The Vancouver Sun reports in its Tuesday edition that a recent paper claiming Enbridge Northern Gateway's risk assessment underestimated the likelihood of future marine spills is an example of a report that makes serious errors in its assumptions. Guest columnists Keith Michel and Audun Brandsaeter write as a result, the report's conclusions significantly inflate the risks involved in the future operation of the project. Lead author and Simon Fraser University professor Tom Gunton, along with co-author and PhD student Sean Broadbent, have failed to recognize the number and volume of tanker spills are declining markedly worldwide, even as the total number of tankers plying the world's waters increases. The columnists figure all data seem to point to the fact that this trend will continue. This downward trend in marine spills is due to a number of positive developments in marine safety, including the phased-in acceptance over the past two decades of double-hulled tankers as the absolute industry standard in liquid fuel transportation, as well as a raft of new marine transportation regulations that have come into existence over the past 20 years, and a wholesale shift in the safety culture of the industry.