1. The Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on
ECRC~SIMEC
Presentation to the
The Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on
The Behaviour and Environmental Impacts of Crude Oil Released into Aqueous Environments
Robert Starkes
Manager Atlantic Region

2. Presentation Contents
ECRC~SIMEC overview
Response examples with crude oils
Training and development activities
Opportunities for development
Health and safety considerations
Response strategies

3. ECRC Overview Mandate and Mission
Provide marine oil spill response capacity for its Canada Shipping Act Membership (designated oil handling facilities (OHF) and vessels of a prescribed class) throughout it’s Geographic Area of Response (GAR).
Mission
Maintain a constant state of preparedness and operational readiness consistent with the legislation at an affordable cost to our Members.
Provide value added preparedness services to all of our members.
Assume a leadership role in the preparedness to oil spill response within the community at large.

4. ECRC Overview ECRC~SIMEC Clients
>1900 total members
>1900 Vessel Members (>600 Bulk & >1300 Non-Bulk)
>40 OHF Members with >80 Facilities
>20 Subscribers (Elective Members Pay an Annual Fee, but no bulk oil cargo Fee )
Enbridge Pipelines, Montreal Pipe Line Ltd., Trans Northern Pipelines, Hibernia Mgt & Dev. Co. Ltd, Husky Oil, Exxon-Mobil, Suncor Energy, Chevron, M-I Drilling Fluids NS, Bruce Power, Hydro Quebec, IOL Pipe Line, CN Rail , CP Rail…

5. ECRC Overview Geographical Area of Coverage
Vancouver
Juan de Fuca
Strait
Lake Athabaska
Fort McMurray
Sarnia
Sept-Iles
Lake Winnipeg
Niagara
Montreal
Quebec
Saint John
Northumberland
Halifax
Point Tupper
Cabot Strait
Come-By-Chance
Holyrood
Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC)
Atlantic Emergency Response Team (ALERT)
Point Tupper Marine Services (PTMS)
Eastern Canada Response Corporation (ECRC)

6. ECRC Overview Response Centres
Sept Iles
Holyrood
Quebec City
Verchères
St. John’s
Corunna
Dartmouth

7. ECRC Overview Response Capacity
2,500 tonnes capacity at five Response Centres & 3,500 tonnes at St. John’s, NL.
Road transportable and preloaded on trailers
Variety of equipment for containment, recovery, transfer, clean-up
Trained operators accompany the equipment
16,000 tonnes capacity within ECRC nationally
Over 31,000 tonnes available via Mutual Aid across Canada's 4 Response Organizations (RO’s)
46 ECRC personnel, >100 Advisors and >500 trained 3rd party contractors (responders)
Additional capability via the Global Response Network

8. ECRC Overview Response Equipment
WORK BOATS
STORAGE BARGE
GP BOOM
SEATRUCK
SWEEP SYSTEM
SKIMMER
HEAVY OIL SKIMMING
FLOATING STORAGE TANKS

9. ECRC Overview Spill Responses
Typically incidents per year
>300 responses in 20 years (3 Regions)
Varying sizes: 1 litre to >1000m3
Wide range of products – Jet fuel to Bunker C, conventional and synthetic crudes
Different environments – fresh, estuarine, marine
Varying durations: 1 day to 3 years (seasonal)
Across all seasons and temperatures -30°C to 30°C
Working in snow, ice, and pack ice conditions
Involving workers

10. Operational Experience Crude Oil
Operational experiences with crude oil in different aqueous environments, include:
Open ocean environment
Beaver ponds and stream
Sheltered marine
Gulf of Mexico
Fen and pond
Lake and river
River with ice cover

11. Operational Experience Offshore Newfoundland
Open ocean environment – crude oil

12. Operational Experience Mitsue Hill, Alberta
Pipeline spill (~1100m3 of crude oil) into a small stream and beaver ponds

13. Operational Experience Sheltered Marine
Marine terminal (OHF) in Halifax Harbour
Small spill of crude oil

14. Operational Experience Deepwater Horizon, GOM
ECRC provided SCAT Team Leaders

15. Operational Experience Deepwater Horizon, GOM
Snorkel SCAT

16. Operational Experience Northern Alberta
Pipeline spill of 1300bbl of light synthetic crude across land into a fen and pond

17. Operational Experience Northern Alberta
Air monitoring requirements
Respirator requirements

18. Operational Experience Lac Megantic, Quebec
Train Derailment – Bakken crude spilled into lake and river.
River bed SCAT Assessment

19. Operational Experience Lac Megantic, Quebec
River treatment operations

20. Operational Experience Gagoma, Ontario
Train derailment near ice-covered river
Light synthetic crude

21. Training and Development
Selected training areas
Responder training program
Core training for >500 responders)
Oil-in-ice training
SCAT training
Land-spills (truck rollover) training
Incident Command System (ICS) training
Tidal inlets protection response techniques
Offshore response equipment

22. Training and Development
Conference Attendance
Regular attendance to key oil spill response conferences (IOSC, AMOP, InterSpill, Clean Gulf, REET)
Workshops
Sinking Oils Workshop
Diluted Bitumen Workshop
Group IV Oils Workshop
Effects of Oil on Wildlife Workshop
Oil-In-Ice Workshop
Land-spills (truck rollover) workshop
Tidal Inlets Protection Strategies Workshop

23. Training and Development
Other activities:
100’s of table-top and field exercises
Participation in oil weathering studies
Review of oil testing results
Modeling software training (OilMap)
Regular use of ADIOS modeling
Sensitivity and operational mapping system
Participation in NOFO Oil-On-Water Exercise

24. Training and Development
ECRC is a member of the Global Response Network (GRN)
Active contributors to GRN Operational Teams
Offshore
Remote Sensing
Dispersants
In-Situ Burning
Near-Shore
Ice-Covered Waters

25. Training and Development
Response personnel need to have an understanding of both oil properties and practical response strategies for different environments
Tidal Inlet Protection Strategies
Kinder Morgan Dilbit Study

26. Opportunities for Development Health and Safety
From a response perspective, a key element across all environments is…….People
Need to address personnel health and safety issues as a priority
Key considerations for early-on-scene responders
Air monitoring requirements
Better characterization of oils regarding: explosive hazards, benzene levels, VOC’s, H2S
Personal protective equipment requirements
Respiratory protection
Clothing protection

27. Opportunities for Development Response Strategies
Oil-on-water exercises
Dispersant testing field trials
In-situ burning
Windows of opportunity
Potential use of herding agents
Oil-in-ice (pack/broken ice)
Dispersant
Knowledge sharing - academic to application

28. QUESTIONS???