Members of Parliament asked to Prevent $20 B Environmental Calamity Now

Open Letter to Members of Parliament

Wednesday  July 27, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PREVENT $20 B ENVIRONMENTAL CALAMITY NOW, GROUPS URGE CANADA

Nineteen climate, youth, and environment groups today released a letter urging the federal government to contribute $10 million to help rescue the FSO Safer, which lies off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea.

Constituents of MPs Laurel Collins and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith are delivering the letter to their offices together with a petition signed by over 1000 members of the public.

The signatories to the letter, initiated by Greater Victoria Climate Hub, include Climate Action Network of Canada (CAN-RAC) ClimateFast, Greenpeace and Fridays for Future Toronto.  They are alarmed because the degrading single hull tanker, which has been unmaintained since 2015, is going to explode or break apart, releasing 4 times more oil than the Exxon Valdez.

“This is a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in the making. Yemen is already the planet’s worst humanitarian crisis.  While, the UN has called on all the countries of the world to come together, Canada has not yet answered this call. Now’s the time.” Said Dawn Moorhead, of the Greater Victoria Climate Hub.

The case has become so urgent that the UN has been reduced to starting a crowdfunding campaign.  But that has only raised $2 million of the $20 million needed to top up the fund up to the $80 million required for the rescue.

“It’s incredible to us that the UN is forced to go to crowdfunding – and still our government has not stepped up.” said Lyn Adamson of ClimateFast. “The UK, the Netherlands and many other countries have contributed, but Canada has yet to do so.  This is urgent as the ship may break up at any time creating billions of dollars in damage and polluting the very coastline where the next UN climate talks will take place.” Said Lyn Adamson of ClimateFast. 

COP 27 will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a resort town on the Red Sea Nov 7 – 18, 2022.   

OPEN LETTER

July 27, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Members of Parliament 

The FSO Safer, a single hull oil storage tanker carrying 1.1 million barrels of oil, is moored off the coast near the key Yemeni port city of Hodeida. It could explode or rupture at any time, threatening an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. 

More funding is needed from United Nations members to implement the first part of a two phase salvage operation. The Government of the Netherlands and the United Nations co-hosted a pledging event in The Hague on May 11, 2022. So far the Netherlands, EU, USA, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia have contributed, with the UK increasing their pledge on July 18, 2022 in the midst of their own climate calamity. 

According to CBC: "Canada, meanwhile, has no plans to contribute to the salvage mission, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada told CBC News ahead of [the] pledging event. "Canada is not in a position to provide funding to support the salvage of the FSO Safer at this time." " 

The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned about the lack of urgency or action from our government and the catastrophic long-lasting environmental impacts that could result if the salvage operation does not begin immediately. 

An oil spill of this magnitude would dangerously worsen Yemen’s already dire humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians in Yemen have died and been injured since 2014 in the ongoing armed conflict, which contributed to what the UN called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. 

We urge you to immediately commit $10Million to prevent this catastrophe and allow work to begin. Danger to the people of Yemen, salvage workers, and the Red Sea environment increases every single day.

Climate Action Network (CAN-RAC)

Greater Victoria Climate Hub

ClimateFast    

North Island Climate Hub

Citizens Climate Lobby Victoria 

Grand(m)others Act to to Save the Planet  (GASP)

Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign

Earth Day Canada

Canadian Interfaith Fast for the Climate 

Citizens Climate Lobby Canada

Greenpeace Canada 

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment 

Canadian Health Association for Sustainability and Equity (CHASE)

Climate Justice Victoria

Canadian Voice of Women for Peace 

Toronto East End Climate Collective

350 Canada

Seniors for Climate Action Now!