The federal government’s public prosecution service has filed environmental charges in connection with a 2015 oil spill in English Bay that resulted in oil washing up on the beaches of West Vancouver.
Ten charges under the Canada Shipping Act, federal Fisheries Act and Canadian Migratory Birds Act were filed in Vancouver provincial court last month against the MV Marathassa and Alassia Newships Management Inc., the Greece-based ship’s owners.
Charges include unauthorized discharge of a pollutant, failure to implement an oil pollution emergency plan and failure to report pollution.
Charges stem from an incident on April 8, 2015, when about 2,700 litres of bunker fuel oil flowed from the MV Marathassa, a grain ship, into the waters of English Bay and Burrard Inlet.
In the wake of the spill, marble-sized blobs of tar began washing up on North Shore beaches.
Sandy Cove, Dundarave, Ambleside and some shoreline near the Lions Gate Bridge were the local areas hardest hit by the oil spill, and resulted in beaches being closed and crab fishing in Burrard Inlet being temporarily banned.
“We were affected by the spill rather directly,” said Jeff McDonald, spokesman for the District of West Vancouver.
McDonald said the municipality is “pleased that the federal government is pursuing charges where they seem appropriate.”
The municipality spent about $60,000 dealing with the fallout from the spill – mostly in staff time to patrol shore areas and inform the public of beach closures. McDonald said West Vancouver was able to recover about $50,000 of that through the province’s disaster assistance fund.
Despite initial gaps in the spill reporting by both the ship’s crew and federal authorities, McDonald said later oil cleanup efforts in West Vancouver were good and the district has not experienced any obvious long-term impacts.
Miscommunication and uncertainty about roles and responsibilities between the Coast Guard, Port Metro Vancouver and Western Canada Marine Response Corp. stymied the start of the cleanup effort in Burrard Inlet for nearly two hours after the spill started, according to a review of the spill conducted by former Coast Guard assistant commissioner John Butler.
In addition, 13 hours went by between the time a West Vancouver resident first reported an oil slick on the water to the Canadian Coast Guard and the time District of West Vancouver staff eventually learned the next morning of the fuel spill that hit local shores.
In response to the environmental charges, the ship’s owners filed an application in federal court March 22 asking for a judicial review and a delay of the case on technical grounds that Environment Canada did not properly serve senior company officials with notice of the charges.
Both a hearing on the application and the first court appearance on the charges are scheduled for the coming week.
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