Robson Bight's worrying lessons

We've criticized Environment Minister Barry Penner for the sluggish response after a barge loaded with logging equipment -- including a tanker truck full of diesel fuel -- dumped its cargo in Robson Bight last year.

So it's fair to praise both Penner and federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn for launching a salvage effort to recover the equipment, particularly the tanker truck with 10,000 litres of fuel. The operation, expected to cost $750,000 to $1 million, is critical to protect killer whales in the ecological reserve.

The challenge now is to drive the recovery process forward as rapidly as possible, with the maximum safeguards in place for the inherently risky operation.

The migratory whales will return to Robson Bight in late June or July. The recovery work needs to be completed before they arrive, given the risks, or it might have to wait until next spring.

That kind of delay would create new dangers; each month beneath the surface means more corrosion and potentially catastrophic failure of the fuel tanks on the vehicles.

While we applaud the decision, the federal and provincial governments should launch a proper review of this debacle and their slow response. The list of questions requiring answers is long.

- Why was the barge being towed through the reserve in the first place? The area is supposed to be off limits to shipping. (Initial government reports wrongly claimed the barge capsized outside the reserve boundaries.)

- Why did the Canadian Coast Guard say there was no need to inspect the wreckage, arguing -- again wrongly -- that the diesel truck would have imploded under the pressure on the seabed?

- And why did the coast guard claim that underwater inspection would be too costly, citing an exaggerated estimate?

- Why did it take the federal and provincial government two critical months to agree to pay for the underwater inspection, then almost another two months to arrange the mission?

- And why did it take eight months from the time of the incident for the government agencies to make a decision on raising the threatening seabed debris, increasing both the continuing risk and the challenge of raising the equipment?

Of course, care must be taken to ensure the correct choices are made. But these delays are extraordinary, especially when the public would expect protocols and plans to be in place for just such predictable occurrences on our heavily travelled coast.

Given the federal and provincial government's interest in increased tanker traffic and offshore oil and gas development, it's critical that they learn from the poor response to this disaster..