Premier challenges federal minister

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

Premier Gordon Campbell is locking horns with a fellow British Columbian over the state of scientific knowledge of the offshore oil and gas industry.

Federal Environment Minister David Anderson, who represents a British Columbia constituency in the House of Commons, said the moratorium on exploration off the British Columbia coast will remain in place until the knowledge gaps are filled.

Campbell, who has set 2010 as the start-up date for commercial operations, insisted there are no gaps in the science.

“If they can (produce oil and gas) in the North Sea, if they can do it in the Gulf of Mexico, if they can do it in an iceberg highway in Newfoundland, surely we can do it in British Columbia,” he said May 17.

He said two expert panels have reviewed the offshore without raising any insurmountable obstacles.

Campbell said his government would never consider opening up the offshore if it was not convinced that “sound science and new technologies” would allow an industry to operate safely.