14 - North Shore News — Sunday. April 2. 2000

Clean-up company specializes in oil spills

Erin Stringer
Contributing Writer

THE aftermath of an
oil-spill can be devas-
tating.

Since 1975, Burrard Clean
Operations has been working
to minimize the damage done
to wildlife, water, and the sur-
rounding environment after
oil spills or other toxic conta-
mination.

In the past 25 years, the
staff at Burnaby’s BCO have
responded to over 450 oil
spills. The organization is cer-
tified to handle up to a
10,000-tonne spill.

"Currently, BCO has
response equipment on
standby in Prince Rupert
Harbour, after the Boree ran
aground. on March 21.

Fortunately, no pollution has
been reported.

“Over the years I’ve seen
quite a change in public
awareness,” said Martyn
Green, president of BCO.
“The message is out there,
and people are more careful
—~ maybe because they have a
public watchdog looking over
their shoulder.”

Under the Canadian
Shipping Act, any vessel over
400 tonnes, and any oil
tanker over 150 tonnes must
have an agreement with an oil
handling company in case of a
spill.

Equipped with a multi-
tude of high-tech machines
and satellite mapping devices,
BCO has a mobile unit with a
computer system that can
indicate what types of wildlife
are present at a given time,

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Richmond Centre South
6551 #3 Road
Richmond
276-2606

Mail Order
P.O. Box 31086
28-2929 St. dohn St.
Pon Moody. B.C. V3H 2CO
(604) 276-2208

and related information on
risks such as spawning salmon
or archeological sites in the
area.

The last spill the company
attended was a 25-ronne
canola leak about a month
ago in the Neptune terminal
in Vancouver.

“There were some birds

impacted,” said Green, who
became BCO*s president in
1976. “It was fairly cold, and
we had a mortality of about
40 birds. Thank goodness it
wasn’t more.”

Green says canola spills,
although not as toxic to the
water as oil spills, are just as
damaging to wildlife.

“Birds don’t know the dif-
ference,” he said. “It's aff the
same to them.”

BCO has transportation
and clean-up units for birds,
and animal services like the
SPCA are called in to help
clean the oil-soaked birds if
needed.

“I think in some cases with

wildlife, we weigh the eftects
of cleaning. If there's, say, a
seagull that’s been floating
around for owe or three days,
covered in oil, is it worth iv?
You may just be creating a
trauma for the animal.”
Survival is less than 50%,

See Oiled page 22

photo BCO

STAFF from Burrard Clean Operations load equipment on to one of the company’s vessels. BCO, which is
based in Burnaby, has been dealing with the clean-up of oil spills and other materials for the last 25 years.

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