last year I submitted my concerns about Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP) to the Joint Review Panel of the National Energy Board (NEB). Here’s the part of my submission that focuses on birds:

Do you know how much oil it takes to kill a sea bird? One teaspoon. 

Oiled ducks after the Exxon-Valdez spill.
(Photo: CC license.)

And how many actually survive, even after cleaning? Estimates run from one to ten per cent. Yes, between 90 and 99 per cent die anyway. Some scientists have said it’s a waste of effort. This quote is from Spiegel Online International (May 2010): 

“ ‘Kill, don’t clean,’ is the recommendation of a German animal biologist, who this week said that massive efforts to clean oil-soaked birds in Gulf of Mexico won’t do much to stop a near certain and painful death for the creatures. Despite the short-term success in cleaning the birds and releasing them back into the wild, few, if any, have a chance of surviving, says Silvia Gaus, a biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. ‘According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under one percent,’ Gaus says. …. Catching and cleaning oil-soaked birds often times leads to fatal amounts of stress for the animals, Gaus says. Furthermore, forcing the birds to ingest coal solutions – or Pepto Bismol, as animal-rescue workers are doing along the Gulf Coast— in an attempt to prevent the poisonous effects of the oil is ineffective, Gaus says. The birds will eventually perish anyway from kidney and liver damage.” … 

“It’s a small world, and what happens on the BC coast will affect all those birds that use the Pacific Flyway as their migration route between South or Central America and Alaska and the Boreal Forest. To devastate the coast is to affect not just BC birds but all those that rely on a hospitable BC coast for their migratory journeys.”

The Boreal Forest, which over half of North America's
300+ breeding bird species call home.

I was one of 1,161 people who submitted comments to the public hearing. Two commenters were in favour of the project; 1,159 were opposed. So it was distressing, to say the least, when the NEB approved the project, albeit with conditions. Then, today, Prime Minister Harper "announced" (via a press release!) that the project was a GO. This after the people of Kitimat said NO by referendum in April and after First Nations peoples said "absolutely not" and after thousands upon thousands of BC citizens consistently voiced their opposition to the pipeline through petitions and polls and letters and rallies.

Now I’ve been accepted as a commenter on the Kinder Morgan Pipeline (KMP) Expansion project. But what's the point? 

Still, I can’t shake the images of our beaches covered in oil, of herons, gulls, cormorants, and geese suffocating as oil clogs their pores. At least, if I submit by thoughts, they will become part of the public record. I will have spoken out on behalf of the birds whose habitat is at grave risk, but who cannot speak for themselves. 

The Kinder Morgan Pipeline runs from Edmonton to the Westridge Marine terminal in Burnaby BC, where tankers are loaded before they make their way through the First and Second Narrows, Vancouver Harbour, English Bay, Georgia Strait, the active channels of the Southern Gulf Islands, Haro Strait, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If the KMP is expanded, approximately 400 giant oil tankers will travel these waters every year.

The Salish Sea carbon corridor.
(Thanks to the Wilderness Committee.)

To make matters worse (much worse), two internationally-recognized Important Bird Areas (IBAs), Burrard Inlet and Active Pass, lie along this route. These IBAs provide key habitat for nesting, wintering, and migrating birds.

Active Pass is a biologically-rich feeding area for fish-eating birds during the spring, fall, and winter and also supports significant populations of Pacific Loon and Brandt’s Cormorant in winter and Bonaparte’s Gull on migration. 

Brandt's Cormorant.
Photo by Teddy Llovet - CC license. 

Burrard Inlet supports the Western Grebe, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Surf Scoter, and Great Blue Heron as well as the Purple Martin, Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, and Bald Eagle. 

Barrow's Goldeneye.
Photo by Donna Dewhurst - CC license

Purple Martins.
Photo by Don Wigle.

Great Blue Heron.
Photo by Sharon McInnes. 

So I'll probably participate in the Public Hearing. But one thing I know for sure: commenting publicly won’t be enough. 

A version of this article was published 

in The Flying Shingle (www.flyingshingle.com) on June 16 2014