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Posted November 29, 2006
B.C. Premier stirs pot over ban on sea drilling
Moratorium on offshore exploration won't end any time soon, Ottawa replies
Globe and Mail, November 23, 2006
by WENDY STUECK and SIMON TUCK
With a report from Bloomberg News Service
VANCOUVER, OTTAWA -- British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said yesterday a long-standing federal ban on offshore oil-and-gas development in the province could be lifted within two or three years, setting out an aggressive time frame for a controversial industry and apparently catching Ottawa off guard.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said he had no idea where Mr. Campbell had got the idea the moratorium on offshore drilling could be lifted in that period, and that dealing with the issue is not in Ottawa's plans.
"It's not on our agenda and we have no intention of putting it on," Mr. Lunn said yesterday outside the House of Commons.
Before Ottawa even considers a change in policy, more research and talks with aboriginal communities would need to occur, he said. "Right now, there's a lot of work to do."
Late yesterday afternoon, B.C. Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Richard Neufeld said the province has consistently said it believes the moratorium should be lifted only after adequate research and consultation has been conducted.
"We have always said we wouldn't do it until the science was complete," he said. "There is still a fair amount of work to be done and he [Mr. Campbell] recognizes that."
Mr. Campbell made his comments after a speech to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, where he stopped as part of a trade mission to China.
"We and the federal government are spending millions of dollars to do the science so we can conduct drilling in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way," he said.
Ottawa has had a moratorium on offshore exploration for
34 years, which has blocked any move by B.C. to develop its offshore oil and gas reserves.
Mr. Campbell's Liberal government has been pushing for offshore oil and gas development. Its Throne Speech of February, 2003, said: "By 2010, your Government wants to have an offshore oil and gas industry that is up and running, environmentally sound and booming with job creation."
For that goal to be reached, Ottawa would have to lift its moratorium, something Mr. Campbell appears to hope will happen sooner rather than later.
The Premier's comments are "unrealistic," said Oonagh O'Connor, a spokeswoman for the Living Oceans Society, a B.C.-based group that has campaigned against offshore drilling. "I think in order for it to be lifted in three years, they would need a lot of support that they don't have right now," she said, citing a 2004 federal report that found 75 per cent of those who made presentations to a review panel wanted to keep the ban.
"I don't know who Gordon Campbell is trying to please in making this announcement, but if he's listening to the people of British Columbia, they've already spoken quite clearly," Ms. O'Connor said.
"Their [the provincial government's] biggest problem is jurisdictional matters of aboriginal title," said Guujaw, president of the Haida Nation. The Haida claim ownership of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Hecate Strait.
British Columbia has said it will honour its obligations to first nations in relation to offshore gas, but has also said it does not believe it is required to conclude treaties in order to proceed with offshore oil-and-gas development.
David Pryce, vice-president of western operations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said he thought the premier's time frame was reasonable.
"This isn't something that is going to happen overnight, but it is important to get the signals that there is an intention to try and find a solution to the moratorium. So two to three years is a reasonable time frame for considering this," Mr. Pryce said.
From a technical standpoint, the moratorium could be lifted tomorrow, Mr. Pryce added, but other issues must be addressed -- including, he said, the regulatory framework between the province and the federal government, aboriginal claims and involvement and defining clear "no-go" areas for industrial activity.
"Getting those three things lined out would be important as part of the process," Mr. Pryce said.
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