Seaside Magazine welcomes your feedback! Send letters to the editor via allison@seasidemagazine.ca or post your comments on our Facebook wall! Letters may be edited for space and content.
I trust you’ll publish a contrary opinion to that of Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s executive direcor, Chris Genovali, whose axes to grind are too numerous to list (Kinder Morgan: Putting the Salish Sea at Risk, July 2014). Oil tankers, freighters and bulk carriers – even warships – have been sailing out of Vancouver, Bellingham, and Seattle for decades and I challenge him to count on more than the fingers of one hand how many maritime collisions and spills have occurred in that time. He should be pointing his finger at the dozens and dozens of cruise ships that dump their sewage tanks at the opening to the Juan de Fuca Strait. And to pollute the strait through the use of 2,500 plywood “cards” to supposedly help produce maps of potential oil spill trajectories is nothing if not pseudo-science. But that’s what a lot of environmentalists are – pseudo-scientists.
P.S. Still love the magazine though!
Lorne Peasland, Saanich
I was very upset to read the article published in your July issue called Car Buying Made Easy … For Women. In what world do women need a special explanation – from a man, no less – in order to complete a transaction? The article is breathtaking in its misogyny, assuming not only that all women know little or nothing about cars, but that all men have inborn car knowledge. It’s 2014, we’ve moved past that. Of particular value was the sentence explaining that “if you have children, they’ll require seats.” Thank goodness Al Duncan is on the case! It’s disappointing to see such a painful, obvious example of the phenomenon “mansplaining” in a magazine that appears to have women in editorial and contributory positions. Last I checked, one’s sex has nothing to do with their automotive knowledge or their comfort or experience in purchasing vehicles, and attitude is deeply out of date.
Jacqueline Fortier
I am writing in response to your July article: Kinder Morgan: Putting the Salish Sea at Risk. As a company who has been in operation in BC for more than 60 years we know that the Salish Sea is of significant cultural, economic and environmental value to the people who live and work here. Today our pipeline terminal serves about five tankers per month and if our proposed Trans Mountain Expansion Project is approved this could increase up to 34 tankers per month. The maximum size of the tankers however is not changing and are of similar size to other tankers currently operating in the region. The marine safety regime in the Salish Sea meets global best practices. Two B.C. Coast Pilots are on board the tankers between the Westridge Terminal and Victoria. As well, tethered tug escorts are used through Vancouver Harbour, Haro Straits and Boundary Pass. In our Application to the National Energy Board, we have recommended an extended tug escort to be in effect for the entire transit through the Salish Sea. Additionally we have recommended that a Moving Safety Zone be put into effect around all loaded tankers. We have also proposed a major enhancement of the spill response regime which would involve the establishment of five new spill response bases in the region. I encourage your readers to learn more about our project and our proposed marine safety enhancements at www.transmountain.com.
Michael Davies, Senior Director, Marine Development
Kinder Morgan Canada
