Friday, 26 November 2021 via Zoom
Speaker: Bill Adams
Lecture Summary:
I will show how oil spills on our Canadian coasts are handled under a closed industry-controlled system that places priority on creating the impression of “world-class” capability to cleanup spilled oil which is not based on reality. The regulators are captured by the industry which makes it very difficult to improve the system and to provide optimum protection for the coastal communities that bear the brunt of oil spill impacts such as those on the West Coast of Canada where shipping operates in dangerous waters and narrow channels. Arctic communities are also at risk as they depend on oil deliveries for their communities and the moratorium on oil developments in the Arctic is shortly to be revisited and may be lifted which again puts the Canadian Arctic at risk. Expansion of tar sand activities and the Transmountain Pipeline in Western Canada are a threat, not only to the coastal waters of BC, but to the health of all ecosystem down-stream of the extractive operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Bio: Bill Adams:
During the 1970s Dr. Adams was a Research Scientist with Environment Canada where he conducted Arctic research on oil spill impacts and then a senior Defence Scientist with DND where he did research on high energy battery systems until 1986. He was the founder and Director of the Electrochemical Science and Technology Centre of the University of Ottawa over the period 1986 to 1995 which conducted research on electric vehicles, medical power sources (artificial heart project), and defence power sources. From 1995 he was President of the first spin-off company from the University of Ottawa. Dr. Adams is currently VP, Strategic Planning for RESTCO that was formed in 2010 (see www.restco.ca) that has been actively working on oil spill remediation technologies.
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