West Coast oil exploration not on B.C. agenda
CBC News
12/09/2010
B.C.'s new Energy Minister Steve Thomson says offshore exploration for oil and gas on the West Coast is not a priority for the province, marking a significant change in policy for the government.
"It's not currently the focus of the work I'm doing within the ministry of energy," Thomson told CBC News
For years, the B.C. Liberal government has sought to lift an informal federal moratorium on drilling off the West Coast. Former energy minister Richard Neufeld believed there was $100-billion worth of offshore oil and gas there.
But on Wednesday, Thomson told CBC News his focus as the province's newest energy minister is on exporting natural gas from northeastern B.C.
"In the current climate, the focus is on utilizing the resources we currently have. There's a lot of opportunity there, a lot of investment going on in our northeast. That's the market opportunities we see for British Columbia," said Thomson.
No legislated bans
Outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell was a big booster of offshore energy exploration. In one throne speech, Campbell even called for an active offshore industry to be up and running off the West Coast by 2010.
It's unknown what Campbell's successor's position will be on offshore oil exploration, but there's already growing political pressure to ban oil tankers from B.C.'s pristine West Coast.
On Tuesday, MPs in Ottawa passed a NDP private member's motion calling for a ban on tankers on the West Coast.
The ban has the support of 61 B.C. First Nations chiefs and the majority of mayors in the Union of B.C. Municipalities, but there is no actual legislation in place for either a ban on tankers or oil exploration on the West Coast.
Enbridge opposes ban
Calgary-based oil and gas giant Enbridge Inc. has opposed any ban on tankers because of its proposal to build the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline linking the Alberta oilsands to the port of Kitimat on B.C.'s North Coast.
The company says it still plans to load 225 tankers each year at the port despite the recent parliamentary motion and it's up to federal regulatory agencies and politicians to decide if supertankers will set sail from Kitimat.
Jason Morris, who teaches political science at the University of Northern B.C., says despite the opposition to the project, there may be a lot of truth in that claim.
"Individuals and elected officials can debate until the cows come home ... but at the end of the day, there's a process set up ... that will determine decisions," said Morris.
