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Analysis: What Bill C-22 Means For Oil Spill Cleanup in Canada

March 11, 2015

Analysis: What Bill C-22 Means For Oil Spill Cleanup in Canada

After BP’s Deepwater Horizon well blowout in April 2010, responders dumped approximately 1.84 million gallons of chemical dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to stop the oil slick from fouling fragile coastal environments. The use of such a massive quantity of dispersants, coupled with serious gaps in knowledge about the possible environment impacts of dispersant use, prompted a public outcry and led the United States Environmental Protection Agency to publicly rebuke the company and order them to use fewer (and less toxic) dispersants.

By contrast, in Canada, it has traditionally been unclear whether the use of STAs to clean up marine oil spills is even legal. Because of the toxic ingredients of some STAs, their use could violate several federal laws (such as the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, and the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, among others) without special permission that could be sought on a case-by-case basis.

A chemical dispersant is a kind of “spill-treating agent” (or “STA”) that is designed to break up an oil slick and dilute the oil by mixing it into the water. A chemical dispersant isn’t truly a clean-up tool — it doesn’t take any spilled oil out of the environment, and by the time a dispersant is applied, it’s already too late to save most life forms in the vicinity of the spill.

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