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September 2010

Vol. 15, No. 36 Week of September 05, 2010

Door open to beluga zone in Beaufort

Canadian government establishing marine protected area in Canadian Beaufort at mouth of Mackenzie River

Gary Park

For Petroleum News

The Canadian government is establishing the first marine protected area of its kind in the Canadian Arctic as a sanctuary for beluga whales to feed, socialize and raise their young in summer.

But offshore oil and natural gas exploration and development has not been ruled out on the fringes of the zone, which will cover three individual areas totaling almost 700 square miles at the mouth of the Mackenzie River in the Beaufort Sea.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area is designed to conserve one of the world’s largest seasonal populations of beluga.

“We are ensuring these Arctic treasurers are preserved for generations to come,” he said.

What his own office and various government departments and agencies won’t say is how much exploratory drilling will be permitted.

However, regulatory documents issued by the government in April indicate that 1 percent of the conservation area will be designated for oil and gas activities.

“Exploratory drilling activities may be considered during ice cover as there are no beluga present in the (protected area) at that time,” said an impact analysis prepared by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The analysis said the government will attempt to promote compliance with the new regulations through “education and compliance-promotion activities” rather than penalties.

It said the exemption for drilling was included after the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and Canada’s National Energy Board, which oversees drilling in the Arctic offshore, raised concerns about restrictions on all oil and gas activities within the protected area.

The analysis said Significant Discovery Licenses have been awarded to companies adjacent to the protected area.

SDLs are issued based on evidence that an oil or gas discovery can support hydrocarbon production over a sustained period. They effectively give the license holders indefinite tenure and exclusive right to develop the resources.

Although most of the protected area will be off limits to petroleum exploration and development, holders of SDLs will “continue to exercise their rights” within a special management zone where the industry will be able to conduct exploratory drilling, pipeline construction and related activities.

Nathan Cullen, a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament, said the exception protects only “oil and gas interests” and does nothing for species at risk.

He said that any oil spill could drift into the protected region and harm the beluga habitat.

“It’s an insane notion that we can draw a line in the water and drill right beside it,” he told the National Post.

A news release issued by Harper’s office said the beluga area will “balance the cultural and economic aspirations of northerners” without any specific reference to offshore drilling.

The protected area is estimated to hold oil and gas reserves worth C$6.6 billion, compared with C$102 billion for the entire portion of the Beaufort Sea claimed by Canada.






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