Pamela Anderson expresses her opposition to oil tankers shipping crude oil out of Vancouver harbour. Join the No Tanks Coalition www.notanks.org

In 2007, without any public notification or discussion, tankers started exporting Tar Sands crude oil from Vancouver Harbour. The tar sands are the world's largest and dirtiest industrial project and the largest single source of greenhouse gas pollution on the planet.

Two tankers a week, carrying up to 3 times the amount of crude oil that the Exxon Valdez spilled, travel under the 2nd Narrows and Lions Gate bridges with in some cases only meters of clearance from the ocean floor. The oil industry wants to increase that to ten tankers a week. A 30 second navigational error could result in a catastrophic accident. Even with double hull technology, tankers have spilled tens of thousands of barrels of oil after minor accidents. What would happen with if a ship carrying 700,000 barrels of crude oil had a major accident?

Crude Oil spilled in Vancouver harbour would spread through Georgia Straight and Juan De Fuca straight, destroying the marine environment, killing fish, birds, marine mammals and shellfish. It would destroy fishing, tourism and other coastal industries costing the BC economy billions of dollars.

There's no need to export crude oil over water. Every tanker load of crude oil exported from Canada represents a loss of Canadian refining jobs. The eastern provinces have to import oil from the Middle East, every tanker exporting crude oil represents a loss of national energy security. The climate change crisis demands that we slow down and eliminate the use of fossil fuels not increase exports from dirty sources.

The risks are unacceptable it's time to demand a legislative ban on crude oil tankers on Canada's west coast and develop a sane Canadian energy security policy.

Join the No Tanks Coalition at www.notanks.org