Offshore debate heats up as talks continue

By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
July 22, 2009

The debate over offshore oil and gas development off the B.C. coast heated up last week with North Coast MLA Gary Coons saying that drilling in the Queen Charlotte Basin would not be tolerated by the people of the North Coast.

"We want a living ecosystem; even if everyone else in the world thinks that money is more important than life, we don't. This is our home. We won't let anyone wreck it, not for money, not for oil," said Coons in response to a statement by Finance Minister Colin Hansen that the province continues to work with the Federal Government to open offshore oil and gas development.

"We don't care who says it is safe, we don't care who says that the risk is worth the money. We don't need it."

Calling offshore development "a huge economic opportunity" for the province, Minister of Energy and Mines Richard Neufeld said the province is continuing its push to lift the moratorium, but that any development would still be a long way off.

"I know some people say we would just jump in there, but that's not quite so."

"Let me be very clear, even if you lifted the ban you would not start drilling on the coast for a long time after that because there first has to come some consultation and some work on that front, you have to update the seismic that is there and you have to develop the final agreements between the federal and provincial government on responsibilities and regulations."

And when it comes to the economics of drilling, the two share very different views on the role oil and gas development play in the operation of the province.