Oil and water don't mix!
The threat of coastal oil and gas development looms over BC's wild and beautiful Pacific coast. For over thirty years there has been a federal moratorium in place to protect Canada's Pacific coast from oil and gas development.
Currently, the BC government is pressuring the federal government to lift their moratorium in order to open up the Pacific coast to oil and gas development.
Coastal oil and gas development would seriously harm our marine ecosystems, fishing and seafood industry, and whale-watching tourism through pollution and seismic testing (sonic blasts in the ocean that kill and harm marine life). At stake is the ecological integrity of our Pacific coast and the livelihoods of thousands of BC citizens that depend on these traditional coastal assets. The Wilderness Committee urges the citizens of BC to stand up and help to protect Canada's wild Pacific coast from inappropriate, dirty development.
More than seventy different interest groups ranging from tourism and fishermen to First Nations and environmental groups have joined together in the Oil Free Coast Alliance, and are calling on the provincial and federal governments to maintain the moratoria on any coastal oil and gas development off BC's coast. Here are some of the reasons to keep the moratoria in place:
- 75% of the respondents to the federal government's own public input process in the spring of 2004 supported keeping the moratorium in place.
- The environmental and economic consequences of a major oil spill or blow-out in Canada's most earthquake prone region would be devastating to coastal communities, as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 showed. Earthquakes 8.1 (1949) and 7.0 (1970) on the Richter Scale have occurred in the Queen Charlotte Islands region. The fiercest winds in Canada have been recorded at almost 200 km/hr in this region;
the resulting giant waves could demolish oil rigs and tankers.
- Major oil spills aside, inherent in coastal oil and gas production is daily chronic pollution, including the discharge of toxic drilling fluids and mud, chronic oil leakages, and small oil spills that are unavoidable. Toxic drilling fluids and mud include mercury and heavy metals like chromium and lead that contaminate fish and invertebrates.
- In order to locate oil and gas deposits, seismic tests must be done that send shock waves through the ocean that can deafen whales, kill fish and invertebrates, and drive fish and whales long distances away from their feeding areas and migration routes.
- Coastal oil and gas development runs counter to Canada's Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrocarbon extraction and production accounts for almost 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, not to mention the emissions associated with burning those fossil fuels.
- Few direct jobs would be created for coastal communities. Foreign work crews with the necessary specialized skills would be brought in from around the world, as is normally the case. Oil rigs would be constructed where labour is cheapest and the facilities exist, likely in South Korea or China. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) forbids any laws that give first dibs on jobs to local people.
Federal Government Under Pressure to Lift Moratorium
The BC provincial government started the process to lift the moratoria when they were elected in 2001. It's important to let the federal government know whether or not you want them to maintain the moratorium on coastal oil exploration, drilling and transportation in BC right now!
