British Columbia Wildlife Concern

British Columbians are surrounded by things of wonder and beauty, from the pattern of a spider's web in the green shade of a rain forest to a roaring tidal rapid between two offcoast islands. Our land is so vast and so rich in wilderness and natural resources that we ought to be able to trust that our grandchildren will receive a rich, unsullied inheritance. Yet we face enormously powerful new armies of greed led by men who believe that nothing God ever made should be allowed to get in the way of making a fast buck.

As expected by all and feared by many, B.C.'s new right-wing premier, Gordon Campbell, is already talking up that environmental bogey, offshore oil drilling.

More than a dozen years ago David Anderson, now federal environment minister, led a study that judged such operations far too risky for the fish-rich and incredibly beautiful coastline with its great tourism potential. Then, the knowledge of what a major oil spill would do to the thousands of kilometres of shoreline and inland waters was enough to keep politicians' sticky fingers away from the drill-rigs. But today, Campbell and his all-powerful majority may be able to activate the machinery.

Public memory is short, and the horror of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound is fading fast. Haven't we greatly enhanced the safety factors in marine transport of oil? Aren't the big oil corporations much more concerned about possible harm to the environment? Well, the answer to both questions is No.  But industry spin doctors are working hard to make us think Yes.

Even if the answer were Yes, it isn't the inevitability of an accident in those infamously stormy seas around the Queen Charlotte Islands that's the scariest prospect. The real fright is the total absence of integrity, principle and common decency by the companies involved - even to today.

For years before the Exxon Valdez went aground on Bligh Reef and began dumping 240,000 barrels of oil, there was a consortium of corporations called Alyeska which smugly assured state officials and the public that it was fully prepared for any spill emergency, even a major spill of 200,000 barrels or more.

As untold thousands of mammals, birds and fish were dying in the aftermath of pitifully slow and totally ineffective containment efforts, one Alaskan official commented: "Alyeska's contingency plan is the greatest work of marine fiction since Moby Dick."

Since then, assorted courts have found Exxon and others liable for much of the losses suffered by the people of Prince William Sound, and for massive cleanup costs, and ordered to pay compensation. But instead of paying for the damage their lies, greed and carelessness caused, the petroleum moguls prefer to pay an army of lawyers to clog the courts with appeals.

A 1990 book, IN THE WAKE OF THE EXXON VALDEZ (by Art Davidson, Douglas & McIntyre), sets out much of the tragedy and its aftermath. The profits in oil are so enormous that it seems any risk is worth taking. From 1969 through 1987, the Alaska-based industry made a profit estimated at $42 billion. Just a single day's profit each year might have been enough to build a real oil spill response system instead of a fictional one.

A few months after the Exxon spill, a woman named Claire Atkins, one of Exxon's 730,000 shareholders, filed suit against the corporation's officers, demanding that they repay the company for losses their actions incurred. "It's so horrifying to realize the damage these large corporations can cause," she said. "People have to be accountable. I don't care how rich you are, you shouldn't be allowed to let things like this happen.

"So many birds and animals died. I want to take my grandchildren to places like Africa and Alaska to see the wild creatures. And I want them to learn that they have to help save those animals. It's critical, very critical.

"But it doesn't appear that Exxon's officers really care about these things."

Oh, really, Mrs. Atkins? Whatever gave you that idea?

Maybe it was what happened on New Year's Day, 1990: An Exxon pipeline between New York's Staten Island and New Jersey broke, spewing about 2.5 million litres of heating oil into a nesting area for rare wading birds. Exxon workers were alerted by an alarm, but ignored it for six hours because it was known to be unreliable.

Today, some of these same corporate officers are being invited by U.S. President George W. Bush to begin drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, setting off what will damage or destroy the continent's greatest remaining caribou herds. These same delightful characters (still shipping crude in the patched-up Exxon Valdez) likely would participate in the B.C. offshore bonanza Mr. Campbell drools over.

Will anyone try to find out why Mr. Bush's brother, the governor of Florida, opposes oil drilling off his state's shore? Will greed become the overwhelming factor in the economic future of British Columbia, despite its fragile riches of salmon, wildlife, forests and wildness?

Of course we should go for the vast financial rewards of hitting gushers in our coastal waters. And at the same time, we should invite Saddam Hussein to come on over and make sure things are done right.

Tony Eberts is a columnist and environmentalist whose fourty years with The Vancouver Province helped shape a consciousness of BC's wildlife issues.

abeberts@telus.net

"But it doesn't appear that Exxon's officers really care about these things."

Oh, really, Mrs. Atkins? Whatever gave you that idea?