Coast Guard brass accused of lying about Kits base

      Comments Off on Coast Guard brass accused of lying about Kits base

Mike Cotter, the General Manager of the Jericho Sailing Centre, says James Moore and other BC Tory MPs are being fed misinformation from Coast Guard brass who say Kits Base wouldn’’t have been a factor in the English Bay fuel spill response.

“I know it to be absolutely false. I witnessed them responding to spills. I was familiarized with the environmental emergency response equipment they had. I was onboard their vessel. They had a dedicated pollution response vessel.”

Cotter says the logs and records from Kits Base should be made public.

“They will clearly show that, that vessel was based there. They will clearly show the crews had training. The ships logs will also show they responded to spills.”

Cotter says The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Coast Guard Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner are lying when they say Kits Base had no pollution response equipment and would not have been a factor in the fuel spill response.

“It is clearly false information that the government is being fed by the Coast Guard commissioner and assistant commissioner. It should be easily proven. It is very disappointing to see that James Moore and the BC Conservative caucus have turned their backs on us.”

Cotter adds the spill would have been a different story with Kits Base.

“There is no reason this spill should have ever touched our shoreline. … Kits station would have responded immediately. They would have had a boat on scene directly communicating with that boater who said he waited around for three hours. He said they could easily tell the spill was emanating from the aft section of the ship. This thing should have been nipped in the bud.”

Cotter has written BC’s MP Minister James Moore asking him to advocate for Kits Base to be re-opened.

For more information, visit CKNW:

http://www.cknw.com/2015/04/20/coast-guard-brass-not-being-honest-about-kits-base/