Misty MacDuffee explains the lethal consequences of oil spills, tanker traffic and pipelines

After Raincoast’s research was published last month, demonstrating the vulnerability of BC’s marine mammals to oil spills, Misty MacDuffee joined Pamela McCall on CFAX 1070.

MacDuffee’s interview covers topics ranging from marine mammal conservation, the risks posed by bitumen and diluent on marine mammals, the high probability of extinction of Southern Resident killer whales due to tanker traffic, and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s legal action against the failures of the National Energy Board’s pipeline approval process for Trans Mountain.

“We submitted evidence, Kinder Morgan submitted evidence, and the Federal Government submitted evidence and there was no disagreement amongst any of these parties that the implications to killer whales in the Salish Sea was adverse and significant with population level consequences. No one disputed that. And there’s no mitigation.” – Misty MacDuffee, Raincoast biologist

Direct link to the audio (MP3).

Related articles

• BC’s marine mammals vulnerable to oil spills – especially killer whales
• New Raincoast research paper examines the “what if” of oil spills
• Clark’s five pipeline conditions are a charade

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Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

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