Doubling Down on Disaster is a report by the Council of Canadians and Équiterre that outlines how an oil spill in Lac Saint-Pierre on the St. Lawrence River would cost billions to clean up – far more than the liability limit in Canada.

The report models the costs and damages from a spill of less than 10 per cent of the cargo of an Afromax class supertanker, a size of ship that recently received federal approval to ply the waters of the St. Lawrence River.

According to the model, a spill of 10 million litres would cost $2.14 billion. The federal limit to liability for oil spills is $1.4 billion, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the difference.

Click here to view the Doubling Down on Disaster report (pdf)