The Government of Canada uses response tools that comply with international standards and best practices. A strong oil spill management system requires access to a range of modern and effective oil spill response tools and techniques. It is important to understand the risks to human health and the environment to determine which response tools to use. These decisions are made based on the best available science. The Canadian Coast Guard maintains a large stock of response equipment at sites across the coasts. This helps them quickly respond to spills at any marine location.
There are comprehensive oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response systems designed to prevent and effectively manage oil spills across the oil supply chain in Canada. The current approach relies on containing and collecting spilled oil using tools such as sorbents, booms, and skimmers. These measures are effective in responding to small and locally contained oil spills and protecting specific habitats along the shoreline. They also have limitations, such as when spills are large or occur under challenging conditions (for example, remote locations, icy conditions).
To further strengthen Canada's ability to respond to oil spills, the federal government is considering enabling the careful and appropriate use of Alternative Response Measures (ARMs) as additional oil spill response tools when beneficial for the protection of the environment. The Government of Canada has developed an Intentions Paper to provide information and seek feedback on the potential legislative amendments that would be required to put in place the ARMs framework. The Government of Canada is analyzing feedback received from initial engagement on the potential legislative amendments that would be required to put in place the ARMs framework.
Over the past several years, the Government of Canada has taken action to strengthen oil spill prevention, response, and liability and compensation, including in the federally regulated pipeline, offshore, and marine shipping sectors.
List of current response tools used in Canada
| Topic | Tool/Strategy | Description | Where and When Used | Considerations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoreline clean-up | Low-pressure wash | Using low-pressure hoses, a shoreline area is flooded or made wet to lift the oil products from the soil, and collect it. | Pushes oil towards collection points where other equipment is operating, like skimmers or vacuums. | Low-pressure wash is most often used on shorelines where plants and animals live and who are used to waves and waterlines. |
| Shoreline clean-up | Manual shoreline cleanup | Using hand-held tools, like rakes and shovels, oil and debris is collected into special containers. | Once the shoreline is assessed, people with minimal training can help with the cleanup process depending on the decided treatment options. Can be used to avoid using heavy machines on fragile shorelines. | Very time-consuming and labour-intenisve. Can be disruptive to the environment and damage habitat if many people are working. |
| Shoreline clean-up | Natural Recovery | Relying on nature to absorb the oil over time. | In some spills, the environment can be harmed more by actively trying to remove the oil, instead of letting nature deal with it over time. This includes remote locations, areas dense in vegetation or where naturally occurring microorganisms, sunlight, or rain can slowly break down the oil. Often natural recovery is used with other cleanup techniques for the best result with minimal impact. | After careful assessment, this can be the best option for the environment. Not appropriate when important ecosystems or human activities are threatened. |
| Shoreline clean-up | High-pressure washing | Very hot water is sprayed through wands and nozzles to flush the oil to the surface where it is collected by skimmers or sorbents. | Used with skimmers or sorbents to dislodge oil from areas that skimmers or booms cannot access. High-pressure hot water is best used on man-made surfaces like cement walls, decks, and boats that have little to no animal or plants living on them. It also lowers the chance that animals walking through the oiled vegetation are affected. | Hot or high-pressure water can harm surrounding wildlife. The oil must be recovered using booms, sorbents, and/or skimmers. |
| Shoreline clean-up | Vegetation cutting | Plants are cut and removed by hand and equipment. | When vegetation is so heavily oiled that cleaning it up would cause more damage or where it has no chance to recover, cutting it can allow it to regrow faster. | This can cause erosion and damage to fragile sediment and existing roots and may limit or even delay recovery, depending on the type of vegetation you are cutting. |
| Shoreline clean-up | Bioremediation | Using microorganisms like some bacteria, fungi, and algae to remove the oil by breaking it down into non-toxic molecules like fatty acids and carbon dioxide. Often combined with fertilizers to feed the microbes so they can grow quickly to do their job. | Creates a mini ecosystem amid the oil spill to help nature clean up the spill. | Success is dependent on physical and chemical conditions. The process can take a long time, sometimes even years. Fertilizers can increase algae which can negatively impact the oxygen levels of the ecosystem. |
| At-sea containment and recovery | Skimmers | Skimmers separates oil from water so the oil can be collected. Skimmers come in different sizes and types (Examples: weir, drum, disk and brush skimmers) | Skimmers are one of the primary tools used by responders to remove oil from the water surface. They are often used with booms to increase the thickness of oil, making it easier to remove. | Skimmers can get clogged easily, so if the area has debris in the water, they aren't as efficient. The type of skimmers used will also depend on availability of skimmers, weather conditions, and other factors. Skimmers are less effective when waters are rough. |
| At-sea containment and recovery | Sorbents | These materials soak up the oil by absorption (pulling in) or adsorption (forming a layer on the surface). Common materials include hay, peat moss, straw, or vermiculite. Can be organic (peat moss, straw, sawdust, feathers), inorganic (clay, perlite, glass wool, sand, volcanic ash), and synthetic (plastics). One of the most common type of sorbents are sorbent pads, which is a synthetic material that absorbs petroleum products. | One of the main tools used to recover oil, sorbents work well for small spills or to collect traces of larger spills. | The material must be retrieved, and can be heavy, sinking once the oil is absorbed. In heavy weather and wind, sorbent materials can fly away easily. |
| At-sea containment and recovery | Transfer systems | Pumps to remove the recovered oil away from the spill site. | Used to pump and transfer oil, dirty water, and other cleanup resources to a final storage/disposal facility. | For effective oil recovery, the transfer system must be big enough for the number of skimmers and pumps being used to recover the oil. Otherwise, responders may have to stop skimming operations. |
| Incident management | Portable repeaters and stations | Portable radio equipment and communication tools allow responders to communicate in isolated areas. | Increase communications capabilities in remote areas. | Needs technical expertise to deploy and maintain equipment. |
| Incident management | Incident Command | Responsible for cleaning the spill, made-up of experts on various issues, including local community leaders, operations, planning, logistics, finance, and administration. Connects regularly to update on the incident and briefs all players involved. | Significant oil spills involve numerous departments, communities and many people supporting cleanup efforts and a unified command construct provide direction for all activities in the incident. | Ensuring all participants are trained in operations is essential to ensure activities occur quickly and efficiently. |
| Waste management | Incinerators | Can cleanly burn oily materials and other waste to prevent it from contaminating other locations | Especially useful in remote areas where other forms of waste management are limited, expensive, and more damaging to the environment. | Having a proper waste management plan and system in place is important to separate normal and oily waste. |
| Waste management | Waste management Plan | A waste management plan helps responders deal with the oily waste and normal waste that is produced during an incident. This is especially important when a spill is in a remote and/or isolated area. Oil spills produce lots of waste and it must be processed properly to minimize the impact to local landfills. Identified temporary and permanent solutions for the waste like trucks, portable and storage containers, and disposal facilities are required. | An effective plan will prevent a secondary spill or cleanup, as well as minimize the amount of oily waste produced. Considerations for logistics, storage, and disposal will depend on the size of a spill, location, and regulatory requirements. This is why working with local and provincial partners is so important. | Treatment, storage, handling, and disposal of waste materials may be subject to a variety of local, provincial, and federal regulations. The legal responsibility of the polluter begins from the time the waste is generated until final disposal. Since oily waste is hazardous material, Transportation of Dangerous Goods regulations and its provincial equivalent can apply. |
| Waste management | Decontamination | Cleaning off the accumulation of oil so that it doesn't spread into clean spaces | Cleaning stations on site work to keep uncontaminated areas free from oil. | Need to be close to operations. Only approved cleaning products should be used. |
| Booms | Booms |
A floating fence to keep oil from moving into other areas of the water or onto the shore. There are many types of booms, but most have three critical parts:
|
Wraps around an oil spill to prevent the oil from further spreading or floating away. Booms float on the water surface. Connected sections of the boom are placed around the area of the oil spill until it is totally surrounded and contained. They can also be pulled by towboats to contain and recover slicks. The booms must be connected to something stable, like a boat, anchored to the seafloor, or to the shoreline. | Only effective when the oil is in one spot and within a few hours of the spill occurring. If waves and tides are very strong, water and oil can escape the boom area. |
| Booms | Netting boom | A boom made of mesh. | Collects oil under the water's surface. Can be towed at higher speeds than other booms because of the movement through the netting. Good for collecting oil along beaches and shoreline waves. | Recovers heavier oil that won't go through the mesh and is not effective for light oils. Cleaning the mesh can difficult and incineration of the netting may be necessary. |
| Booms | Offshore booms | An air-inflated boom with large bladders that make it float. | Used in harsh conditions in open ocean spill incidents. | These booms are heavy and difficult to deploy, maintain, and recover. Not all ships can deploy them. |
| Booms | Shore-sealing booms | A boom that anchors to the shoreline with a water-filled lower part and an air-filled upper part. | Seals off shoreline so that the seal is maintained at the waterline, even with changing tides and riverbanks | Can be used on sand or mud, but not effective on rough or rocky shorelines. |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | Spill model | Forecast of where the spill could be moving to using weather, tides, the type of oil, and other factors. | Used by responders to try to figure out where to position booms and other resources to protect important areas, and wildlife that could become impacted. | Up-to-date information must be included in the program. Observations and knowledge of the local tides and currents help to better predict where oil may go. |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | NASP | Aircraft fly over Canadian waters equipped with specialized maritime surveillance systems patrol for oil spills and other pollution. | When an oil spill is detected, used to identify the size of the spill and monitor cleanup. It provides evidence for the investigation of shipping incidents. | Weather can impact when the aircraft can operate. |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | ISTOP | Using a variety of satellite imagery to monitor the waters and improve the response to the pollution. | Marine oil pollution is measured in terms of areal extent and frequency of releases. | The reports of potential oil pollution are used by Government of Canada enforcement and clean-up agencies in dealing with identified spills. The analyses are also used for monitoring on-going spill events and for monitoring grounded ships (ships stuck in shallow water) that are at risk of causing pollution. |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | Remotely operated underwater vehicles | Drones connected to boats and equipment controlled by responders to observe the spill from under the surface and collect samples. They can remain below for long periods of time to monitor an area. | Can assess underwater damage to boats, and wildlife at longer periods and greater depths than possible by humans. | |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | Tracking Buoys | Floating markers that can be connected to satellite and radio units to track their movements. | Used to study current patterns to predict the path of an oil spill. | |
| Surveillance Monitoring Models | Drones | Remote piloted air vehicles with cameras that can be operated from boats and coastlines. | Can be used to monitor the spill from overhead to better direct skimming operations. It can also give responders an aerial visual of the effectiveness of their operation. | Poor weather can impact operations. The operations depend on the strength of the motor and distance capability from the operator. |
| Wildlife | Oiled Wildlife Response | The Canadian Wildlife Service has a national policy and framework outlining the Government of Canada's role during oil spills with impacts to wildlife and standards for wildlife response and care. The framework includes several best practice documents on the topics of wildlife response planning, survey methods during emergency response, deterrence and dispersal, rehabilitation, and operating treatment facilities. | Government and industry incorporate these standards and best practices into preparedness, response, and recovery planning for oil spills to ensure impacts to wildlife are appropriately identified and managed throughout each phase. The Canadian Wildlife Service supports the integration of these tools into response efforts during an oil spill. | Government and industry can contact the Canadian Wildlife Service for more information and copies of guidance material set out in the National Wildlife Emergency Response Framework. |
| Spill-treating agent | Dispersant | Products used to treat oil slicks on water to break the oil into small droplets that quickly disperse into the water column. This dilutes the oil to very low concentrations and promotes the natural degradation of the oil by bacteria. | Limited approval for use on spills from offshore oil and gas installations in Canada, following determination that there is a net environmental benefit. | Limited to the list of approved products established in regulation by the Minister of Environment |
| Spill-treating agent | Surface washing agent | Products used to enhance removal of heavy, persistent oil from shoreline surfaces to help with mechanical recovery. | Limited approval for use on spills from offshore oil and gas installations in Canada, following determination that there is a net environmental benefit. | Limited to the list of approved products established in regulation by the Minister of Environment |