The culmination of a Monterey
Institute of International Studies class titled “Islands and Sustainability” is
a 100-page report called “Lopez Island 2025: Sustainable Transformation for
Resilience”.
Lopez Island
population age distribution according to the 2010 US census. This graph is a
nugget of informative findings from the 100 page report “Lopez Island 2025:
Sustainable Transformation towards Resiliency” by a group of Monterey Institute
of International Studies students.
This hefty report is the
fruit of labor of 11 graduate students who took the 4-month-long class, taught
mostly via teleconference by Lopez residents Chris and Chom Greacen. Nine of
the students also came to visit Lopez Island and met with community members to
learn various aspects of island life, from transportation, agriculture, energy
use to waste generation.
The report presents an
overview of the current practices in several of the island’s key systems, highlights
some potential risk areas for the island and then suggests potential solutions
to help Lopezians bring about sustainable transformations for resilience. It
contains informative data such as those shown in the population age
distribution chart.
Lopez community members are
invited to review the report and provide feedback. The report will go into the final
editing process and will be formatted for online publication next month. The
draft report is available for download by clicking here(PDF format, 15MB).
(This article is the second in the three-part
series. Go here to read the first one.)
The image of orcas and other marine life
suffocating from a sticky coat of tar sands oil will be devastating not just
for our souls, but probably for our economy and ecosystem as well. I hope that
day will never come. But if the fossil fuel industry has its way, the risk of
major oil spills will grow significantly as plans are underway to make the
Salish Sea a major tanker highway for exporting coal and tar sands oil to Asia.
Tar sands "oil" is actually thick sticky "bitumen". Bitumen needs to be mixed with volatile diluents to be able to pump and move in crude oil pipelines.
In April,
Texas-based energy company Kinder Morgan announced plans to expand its oil pipelinerunning
between the Alberta oil sands and Vancouver, B.C. The move would roughly triple
the number of deployed tankers operating in the area, each carrying about four
times as much crude oil as the Exxon Valdez[1].
In the same month,
SSA Marine, a division of the world's largest cargo terminal operator Carrix,
alsofiled an applicationto build North America's largest coal
export at Cherry Point[2].
The oil tankers from
Vancouver would skirt Waldron, Stuart and San Juan islands on the west while
the coal shipping vessels would come down the Rosario Strait east of Orcas and
Lopez, before heading out to the Pacific Ocean.
These two projects
alone will add approximately 1,700 more large vessel trips each year[3],
averaging about one every five hours.
It's simple math: the more traffic you have,
the higher the likelihood of an incident. One engine failure, bad storm or
imperfect maneuver betweenthe reefs, rocks and other ships could mean devastation to
the people and marine life that rely on the special ecosystems along these
coasts, warned Lovel Pratt, a SJ County Council representative, as quoted in
Huffington Post.[4]
"When the Gulf spill
happened, we had days before any of the oil came to any shore. Here, we would
have hours. And we're dealing with the unique challenges of our ecology and
geography that includes so much coastline and sensitive ecosystems," said
Pratt in the news article.The bulk coal
carriers each carry upwards of 10,000 tons of bunker oil, one of the most toxic
fuels. But the worst is tar sands oil.
Unlike conventional crude tar sands oil is a mixture of sticky tar and a cocktail of toxic solvents that allow the thick bitumen to be pumped through a pipeline. In the
event of a tar sands oil spill, the solvents evaporate into the surrounding air
hindering the rescue efforts, and the heavier bitumen sinks -- rendering
useless the conventional clean-up equipment designed to recover floating oil,
as seen in the recent experience of the million-plus gallons ofspilled tar sands chemicals in
Michigan's Kalamazoo River. Twenty months after the spill the expensive
recovery efforts continued, and 30 miles of the contaminated River remainedclosedto swimming, boating, fishing or even
wading for the foreseeable future.[5] If a Suezmax-class
tanker, each carrying Alberta diluted bitumen 50 times the Kalamazoo spill
amount, were to leak or spill in SJ waters, it is unclear if we have the
technology, let alone the capacity, to handle such an incident. The issue is further complicated by the fact
that the Salish Sea straddles the U.S.-Canada border. If the ships are coming
out of Canada and don't stop in a U.S. port, then Washington State has no
jurisdiction. SJ residents will bear the risks but have to rely on the Canadian
government for setting standards and prevention.[6]Meanwhile, the Canadian government recently
decided to remove oil spill staff from Vancouver at the same time that the plan
to increase tanker traffic in the area was announced.[7]
As for the WA side,
the Department of Ecology estimated that a major (conventional) oil spill would
cost 165,000 jobs and $10.8 billion dollars in direct economic impacts and
could even wipe out the resident orca population, blanket productive fish
spawning beaches with crude, and circulate aging oil throughout the Sound for
years to come.[8]
So what can be done or where we can learn
more about these developments?
What do you think about the tar sands industry exporting
its crude to the world through the Salish Sea instead of Keystone XL pipeline?
A sticky tar-like form of crude oil mixed with sand and
clay, tar sands of Alberta, Canada – also called oil sands – are one of the
largest remaining deposits of oil in the world. The combined carbon in tar
sands is more than all the carbon emitted from oil use in the world history
thus far.
Canadian and U.S. oil pipelines: existing and proposed. The planned
expansion from Edmonton to Vancouver (lower dotted blue line) is primarily to
export crude oil from tar sands to Asia via Salish Sea. Source: Canadia Association of Petroleum Producers.
Extracting the tar sands by strip mining, solvents, and
steam has created the biggest and “most destructive” project in the world,
according to Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace.
Despite the high energy and environmental costs to
extract, tar sands are rising in prominence as a major source of oil. The U.S.
main and growing source of oil imports is from Canada, surpassing the Middle
East and Mexico[1].
And more than half of the
Canadian oil production in 2010 is from tar sands.
Already very large, the tar sands crude production is expected to grow 150% by
2025[2].
According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum
Producers, the Canadian oil industry is in an “oversupply” situation and
looking for an “outlet”[3]. President Obama halted (at
least for now) the Keystone XL pipeline project to export tar sands oil through
the Gulf. Now our Salish Sea and the Strait of Juan de Fuca are seen by the tar
sand industry as an attractive gateway to export this excess oil to Asia.
In fact, it’s already been happening. The existing
“Trans-Mountain” oil pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta to Vancouver, BC and with
a spur pipeline to Anacortes provides the only access for Canadian oil to reach
the West Coast. In 2007, over 3.4
million barrels of crude oil were shipped to China from Vancouver[4].
And that’s just the beginning.
Houston-based Kinder
Morgan (KM), one of North America’s largest oil pipeline companies, is planning
for a major increase in the quantities of crude oil shipped through its
Trans-Mountain pipeline and Westridge dock east of Vancouver.
Already, oil tanker
traffic has tripled between 2005 and 2010, and is planned to triple again by
2016[5].
Pipeline expansion will increase crude oil deliveries from 300,000 to 850,000
barrels per day by 2017. KM announced last month it planned to double the
capacity by January next year, hoping to beat other competitors to get oil to
the coast[6].
About 450,000 bpd would be exported while the remaining are for BC, Washington
refineries and some shippers.
KM also plans to dredge
the Burrard Inlet allowing for larger tankers (160,000 deadweight-ton
"Suezmax") to reach the terminal.[7]
These massive oil tankers
will skirt the west side of San Juan Islands on their way out to the Pacific.
Though the ships will likely stay within the Canadian border, devastating
impacts from a spill accident will not.
Unlike the case of Keystone XL, we do not have a direct
say in this. Well, not yet anyway, unless we act.
Both the Washington and BC governments and citizens must
be involved in the dialogue of whether KM should be permitted to expand the
pipeline and whether increased traffic of tankers carrying toxic crude should
be allowed in our shared waters.
KM has yet to file an application with the Canadian
National Energy Board to expand the pipeline. There is still a window of
opportunity to make our voice heard. Write Governor Christine Gregoire. Talk to
your neighbors. Mobilize. Drive less.
Hopefully, tar sands crude will not meet the Salish Sea,
not directly or indirectly. Nor will the coal trains.
This article is the first
in a series about tar sands and the SJ community.
We'd love to have as many people on Lopez as we can get to fill out the survey about water, energy and food consumption on the island, put out by a group of graduate students from Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) who are writing an exciting report about Lopez island and its possible futures. See the students' message below.
Paper copies of the survey will also be available at the Lopez Library. We'll also have a drop box there for you to return the completed survey.
The deadline for getting back the responses is May 1. To go to the survey, click here (http://tinyurl.com/d3ksvcf ). Thank you so much for your time and participation.
To learn more about the class "Islands and Sustainability" and what it has generated so far (lots of great ideas were generated during the March 22 Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Fest!), please read the previous postings on this blog or visit:
---------Message from the MIIS students--------------
Hello, and thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this survey. We are a group of 11 graduate students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) who, along with Lopez residents Chris and Chom Greacen, are studying energy and resource consumption on Lopez Island, and exploring options for Lopez Island to achieve greater energy and resource independence and sustainability by 2025. Your answers will improve our understanding of energy and resource consumption and other issues of concern to Lopez Island residents.
The survey is designed for households, just like the U.S. Census. Please, only one survey response per household.
Your individual responses will be confidential. Your name and contact information will not be recorded unless you choose to do so. The link above will also provide more information on the class project, or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Chris and Chom, who are leading the research project. They can be reached by email at: chrisgreacen@gmail.comand chomsgreacen@gmail.com
Thank you again for your time and thoughtful responses to our survey.
Sincerely, The MIIS graduate student research team.
There were some great ideas generated by about 100 participants that gathered at the Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Potluck Fest. The event started off with a slideshow, followed by Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) students summarizing some of the key findings from their visit to Lopez.
Then the participants at each round table made made "Rich Pictures" drawings of what they would like to see in Lopez in year 2025. Afterwards we brain-stormed on ideas and solutions for change and discussed within the group to arrange them on a graph plot with "Practicality" on the X-axis and "Desirability" on the Y-axis. We then picked the top three ideas to share with everyone in the room.
Below are photos of the "Rich Pictures", ideas/solutions, and top 3 ideas from each group.
An island-wide trail network. Earth academy. More clustered communities. Locally defined building codes. More crop and animal farming. More local food production. Local clean energy production. Rainwater catchment. An island free of genetically modified organisms.
These were some ideas that emerged from the Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Potluck and Pizza Fest, Thursday, March 22 at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. The group of around a hundred Lopezians gathered to share food and discussion in an interactive process facilitated by Clive Prout. The group considered some big questions: “What will Lopez be like in the year 2025? What changes would we want to see – in transportation, in electricity and heating for our homes and businesses, in agriculture and food, in our island’s water, and how we manage waste?”
The event marked the culmination of four days of interviews and field research by 11 graduate students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies who visited Lopez as part of a semester-long class called “Thinking like an Island: Planning for sustainability on Lopez Island.” We have been teaching this class from Lopez via video-conference since February this year, with help from Faith Van De Putte who led a contingent of students while on the island.
The student’s final class project is a paper exploring one or more scenarios of enhanced sustainability and resilience, as well as a grant proposal for exploring next steps. Research work comprises gathering baseline data, understanding Lopezians’ visions for the future, and articulating next steps.
The students are interested in Lopez Island specifically because islands are recognized as crucibles of sustainable development. Globally, we are facing pressing scarcity of natural resources, including water, soil, and fossil fuels. Here on the island, the higher cost compared to the mainland prices for fuel, imported food, and just about everything else further raises the relative value of producing essentials locally and sustainably. The close-knit community and trust we share on Lopez also enables development of innovation in housing, agriculture, and energy and food that are inspirations for America and beyond.
Over the course of their four-day visit to the island, the students met with over 50 individuals and groups to understand current resource flows and Lopezians’ visions and concerns for the future. Visits included half a dozen Lopez farms, Orcas Power and Light Co-op power cable landing, the Sewer District, grocery stores, the Lopez School, the Transfer Station, and Lopez Sand and Gravel.
These visits turned up some interesting findings:
• school buses travel 176 miles on Lopez each school day;
• electricity usage in the average home at Common Ground, a sustainable net zero energy project, is about 400 kWh per month – about 40 percent of the average home on Lopez;
• essentially all electricity in San Juan County comes through two 6-inch cables that land on Lopez;
• about 700 dump truck loads of branches and roots are open-burned at the pit at Lopez Sand and Gravel every year;
• Lopez has 6,000 acres of wooded land about three acres per person, enough to potentially meet all space and heating needs on the island if properly managed;
• due to lack of composting facilities, human and food waste biosolids from the sewer district are trucked to the mainland two to four times a month for incineration;
• during the summer over 500,000 gallons of treated water per month suitable for irrigation of all but root crops from the Fisherman Bay Sewer District are released into the ocean.
The students’ project will weave these – and many other baseline facts – into an analysis of current consumption patterns and an investigation into opportunities for more resiliency and sustainability.
If you are interested in this project or seeing some photos and slideshow, visit the graduate students’ blog at blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/, which chronicles the work of the students in developing the class project and will include opportunities in future weeks to comment on their emerging class project.
The site also contains a link to an online survey less than 10 minutes with important questions to fill information gaps about our reliance on imported food, petroleum and more. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
