Bay of Fundy to be Pilot Site for Area Response Planning Process
SAINT JOHN (NB) – Saint John and the Bay of Fundy will be one of four Area Response Planning process pilot sites to be established by the Government of Canada. This announcement is a follow-up to the World Class Tanker Safety System launched by the Government earlier this year.The goal of the Area Response Planning process is creation of a new and dynamic, risk-based model to allow spill preparedness and responses to be tailored to the level and types of risk in a given region, based on certain factors such as marine conditions, environmental sensitivities, tanker size and traffic levels. The Area Response Planning pilot process will develop a plan which will be responsive to the unique challenges of local areas.“I am pleased to confirm that Saint John and the Bay of Fundy will be a pilot site for the Area Response Planning model that will take into consideration the local factors of our region rather than a national response approach.” stated Rodney Weston, Member of Parliament for Saint John.The other three sites are: the southern portion of British Columbia; Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia; and the St. Lawrence Seaway from Quebec City to Anticosti Island, Quebec.“This initiative will improve the efficiency, safety and environmental stewardship of marine transportation in the Bay of Fundy by creating standardized, all hazard management methodology to ensure effective coordination of response efforts to all maritime incidents,” noted Jim Quinn, President and CEO of Port Saint John.“Today’s announcement goes hand-in-hand with the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport’s Saint John launch of the World Class Tanker Safety System earlier this year and the recent joint funding announcement of a SmartATLANTIC weather buoy for Saint John” said Peter Gaulton, Chairman of Port Saint John. “All three announcements display our Government’s commitment to safety in the maritime industry especially in Saint John and on the Bay of Fundy where we have a concentration of high risk cargoes.”Weston also used the opportunity to highlight the $31 million, over five years for the Canadian Coast Guard to establish an Incident Command System (ICS). The ICS once implemented will ensure the appropriate frameworks and safeguards are not only in place but are also enhanced in order to protect the environment through effective and efficient multi-stakeholder incident response.
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