Pamela Anderson, the Vancouver-Island-raised star of Baywatch, B movies and most recently Dancing With the Stars, has lent her name to the opposition of increased crude oil shipments from the Port of Vancouver.

The campaign, led by the Wilderness Committee and Greenpeace, is being run under the banner "no tanks," and Anderson stars in a YouTube video designed to bring attention to the cause. You can catch the entire video by clicking here.

Standing on a beach near Ladysmith, on a property once owned by her grandmother, Anderson waxes poetically about having grown up on its beaches, enjoying its environment.

"I love it here and this is obviously this is what I consider to be home, and we need to protect it for future generations," Anderson, who appears in sans makeup in an over-sized sweater, says to the camera.

She continues that when she learned about the potential for crude oil shipments from Vancouver, "I had to say 'no tanks.'"

"A 30-second navigational error could be catastrophic. Vancouver Island would be devastated. If there was an oil spill here, I don't think it would recover."

The one-minute and 16-second video appears on the YouTube channel of an account named CanadiansNanaimo, and it brings a bit more heat to the tanker debate.

Yesterday, following the fireworks over the NDP motion pressuring for a ban on oil tankers in Northern B.C. waters, I blogged that the environmental battle in the Port of Vancouver was the one that has yet to be fought.

Well, the opposition has its cause, it has a website (www.notanks.org) and now a high-profile ally. Plenty of ammunition to start.