The Council of Canadians is taking government to task on what they feel could be another Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
The South Shore branch of the council has organized a speaking tour, including a meeting tonight in Shelburne, to highlight their issues with offshore drilling.
The federal government recently approved exploratory drilling by BP off the Southeast coast of Nova Scotia.
Marilyn Keddy is with the local branch.
Her group is worried about the impact a blowout of a well could have on the area.
“They will be drilling in water off our shores of Nova Scotia that is twice as deep as that off the Gulf of Mexico,” says Keddy.
Keddy believes the oil and gas industry is tied too closely to the Canadian and provincial government.
“Our government at both levels, they’re promoting oil and gas development which needs to be a cause of great concern on the part of citizens,” says Keddy.
Colin Sproul, vice-president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishers Association, is one of the speakers at the events.
He says he’s not anti-oil but he wants better oversight.
“What I expected as Nova Scotian fishermen that we could expect our federal government to afford us the same levels of protection for our industry from potential dangers from oil and gas that other progressive countries afford their fishermen,” says Sproul.
He pointed to Norway as an example, saying they have strict oversight of oil and gas, particularly near sensitive fishing grounds, but still have a successful offshore oil industry.
Sproul says he’d like to see companies required to have staff that can cap a well during a blowout be on site, especially when a well is next to key fishing grounds.
He says some of the exploratory drilling has been approved for an area near LFA 40, a closed lobster zone where lobsters spawn.
“It’s just an incredibly important piece of sea floor for Canada’s lobster industry.”
He adds that the Roseway Basin has been proposed as a Marine Protected Area and is a critical habitat to the North Atlantic Right Whale.
“There’s just not room for any error in offshore gas and oil, we’re in a situation where one human error could lead to one catastrophic situation and end our way of life,” he says.
Both Sproul and Keddy have pointed to the dangers of drilling near Georges Bank, arguably one of the most abundant fishing grounds off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The federal government co-manages Georges Bank with the United States.
While the Canadian government has approved up to seven exploratory wells for BP off the coast of Nova Scotia, government leaders in the eastern United States have been fighting against allowing drilling off their coast.
President Donald Trump has proposed opening all US waters to drilling, which Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Governor Charlie Baker have spoken out against, citing concerns for the environment and fishing industry.
They are among dozens of political leaders in the eastern United States who have spoke out against allowing offshore drilling in the Atlantic zone.
Florida was recently exempt from the plan after arguing a blowout could adversely affect their tourism industry.
“I think it’s very revealing that there’s been total silence from our Atlantic premiers on the issue, while governors and attorney generals on all the Altantic states, regardless of political stripe, chose to speak up while our premiers remain silent,” says Sproul.
Sproul will speak at the town hall meetings as well two other speakers.
Antonia Juhasz, an award winning investigative journalist and author of Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill, will speak on the causes and consequences of that spill and the policy choices that enabled it to happen.
And Peter Puxley, a former CBC journalist and policy researcher will also speak.
The first meeting is in Shelburne tonight from 7 to 9:30 pm at Shelburne Regional High School. Doors open at 6:30.
The second is tomorrow from 7 to 9:30 at the Lunenburg Fire Department. Doors open at 6:30.
Edit: Acadia Broadcasting has reached out to Environment and Climate Change Canada for comment.
