9327 - 90 Street NW

Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6C 3M3

Tel: 780 436-8855

Cell: 780 717-8855

S3environmental@telus.net

Central Burrard Inlet - Westridge Terminal

Pre-Spill SCAT Project Brief Oct, 2013

SCAT

SCAT (Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique) is a procedure and process, now used

worldwide, legally enshrined in the USA, very strongly supported in Canada by federal and

provincial agencies. In the field, SCAT teams

systematically survey the area affected by the spill

using standardized methods and terminology to provide accurate consistent real time

documentation of shoreline conditions. In addition they document operational features,

backshore staging conditions, access, and operational or safety constraints. The teams can

identify or verify environmental, cultural, recreational, economic features and constraints, or

may provide recommendations regarding appropriate treatment techniques or cleanup

endpoints. The same teams may conduct post treatment SCAT surveys to determine if the

endpoint criteria have been attained. The individual field data are put into a specialized data

base/ GIS system, analyzed and used in a wide range of applications. The data and information

generated by the SCAT surveys are crucial to the decision process and are the basis of spill

planning for the operational stages of the shoreline response.

PRE-SPILL SCAT

Although some of the information, e.g. oiling conditions, must be collected real time, a large

amount of directly relevant information can be assembled pre-spill and a spill ready database of

knowledge critical to the SCAT process and shoreline response decision making can be prepared

in advance in the form and quality that would be needed in the event of a spill. In fact it is more

sensible to collect/assess certain data during the pre-spill period when there is more time

available to address issues, rather than in the initial stressed emergency stage. By being

proactive and collecting such information in advance of any event, it is possible to enhance

preparedness planning, to ensure best practice guidance and process are in place and to

advance sound decisions from the very beginning of a response.

WESTRIDGE PRE-SPILL SCAT PROJECT

In general, the BC environmental information base as needed for SCAT, is many years out of

date, no longer providing accurate information, or is incomplete in terms of information needs

for "best practice" that has been developed for oil spill response.

As a result, Trans Mountain

Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain) approved a project in May 2013 to develop an updated dataset

for Central Burrard Inlet, Vancouver Harbor in the vicinity of the Westridge Terminal. The foot

print, shown below, is bounded to the west by the second narrows bridge, to the east by Port

Moody, and north by the power line crossing north of Deep Cove. The shoreline of the area is

complex in nature and type with considerable manmade influence to shoreline geomorphology

and access.