C2-Wednesday, June 18, 1980 - North Shore News

Preparing armada to battle tankers

FROM PAGE C1

one in a long line of victories
that have been chalked up
over the years, largely
because of the tenacity and
dedication of its members in
their goal of environmental
preservation.

Their next opponents

though, are likely to be their
biggest challenge to date.
Ss

SUPERTA!

With Greenpeace ‘having
spowballed from its meagre
Vancouver origins of just a
few years ago to where there
are now 35 autonomous
offices of the organization in
various parts of the world,
other groups geographically
closer to the locations of
whaling and sealing can now
take over such = aspects
formerly handled from
Vancouver.

This leaves the local group
free to concentrate all its
efforts into its current
priority - curbing the threat
of spills from supertankers
ferrying oil down the west
coast from Alaska to US.
refineries in Washington.

Plans on how to ac-
complish their objectives are
as ambitious as any of thew
projects yet. But the success
of guerilla-style tactics
Greenpeace members have
employed in furthering
previous causes makes its
difficult simply to brush
aside the scheme as being
beyond feasibility.

Its success hinges on the
cooperation of the many
leisure boaters of this coast,
among whom Greenpeace
feels there are thousands
who share the organization's
concer over the possibility
of an oil spill wiping out vast
stretches of shorchine

The Greenpeace pian bs to
gather the boaters together
tato an Armada, of sufficient
size to block the Seralt of
Juan de Fuca to off tankers.

The idea ts to force the
US Government and the oil

companics to reroute the

tankors’ passage = further
offshore to lessen the risk to
the coast

“God knows what will

e. apitano man

~ BONUS OFFER

Book now for your
pre-summer facial

and receive a make up
lesson at NO § XTRA CHARGE !

Now offering leg & Orhan lie wang!

oy final a4 te Sd anahis % me

‘Care * Makeup Artistry -

come down,” says Green-
peace President Patrick
Moore from the foundation's
office on Fourth Avenue, in
Vancouver.

“Our job is to stick 5,000
boats on a supertanker and
do battle with it, in effect.”

To Moore, the task ts a
mission. “We see images of
Dunkirk and masses of little

aS aa

“WE SEE IMAGES

of Dunkirk”.
boats. Only this tame. in-
stead of rescuing soldiers we
will be rescuing the en-
vironment.

At this moment, members
of Greenpeace are doing
everything they can to raise
the initial $150-200,000 to
organize the monumental
task.

Naturally, Greenpeace
feels it needs the support of
everybody it can reach,
which is why its members
looked upon access to the
North Shore for canvassing
as being so essental,

But it is not mercly to
collect cash that Green
peace wanted to reach the
North Shore. Moore beheves
citizens of this shore have
reason for at least as much
interest in helping, Wf avt
morc so, than anybody

“We know there are all
kinds of people on the North
Shore who will be affected

by a spill from these
supertankers.” he = says

“Sports fishermen, com
mercial fishermeno.
recreational boaters.

waterfront property owners.
coviroamentalists marinas
operators government
departments conceracd with
marine resources. and native
people We beheve a bot of

people in North Vane ouver

980-9419

ow

Desigqna: Wigs

fall into one of
categories.” . ;
Because of this he w
particularly disappointed in
the initial reaction by the
District council and the
comments of its members
when Greenpeace applied to
canvass the area for support.

PROPAGANDA
'“The image of us as
hippies is just propaganda.
We are neither Marnxist-
Lenaoinists or hippie rabble

those

rousers,” he says, clearly
unamused by cither
description.

The smile returns to his
face as he adds: “Yo-yos?”
Well maybe he (Alderman
Jim Ball) has a point there!”

Such attitudes ‘towards
Greenpeace are not general
of pohticians, Moore says.

“In the government
bureacracies we are treated
fairly nicely by the cabinet
ministers. John Fraser, the
former Minister of En-
vironment, is [00 per cent in
favor of us on this. He is a
member of Greenpeace and
has told me he will beip us
stop the supertankers.~

Moore says the super-
tanker traffic is already as
heavy as it is cver going to
be.

“There are 650,000 barrels
of off goimg through the
Straight of Juan de Fuca
every day. An oil spill is
incvitable ”

Such a situation, he feels.
might cause irrevocable
damage to relations between
the U.S. and Canada

“I just don’t think they
have thought about what will

* SPRAYING
* PRUNING
* ROOT FEE DING

SICK TREES?
DYING SHRUBS?

happen if they destroy the
west coast of Vancouver
Island. They will be just
hated and should not be
doing these things or let this
possibility happen.”

DEMANDS

Moore lists six demands
Greenpeace is making:
1. All tankers must stay
outside the 200 mile limit.
“The Americans have a right
to be within 15 miles of the
Canadian Coast and it 1s
stupid. They are cutting in
on the fishing fleets off the
Charlottes.”

2. Tankers should have to
meet rigid safety
specifications, with double
hulls and double boilers.

3. They should not be
allowed to travel within 25
miles of land in the dark.

4. Tanker speeds should be
restricted to 5-10 knots when
near land. “At present they
go between 16 and 17
knots.”

5. Tankers should be led by
escort boats when near land
and be in direct and constant
communication with such
escorts.

6. “They should not be there
at all.”

The sixth demand is the
essence of the Greenpeace
attitude to oil tankers.

“To support any route 1s
tantamount to supporting
the L.A. freeway system, as
far as I'm concerned,” says
Moore

The Greenpeace plan to
achicve this is to organize a
coalition and put together a
deicgation of recognized

BEAUTIFUL LAWNS & TREES
HAVE BEEN OUR BUSINESS FOR 28 YEARS

EMERALD LAWNS LTD.

CALL THE EXPERTS

FOR FREE ESTIMATES PHONE:

985-7471

leaders from all walks of life
in Canada and in particular
B.C.

Such a delegation would
include heads of  en-
vironmental groups and
corporations, who would ask
to be received in Weshinton
D.C. to voice their concerns.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace
will be asking the thousands
of local boaters to register
their support with = the
foundation and offer to jom
the blocade. Moore feels
that if 20-30,000 boat owners
register it would be
reasonable to count on a
blocade of 5,000.

“Our objective is to stop
that supertanker and make it
take its oil somewhere else.”

NOT INEVITABLE

Moore imsists that the
success of the operation will
depend on the determination
of the public.

“The firsf hurdle and our
real message to the people of
B.C. is that they must not fall
into the trap of thinking
these tankers are = an
inevitability.

“They can be stopped.
They are merely pieces of
metal floating down with oil
on them. They are not an
integral part of life.”

Moore insists they must be
stopped and the public must
be roused into action.

“1 know people give a4
damn about it,” he stresses
“I know they do.”

“We have proved we can
do this sort of thing and we
want pcopic to help us .~

* LAWN FERTILIZER
* WEED CONTROL