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Victoria News: Oil Attack Launched
Victoria News, Weekend Edition, November 12, 2004
By Mark Browne
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee's Victoria chapter launched a
new campaign this week pushing for a permanent ban on oil and gas
development off BC's coast.
The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, though, is hoping the feds
will lift a moratorium on oil and gas development.
"Our plan is to escalate the campaign nation-wide", said Ken Wu,
executive director of WCWC's Victoria chapter.
But chamber CEO Bruce Carter said exploration is necessary to determine
if drilling for oil and gas off BC's coast will pose any problems.
"Further exploration will provide us with some answers to some questions
that we don't know. Without that exploration taking place we won't know
whether or not there is a hazard or risk," Carter said. "We're talking
about gathering information here - and that can be done safely".
The WCWC campaign involves sending information packages and a petition
to ban offshore oil and gas development to environmental organizations
and other groups.
The petition is concerned with more than simply calling on Ottawa to not
lift the current federal moratorium preventing offshore oil and gas
exploration on the West Coast, Wu said.
"It's basically calling for a legislated ban on offshore oil and gas
development on the Pacific coast," Wu said.
While the entire WCWC is involved in the campaign, the organization's
Victoria chapter is spearheading the initiative.
"We're going to move the campaign out of British Columbia to the rest of
the country," Wu said.
At the end of this month, the federal government is expected to review
results from public input it gathered during a tour of BC's coastal
communities last spring. The input revealed that 69 per cent of the oral
submissions and 59% of the written submissions want the federal
government to maintain the moratorium.
It's possible, Wu said, that Ottawa could make a decision on whether to
lift the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration off the West
Coast before the end of the year.
As far as the WCWC is concerned, there shouldn't be any oil and gas
development or exploration in the waters off BC's coast, Wu said.
"Even before any oil is drilled there's a lot of destruction", he said.
The seismic testing that takes place before any drilling results in a
discharge of "sonic booms" that can kill fish and drive whales and other
marine life away from their feeding areas and migration routes, he said.
Actual drilling can result in pollution from "chronic oil leakages" and
a discharge of toxic chemicals, which would contaminate marine life, Wu
said.
"This is of course the most earthquake prone region in the whole
country", he said. "This is where they want to put oil rigs."
The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce doesn't have a problem with the
WCWC's campaign as Carter said it will generate a debate on the issue.
"We welcome the debate", he added.
The WCWC's petition on the issue can also be accessed at
http://www.bcoilslick.org
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