Seattle Times

Canadian oil boom may bring many more tankers to Northwest waters

[F]ights over Canada's oil sands could have an impact much closer to home. One company is hoping to boost oil-sands shipments to Asia through Northwest waters -- plans that would quadruple tanker traffic through Vancouver, B.C., and dramatically increase the amount of oil traveling through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Some of the tankers the company hopes to accommodate could carry four times more crude than the Exxon Valdez, the supertanker that spilled 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound....

"That's definitely a lot more crude carriers," said Chip Booth, a manager with the Washington state Department of Ecology's spills program. "It certainly represents a bit of a higher risk."

But it's far too soon to say how much more.