With just seven days left on the campaign trail, the NDP warned B.C. voters Monday that a B.C. Liberal government wants Ottawa to lift a federal moratorium on offshore exploration.
The New Democrats say that would open the West Coast to "inevitable" environmental disaster. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom said if offshore development can be done in an environmentally sound way, then the Liberals are prepared to look at it.
But in a province where the principal industry – forestry – has been devastated by a pine beetle epidemic, the softwood lumber dispute and now a worldwide economic crash, the province may be more than "prepared to look at it."
Internal federal government documents obtained by The Canadian Press note that under Premier Gordon Campbell the B.C. government is, indeed, keen for the 1972 moratorium to be lifted.
"The government of B.C. views potential offshore energy development as an important component of the province's long-term economic development, especially in areas that are comparatively disadvantaged," said a briefing document provided to the federal natural resources minister in November 2006, obtained through a federal Access to Information request.
It notes that public views are polarized for and against the moratorium and that First Nations issues and the duty of the Crown to consult with aboriginals "is ever changing."
Natural Resources Canada assessed the potential economic value of the resources of the Queen Charlotte Basin between $80 and $120 billion in oil and $40 to $60 billion in gas – back when oil was selling for US$45 a barrel and natural gas $6 per 1,000 cubic feet. On Monday, oil was selling for US$54 a barrel, and natural gas for US$3.725 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The Geological Survey of Canada has estimated there is a potential 43.4 trillion cubic feet of gas off the B.C. coast and 9.8 billion barrels of oil.
But as of yet, the moratorium remains in place.
Lana Popham, the New Democrat candidate in Saanich South on Vancouver Island, said the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell plans to open the Pacific coast up to oil and gas development.
"Oil tanker traffic would pose serious threats to our coastline, as well as to our salmon, whales, and other marine populations," she said, adding that a spill would be devastating.
"With oil supertankers it's not a question of 'if' but 'when.' Spills are inevitable if you allow these into B.C. waters,'' Popham, who was not immediately reachable for an interview, said in a statement issued by the party.
Lekstrom said Monday that if offshore development can be done in an environmentally and scientifically sound manner, "we're prepared to look at it."
"This will certainly hinge a great deal on the federal government and the moratorium that they have on that right now. But we're prepared to look at it and, at the end of the day, this is not extract a resource at all costs," said Lekstrom, reached at a campaign event in his riding in Chetwynd, in northeast B.C.
Lekstrom's predecessor, former energy minister Richard Neufeld was more committal.
"There's a huge value out there off the coast, that should British Columbians at the end of the day decide to access, would go a long ways to paying for all the services that each and every one of us want," Neufeld told The Canadian Press in January.
The former minister said Ottawa had not, as yet, "made a decision like ours that they would actually like to start a process."
"That doesn't mean you go out there and drill on Friday afternoon. But you start a process of actually reviewing it in a serious way to make a decision about lifting the moratorium. British Columbia can't lift the moratoriums on their own," Neufeld said.
He said the B.C. government was unequivocal with the federal government.
"We've already told them we're ready to do it," he said.
"I know that there are those that say the West Coast is unique and so different that you can't do it, but there are lots of unique and difficult places around the world drilling for natural gas or oil offshore is done on a daily basis with the technology that they have today, it can be done.''
Neufeld was appointed to the senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last year.
If the B.C. government wants the moratorium lifted, they may have found an ally in the current federal government.
Barely a day went by after the minority Conservative government formed its first cabinet before the then-minister of natural resources asked for a briefing on the moratorium.
Gary Lunn was sworn in the morning of Feb. 6, 2006, and by the end of business hours the next day his new staff was readying to brief him on the B.C. offshore.
"Minister has indicated an interest in being briefed early on B.C. offshore (surprise, surprise)," said an email from a top bureaucrat in Lunn's department.
The email asks staff to find numbers for the potential size of the oil and gas resources in the Pacific Ocean off the B.C. coast and the potential daily production, as well as the environmental record of the offshore in Newfoundland the North Sea, such as the number of incidents and the amount of oil leaked.
"He might ask," said the email.
Dene Moore and Dirk Meissner report for The Canadian Press.
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Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Proof?
"Lana Popham, the New Democrat candidate in Saanich South on Vancouver Island, said the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell plans to open the Pacific coast up to oil and gas development."
Let's see the proof. The NDP knows it is going to lose and is getting pretty desperate.
reallife
2 years ago
Offshore drilling
Most certainly the Liberals will continue to push the Feds on offshore oil and gas. The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources has downsized the offshore branch but the group still exists. Many people, including an ex BC NDP Premier, question how the Feds can support drilling in iceberg infested east coast waters and not allow drilling on the west coast. Just for the record, there have been 14 wells drilled in BC offshore.
SharingIsGood
2 years ago
environmental disaster
The West Coast of BC is a fault zone attached to the Pacific "Ring of Fire". The threat of huge winds, high seas, tsunami's (tidal waves) and earth quakes make it crazy to contemplate drilling there. It will never be a safe place for such activity. Add to that the chances for an oil spill/leak from a tanker that runs aground and we are in for even greater peril.
On a related issue, as the tar sands represent wealth that can only be dug up one and the getting and transporting of this wealth comes at a huge environmental cost, why is Gordon Campbell in such a huge hurry to help Albertans sell it? Campbell has never been about the environment nor has he been about protecting BC for BC. Campbell has trashed our rivers, our salmon, our forests and covers the most productive farmland in Canada with blacktop. He is in such a hurry to help wealthy Liberal campaign donors that he is willing to give away any asset we own.
He was a terrible businessman who lost money for his investors, and he is a terrible leader of this province who has lost money for British Columbians. He is a phony! He made no money in business - and he was a small timer at that! He is a sad joke!
Read Vaughn Palmer to get more about Campbell's lack of business acumen; the article is an eye-opener:
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/viewfromtheledge/archive/2009/04/16/carole-james-and-that-issue-of-quot-business-experience-quot.aspx
Van Isle
2 years ago
Reallife, I too remember
when Tidewater Marine was doing all those test wells in the 70's. And a whole lot of them were cappped with "Christmas Trees" too. If the Conservatives and the Provincai Liberals are in power when the offshore drilling starts to happen, they'll be giving the oil away for peanuts. Our government won't be smart and create a company which owns the oil as Norway did when they developed Ekofisk area of the North Sea. We'll be treated as a 3rd world country.
Skywalker
2 years ago
But Gordon is "green".
David Suzuki and Tzeporah Berman think his policies are "green". Do you think maybe....nah!
leftofcentre
2 years ago
This is more than a bit of a stretch...
I guess at this stage, the NDP is making it up stuff as they go along and the Tyee is willing to print it without question.
Just because you're left wing doesn't mean you should throw things like facts and editorial scrutiny out the window. It looks bad on the NDP and really makes the Tyee no better than Canwest.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Sharingisgood
Loved the Vaughn Palmer piece and I rarely ever read him. It must have really hurt Gordon to the quick to learn that Clark is probably more successful in business than Gordon ever was.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Well Said....
"I guess at this stage, the NDP is making it up stuff as they go along and the Tyee is willing to print it without question."
As desperation sets in, I believe the squealing will get even louder.
I have always seen the Tyee as a worthy alternative to the main stream media but this seems to be slipping away rapidly into an all out NDP rahrah site.
Most noticeable for it's omission is Will McMartin's seat projection, such as the one that was actually bang on in 2005.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Irony....
"Clark is probably more successful in business than Gordon ever was."
Yes, and he works for that NDP stalwart Jim Pattison.
RossK
2 years ago
Is Mr. Lekstrom's Predecessor More Committal Because...
Exxon told him it's a good thing?
.
G West
2 years ago
And you talk about bending the truth
"I have always seen the Tyee as a worthy alternative to the main stream media but this seems to be slipping away rapidly into an all out NDP rahrah site." (WilFRED)
How long ago was it that you were slagging David Beers for taking money from Trade Unions?
wiley
2 years ago
Tragedy of the Commons
Offshore drilling, oil tankers, sour gas wells, pipelines, coalbed methane, more coal exports....at what point do the Liberals and NDP wake up from this metastasizing suicide nightmare?
Quit joking around, Lekstrom: there never could be an "environmentally sound" way of extracting oil in BC's coastal waters. Barrel for barrel, it's no different than the tarsands in that it all gets burned eventually, worsening our climate crisis, which is now at a tipping point in our lifetimes.
We need to pursue LIFE wholeheartedly, not chase after DEATH half-heartedly. We have to chart a whole new future direction that REDUCES our Carbon Footprint, and the fastest way to do that is to leave the sh*t in the ground, and look to much greener means of running perhaps half the machinery of what passes for civilization these days.
Vote for the Leavers, not the Takers!
Luke Skywalker
2 years ago
What about BC's Other Oil Terminals/Tankers?
No to tankers terminals on one part of BC's coast but who cares about tanker terminals on another part of BC's coast?
Nobody squeaks a peep about Kinder Morgan Canada's TransMountain Pipeline system that carries oil from a pipeline terminal at the foot of Burnaby Mountain to a tanker-loading facility on Burrard Inlet.
Only in BC.
DPL
2 years ago
A barge dropped a bunch of
A barge dropped a bunch of oil and a tanker truck in Robson Bight quite awhile ago. Now after a long delay a Netherlands company has been hired to raise the objects. Same folks raised the Russian nuke sub The Kirsk. Will they be showing up here often as assorted tankers collide, run aground or a drill rig springs a big leak.The Valdize ran aground because the Captain was drunk.Still oil is lying on the beaches in that area. A BC Ferry ran into an island and went to the bottom. Too deep to salvage says all those experts. Keep the drilling on dry land
politico
2 years ago
Watch the Carbon Tax, you are getting sleepier
Regardless of the lengthy and growing list of environmental atrocities:
1) The BC libs have facilitated and subsidized the largest expansion in oil and gas development in the Province's history
2) Lifted moratorium on Killing Grizzly Bears
3) Oversaw the depletion of wild Salmon stocks ( The us has completely halted the commercial fishery on the west coast)
4) Underfunded and commercialized parks while gutting ammenities and interpretive programming AND just cut most Park Wardens while shutting down campsites during this election campaign!
5) Dismantled the Forest Land Reserve
6) Oversaw unprecedented land removals from ALR
7)Watered down air and water pollution legislation to accommodate pulp and paper and other heavy industrial polluters
8) Enabled and facilitated the proliferation of open pen fish farming
9) Proliferation of coal exports and new plants
10) Has considered and encouraged nuclear power exploration for potential development
11) Gateway Project
12) Rejection of off shore oil and gas moratorium
13) Increased AAC due to pine beetle infestation
14) Got rid off the ministry of Environment upon taking office and cut budget and staffing when replacing it later in mandate
15) Denial of Species at Risk
15) Unprecedented wood waste left in bush as policies altered to favour abuse and waste
16) Raw log exports
17)Burns Bog!
18) Beehive burners!
19) Dismantled environmental youth teams and other employment in our parks and forests
20) Facilitated Run of the River gold rush
However, we must not lose sight of the fact that Gordon Campbell is leading north america on the environment and climate change because he is taxing us!
Makes you wonder what the hell he has put in the water..... oh yeah that reminds me what about drinking water legislation? Right some of the worst in the land I forgot about that.
frenchy mcswede
2 years ago
So, the premier is a business failure,
just as he has been a failure at everything else, including, in many people's opinion, a failure as a human being. So, $8000 a share for an interest in the georgian court, pathetically minimal returns on the shares, and the shares now worth a fraction of their value. Just pathetic! Should be a vancouver sun 3 inch headline.
But then what can we expect from a "leader" who has NOTHING to show for 3 years of a boom economy, for 2 years of record transfer payments from ottawa, and who did not fund social programs or ministries adequately for 8 years, but who is now BROKE!!!
Oh, and doing oil offshore drilling in an "environmentally safe way," in some of the most dangerous waters on the planet, that must mean it's safe so long as none of the premier's friends and owners wind up with oil on their living room carpet, in their beach front properties...
"Wanna buy a bridge, it's in brooklyn, and I got the title...pssst,(in sotto voice whisper) I'm a friend of the premier's..."
freebear
2 years ago
A No Brainer LIbs want Offshore Oil & Gas!
Remember what one well known president of the U.S. said:
"we are addicted to oil"
Think of all the revenues we can then spend on our pet projects for our well-connected business friends and supporters!
Apparently the Liberals are researching an additive to make oil green!
Wileyb has it right bwe all have to make do with less, not consume more.!
Wait the Carbon Tax will solve everything right David?