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Posted March 10, 2005
Oil future debated at summit
Victoria News, March 4, 2005
By Mark Browne
"It's an awareness-building exercise to make sure the people of British
Columbia, in one way or another, begin to get the message of the importance of
the energy sector to our economy," said John Winter, president of the B.C.
Chamber of Commerce, which organized the summit.
"It's an awareness-building exercise to make sure the people of British
Columbia, in one way or another, begin to get the message of the importance of
the energy sector to our economy," said John Winter, president of the B.C.
Chamber of Commerce, which organized the summit.
The B.C. Chamber Oil and Gas Opportunities Summit at the Ocean Pointe Resort,
which kicked off Monday evening and wrapped up Tuesday, featured speakers
including B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld and Prince Rupert
Mayor Herb Pond, who discussed the importance of oil and gas exploration to
resource-based communities.
The Victoria chapter of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee also made a
speech - outside the main entrance to the Ocean Pointe Resort Tuesday morning.
The protesters held two large banners stating "Ban oil drilling and seismic
testing off B.C.'s wild coast" and "Keep our coast oil free."
"The B.C. government is pushing very aggressively to lift the offshore oil and
gas moratorium," said Victoria WCWC spokesperson Ken Wu. "The B.C. Liberals are
slick like oil on water."
The environmental group is critical of the provincial government's announcement
in the recent throne speech that it's spending $11.55 million over the next
four years to fund their Offshore Oil and Gas Team, which Wu described as a
lobby group working to push the federal government to lift the moratorium.
Offshore oil and gas exploration, he said, would pose a serious threat to whales
and other marine life due to sonic waves from seismic testing. The impact of
seismic testing can kill fish and cause deafness in whales, Wu said.
However, Winter argued that steps would be taken to address any threats to
whales or other life forms under the ocean.
"We're suggesting that this thing has to be done in a responsible way - that
would mean environmentally and it also means economically," he said. "All those
issues that are being raised by people like protesters can be dealt with and are
being dealt with all around the world."
When whales are in an area off the West Coast it wouldn't be appropriate to
conduct seismic testing, Winter said. But it would be acceptable when whales
aren't present, he added.
While there hasn't been any movement in terms of Ottawa lifting the moratorium
on offshore oil and gas exploration on the West Coast, Winter said there are
"sympathetic ears in Ottawa - including those of federal Industry Minister
David Emerson - of people interested in exploring the idea of lifting the
moratorium.
The federal government signed an agreement with the province in February to
establish proposed regulations for seismic testing off B.C.'s coast. That
leaves the federal government's position somewhat unclear since no other
immediate signs are evident that the moratorium will be lifted anytime soon.
Still, Winter said it was still important to hold the summit on the issue.
"But I think if we were to stop the activity around having the moratorium lifted
then we'd be making a mistake," he said. "I think the federal government needs
to continually be prodded . . . we've got to make sure that we keep the
pressure on them to make sure they know this is an important thing to do for
British Columbia."
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