In a press release, Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill said, “The panel reviewed the circumstances of this incident and recommended ways that we can better integrate fuel disruption into our all-hazards emergency management plans. I have asked the Emergency Management Office to lead and co-ordinate the implementation of the recommendations. The health and safety of Nova Scotians is our top priority.”
The gasoline shortage, which began at 7:02 a.m. on August 28, saw Nova Scotians frantically posting on Facebook letting each other know where they could find gas to get to work and other events over the long weekend until it ended at 8 a.m. on August 31, 73 hours after it began.
According to Mr. Churchill the government has committed to begin work immediately with industry, emergency service providers and other stakeholders to implement some of the key recommendations including designating the Emergency Management Office to be the lead point of contact for the fuel sector so that mitigation measures will be included in emergency management planning in the event of any potential disruption of supply. Also, they will work with key stakeholders to develop a communication protocol to ensure that the health-care sector, first responders and the public at large receive accurate, timely information about any anticipated fuel shortage and work with emergency service providers to develop agreements with industry that will protect the conservation and security of fuel supplies.
The panelist’s report concluded that a delayed shipment to the Imperial Oil terminal in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, combined with quality issues of that load as well as the replacement shipment, resulted in the outage and led to shortages at gas stations across the province, says the press release.
The report also states that a 9 cent per litre drop in price the week before was not to blame; however, it does say panic buying by consumers did not help the situation, reported CBC News. It also debunked conspiracy theorists who were suggesting Exxon, who owns Imperial Oil, deliberately kept its ships idling due to the price of gas being below a dollar for the first time in over a year.
