November 29, 2005
Increased Pressure to Maintain the Moratorium on Coastal Oil Development in BC
On the 5th and 6th of November, volunteers from Victoria and Vancouver congregated in David Emerson’s riding to put pressure on the Minister of Industry to maintain the moratorium on Coastal Oil and Gas Development in British Columbia (BC). Over a two-day period, thousands of houses were visited, and the public was informed of the issues associated with the exploration and drilling of oil and gas off our coastline.
Some of the reasons why the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) believe that oil and gas development off the BC coast should be opposed include:
1) We simply don’t know whether there are viable quantities of oil and gas off the BC coast. To assess this, seismic testing would have to be conducted throughout the region. In other areas, this procedure has been shown to affect whale feeding and migration patterns, fish populations and fragile underwater ecosystems. Therefore, even before oil production and transportation begins, the unique organisms that occur off BCs coast could be threatened as a result of lifting the moratorium.
2) The environmental and economic consequences of major oil spills would be devastating to coastal communities.
3) Even with no major oil spill, the pollution that is inherent with the production of oil would see an unpolluted wilderness area increasingly become polluted with toxic drilling fluid and small oil spills that are unavoidable.
4) That 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, and as such, Canadian job creation would not be guaranteed.
5) That 75% of BC residents surveyed in the federal governments own public input process conducted in the Spring, 2004, supported keeping the moratorium in place.
The aim of the weekend was to inform the public of the problems associated with oil and gas production off their coastline. We also provided households with email address, postal addresses and phone numbers of the politicians that are important with regards to making a decision about this issue.
These include:
1) David Emerson, Minister of Industry: Emerson.D@parl.gc.ca. Ph: 604 775 6263
2) Paul Martin, Prime Minister: pm@pm.gc.ca
3) Stéphane Dion, Minister of Environment: Dion.S@parl.gc.ca
4) Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans: Regan.G@parl.gc.ca
The enthusiastic response of many households showed that the weekend was a success. The WCWC believe ‘an educated citizenry exerts the ultimate pressure on government’ (Paul George, WCWC cofounder).
