If an oil spill occurs in the marine environment, multiple organizations quickly take co-ordinated action to mitigate public and environmental impacts.
Although vessels are responsible for a release or spill on water, Trans Mountain has committed to working with spill responders to help minimize damages.
Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) is comprised of a team of spill response professionals (biologists, environmentalists, engineers, fire and police, and others trained specifically in the handling of oil products), and is funded through a tariff charged to every vessel entering Port Metro Vancouver.
Their ability to effectively manage and direct spill response procedures within the first few hours after response activation significantly reduces the negative impacts oil can have on the surrounding environment.
In the event of a spill, WCMRC personnel immediately respond with carefully designed strategies and countermeasures. WCMRC maintains various response-oriented warehouses and equipment caches that can be activated such as containment booms, skimmers and vessels.
Incident Command team members, supervisors, vessel skippers and crew, technical assistance personnel, advisors and others, are pooled both from within WCMRC and from its network of partners across Canada, the USA and around the world:
- The Canadian Coast Guard: The lead federal agency for responding to spills and ensuring an appropriate first course of action
- Environment Canada: The lead federal agency for providing environmental advice and expertise in the event of a spill
- Transport Canada: The governing body for developing guidelines and establishing a regulatory framework for preparedness and response to ship-source spills