Beyond the salish sea: crude truth
An independent documentary investigation into spill risk, preparedness, and cumulative harm in the waters between the U.S. and Canada.
What happens when a beloved inland sea becomes a corridor for oil?
The Salish Sea is one of the world’s most vibrant inland waterways—home to orcas, salmon, sea lions, coastal communities, and deep Indigenous history. But as tanker traffic rises, so does the risk to a place many assume is protected.
Beyond the Salish Sea: Crude Truth examines how fossil fuel expansion, regulatory gaps, and normalized risk are reshaping a beloved marine ecosystem. Through science, frontline communities, and on-the-water realities, the film asks what is at stake when a place this beautiful is also vulnerable.
Currently in production. Seeking additional funding, partners and participants.
Thank you for helping us reach our first goal of $40,000! We need to keep up the work as we plan to shoot this May and June. Our Goal is to raise an additional $40,000 by June 15th. Help us bring awareness to The Salish Sea. Consider a donation today!
Beyond the Salish Sea: Crude Truth
About the Film
With the expansion of Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, crude oil tanker traffic through these waters has increased dramatically from one a week to one a day. Yet, the region lacks a robust oil spill response plan—especially for heavy oils like diluted bitumen, which can sink beneath the surface and defy conventional cleanup methods.
But Crude Truth is about more than a single worst-case spill. It is also about the larger pressures facing coastal waters everywhere: climate disruption, shipping traffic, habitat loss, polluted waterways, and the cumulative risks that build quietly over time. In that sense, the Salish Sea is both a singular place and a proxy for threats facing coastal communities around the world.
Beyond the Salish Sea: Crude Truth is an independent documentary investigation into what happens when a place of extraordinary beauty, biodiversity, and human belonging is treated as a corridor for fossil fuels
Director’s Statement
“As a filmmaker, I’ve spent years documenting the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. But this story—about what we risk, ignore, and allow to pass silently beneath our radar—is one I can’t turn away from. I may not be an investigative journalist, but this film is an investigation. Into power, policy, and the price of inaction.” – Daniel A. Cardenas
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