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British Columbia panel named to examine offshore development Findings to be submitted to Energy Minister Richard Neufeld by Jan. 15; environmentalists challenge claims of economic benefits, fear earthquakes, spills Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
British Columbia Energy Minister Richard Neufeld has appointed an independent review panel to examine whether the province’s offshore oil and natural gas can be developed in a way that is “scientifically sound and environmentally responsible.”
The study will primarily cover the north coast offshore: Queen Charlotte Basin encompassing Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte Sound and Queen Charlotte Straight.
No commercial discoveries have been made and the region has been under federal and provincial moratoriums since 1972. The Geological Survey of Canada currently places reserves at 9.8 billion barrels of oil and 25.9 trillion cubic feet of gas. Others have rated the gas resource at 43 trillion cubic feet.
Since its election in June, the new British Columbia government under Premier Gordon Campbell has decided to “explore the enormous opportunities of offshore oil and gas,” despite heated objections from conservation and environmental groups, along with British Columbia’s coastal First Nations.
Neufeld said the independent panel will submit its findings by Jan. 15, to be followed by public hearings.
The panel will also have access to a report prepared by Jacques Whitford Environment Ltd. examining scientific and technological advances that have improved the safety of offshore exploring and production.
Many favor extending moratorium But the government’s actions have been raising the ire of many stakeholders who favor an extended moratorium and object to the methods of conducting a review.
While agreeing some economic benefits might result from offshore development, some opponents say the promise of plentiful jobs is an illusion.
Oona O’Connor, a researcher with Living Oceans Society, a West Coast marine conservation group, said the majority of jobs would be temporary and most of the employment would be imported.
She said Canada’s East Coast offshore showed that development worked in favor of larger cities, while rural communities received few, if any benefits. She predicted that pattern would be repeated in British Columbia, with Vancouver reaping most of the gains.
David Hocking, a spokesman for Vancouver’s David Suzuki Foundation, warned of the earthquake dangers, predicting the size of an earthquake that could be expected in Hecate Strait would be “at the top rank of anything in Canada.”
As well, he and O’Connor argued for the preservation of the rich biology of British Columbia’s rainforests and coastal waters, along with the commercial fishery around the Queen Charlotte Islands, which accounts for more than half the landed value of all fisheries products in British Columbia.
O’Connor said there was no way of drilling into the seabed without spilling oil. “Anywhere the oil industry is working there are spills,” she said. “We’re concerned about that happening here.”
She was far from reassured by government pledges to involve all of the affected parties in its decision making and did not believe the review panel would give people that say.
Bill Belsey, a government member of the provincial legislature from the North Coast region, said the wave of layoffs on the province’s fishing, mining and lumber industries could be partly offset by ending the oil and gas moratorium.
“Everybody’s excited about the potential for oil and gas,” he said. “If the government lifts the moratorium, we think a lot of opportunities will be created.”
Industry doesn’t want to rush review Greg Stringham, vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the industry has no desire to rush the review.
He said Canadian producers are happy to wait for the British Columbia government to let the other stakeholders decide if and when offshore areas should be developed.
“Our companies are interested, but they’re saying, ‘We’ve got other areas we’ll be pursuing until that process is sorted out,’“ he said.
Of the leaseholders, Chevron Canada Resources Ltd. and Petro-Canada are more committed to the East Coast offshore, while Shell Canada Ltd., which encountered minor shows of oil from 14 wells drilled before mid-1969, is fully committed to a C$5.1 billion oil sands project in northern Alberta and its stake in the Mackenzie Delta gas fields.
However, none of Shell’s British Columbia offshore wells caused any environmental problems.
The independent review panel consists of: David Strang, an earth and ocean sciences professor at the University of Victoria; Derek Muggeridge, dean of the faculty of science at Okanagan University College; and Patricia Gallaugher, director of the Center for Coastal Studies at Simon Fraser University.
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