Friends, Currently, the pusher tugboat, Nathan E Stewart and one, or the other of its 10,000-ton capacity barges is moored at Burnaby Mountain, loading up at the Kinder Morgan terminal for its voyage north. The Nathan E Stewart will then travel up the Georgia Strait, often via Sabine Channel, and on through Johnstone Straits and all the way up through the protected waters of the purportedly tanker-free BC Inside Passage and Great Bear Rainforest, all the way up to the Alaska Panhandle, where it disgorges its dirty-oil load. It was anchored near 2nd Narrows for the past few days, and has now moved to the terminal. I expect it to head north soon. As far as I am aware, the Nathan E Stewart pusher tug/barge combo is the largest petroleum tanker currently plying the BC Coast. Over the past few years I have been tracking the New York City-registered tugboat Nathan E Stewart and its two 300-ft 10,000 ton capacity petroleum-tanker barges, DBL 54, and DBL55 which currently run a regular scheduled traffic between the Puget Sound petro- ports at Anacortes and Everett, Burnaby Mountain, Vancouver, and from there, non-stop to Alaska. This pusher tug/barge combo departs loaded several times a month, from either Everett, or Anacortes Washington,or Burnaby Mountain, Vancouver, and then heads up through Georgia Strait, often through Sabine Channel, through Johnstone Strait, Fitz Hugh, right past Bella Bella, and on up to Alaska. Ive also tracked it down to Portland Oregon, where its 2 barges, DBL 54, and DBL 55, are registered. The Nathan E Stewart and its barges are owned by Texas-based Kirby Corporation. The Kirby Corporation is the premier tank barge operator in the United States, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, along all three U.S. Coasts, and in Alaska (my emphasis, -doesnt mention going through BC to get there) and Hawaii. Kirbys service includes the transporting of petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemical products by tank barge. Last March, 2014, a day before the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdes disaster, a similar pusher tug/barge combo, also owned by Kirby Corp, crashed into a container ship at the entrance to Galveston Bay, Texas and sank, spewing 200,000 gallons of oil into the bay, creating a 12 mile slick. In December, 2011, the Nathan E Stewart and its barge ran into a heavy storm off Cape Fairweather Alaska. Thirty foot seas flooded both engines rendering the ship out of control and dead in the water. It drifted for hours before being rescued by the US Coast Guard and towed. You can view harrowing video footage from the bridge of the Nathan E Stewart during the height of the storm here I believe that it is no coincidence that BCs World-Class Oil Spill Response service , the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC), which has a monopoly mandate for the entire BC coast, as the sole enterprise responsible for oil disasters, is tasked to be able to respond to a 10,000 ton spill, -exactly the capacity of DBL 55. WCMRC) is owned by tar-sands producers, Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Chevron and Suncor. You can track the Nathan E Stewart to a certain extent on it regular course between Puget Sound, Washington and Alaska via the AIS Shiptracker website, marinetraffic/en/ but AIS-equipped ships go out of range past Pine Island, then appear again at Bella Bella, where there is an AIS repeater and then disappear again until Rupert. PacificWild has installed an AIS receiver at the top of the mountain behind Bella Bella, but it is currently out of commission. As far as I can see, there is virtually no AIS service between Bella Bella and Prince Rupert, nor appears to be any along the Alaska Panhandle. I want answers to the following questions: What permit allows the Nathan E Stewart and its oil-tanker barge, DBL55 to ply the BC coast via the Inside Passage? Who owns it? Who does it work for? Who issued it? Is there a signature? When was the permit issued? What fees are involved? What remuneration to the People of Canada? ~and of course any other pertinent information that may come out See links below I believe this 10,000-ton oil-tanker offers nothing but inevitable disaster for our coast. If anyone is interested in receiving up-dates and heads-ups regarding the movements of this ship, Ill be posting on my FB page. Cheers, and Best Wishes!! Ingmar
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 07:20:26 +0000
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