There Will Be Spills

In an opinion piece I wrote for Peace and Environment News in 2010 I noted how spills and other incidents are surprisingly common in Canada's oil industry:

Whether it is a blown-out well or an emergency shutdown due to supply chain glitches, unforeseen mistakes or explosions ... such spontaneous bursts of ecological damage are simply part of doing business. Despite what our silver-tongued officials in government and industry suggest, let it be known that when it comes to Canada's oil sector, there have been spills, there are currently spills, and there will be more spills.

I hate to say "I told you so" in this somewhat sinister instance, but a recent interactive map compiled by the CBC points out that since the turn of the Century (between 2000 and 2012) there have been 1047 "pipeline incidents" in Canada, most of which involved some amount of oil spillage (see below). What is worse, the rate of incidents has doubled in that short time. Again, we can conclude that accidents are an inevitable part of the industrial processes involved in petroleum production. And this map simply shows pipeline accidents. What about the recent spate of rail freight accidents and other heavy oil spills - such as the major spill at Cold Lake which does not seem to be getting adequate attention in the mainstream media? Add these all up and the amount of oil spilling in this nation is frightening - we've have the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez disaster taking place every year, yet it seems to be evading notice.

So what? Well, here's the thing. In the media we are constantly told by representatives in government and industry that oil offers so many economic benefits. We are constantly reminded that the industry is a job creator and a driver of growth. Benefits benefits benefits. But that vision of growth is clearly offset by the costs - both real tangible costs in dollar figures and intangible costs that you cannot valuate monetarily - costs that accrue from these types of incidents, which seem to occur at the same rate as industrial expansion. Why is it then that these costs are never internalized into our assessment of the "benefits" of oil industry expansion?

It ended up costing Exxon $3.8 billion to clean up the Valdez disaster. So how many billions of dollars (or equivalent) are Canadians having to pay for the social and ecological costs of doing business? It's likely impossible to say, but clearly when looked at in this light the incessant talk about 'benefits' takes on a new dimension. We need a more honest way of talking about the real long term social and ecological costs and benefits of Canada's growing oil industry.