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Offshore debate revs up B.C. federal review panel finds 75 percent want no part of ending a 1972 moratorium; East Coast spill and oil project leftovers give B.C. activists more ammo against opening offshore Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
They’re not even remotely on the same scale as the Exxon Valdez spill and clean-up.
But the largest oil spill off Canada’s East Coast and the remnants of Nova Scotia’s first offshore oil project have rippled across thousands of miles to British Columbia.
About 1,000 barrels of crude spread over several miles offshore Newfoundland in late November after a malfunction at Petro-Canada’s Terra Nova platform, shutting down the 165,000 barrel-per-day operation.
That coincided with a decision by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to seek public comments on whether debris left from the Cohasset-Panuke oil field, which pumped 30 million barrels during its short lifespan in the 1990s, should be cleaned up or ignored.
Regardless of the scope of those problems, which some have dismissed as overblown, and regardless of the fact that about 500 million barrels have been pumped in the stormy Newfoundland waters without a significant previous spill, these molehills are being turned into mountains by opponents of opening up the British Columbia offshore. They have also coincided with the findings of a public review panel headed by former National Energy Board chairman Roland Priddle, which concluded 75 percent of those who made presentations at a series of public meetings do not want to end a 32-year ban on British Columbia exploration. Estimate based on ‘head count’ The panel said the “strongly held and vigorously polarized views received do not provide a ready basis for any kind of public policy compromise at this time in regard to keeping or lifting the moratorium.”
The warning was a further setback to the chances of achieving B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell’s goal to having an offshore industry “up and running” by 2010, producing reserves estimated at 25.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and 10 billion barrels of oil in the Queen Charlotte basin.
What angered many on the pro-development side was Priddle’s admission that the 75 percent estimate was based on a “head-count,” because the volume and nature of the submissions did not allow for a more accurate estimate.
Mayors of two coastal communities who see an offshore industry as vital to their economic future described the panel’s findings as superficial and misleading.
Harry Mose, mayor of Port Hardy at the northern end of Vancouver Island, dismissed the findings as “useless,” while Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said he was “very disappointed.”
Mose said lifting the ban was a key plank in his municipal re-election campaign and he got 79 percent of the vote, reflecting the pro-development sentiment in the Port Hardy area which could be a major staging point for exploration and development.
Pond said he has heard from hundreds of rural residents and First Nations’ people who favor lifting the moratorium, so long as tough regulations are imposed. Review panel findings on minister’s desk The review panel report findings went to Canada’s Natural Resources Minister John Efford, who will not comment until he has time to study the conclusions.
However, he sided with the Campbell government’s pro-development stance. “They have a right to because of the economic opportunities,” he said.
A spokesman for B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said the minister believes seismic work could still begin by the end of the decade. Neufeld and two other B.C. cabinet ministers met with federal counterparts to seek their cooperation to make an informed decision on opening up the offshore.
Brian Peckford, Newfoundland premier during the development of that province’s offshore and now a consultant on Vancouver Island, told the Financial Post that “one thing seems quite certain — there will be no real offshore activity for many, many years.”
If 75 percent of British Columbians oppose offshore activity “governments will be hard pressed to do anything that contradicts the will of a substantial majority,” he said. Bill Wareham of the David Suzuki Foundation said the people of British Columbia clearly recognize that the risks of offshore drilling and exploration far outweigh the benefits.
If nothing else the East Coast setbacks have put a sharper edge on the looming showdown to determine whether British Columbia’s wealth will come from offshore oil and gas or whether its environmental, fishery and tourism riches will get priority.
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