OTTAWA – The Harper government has quietly affirmed that it isn’t legally bound to maintain a moratorium on oil drilling off the coast of British Columbia.
The government has also determined that the ban doesn’t apply to oil-tanker traffic, despite the widely held view that such vessels are prohibited from plying the waters along B.C.’s northern coast.
The federal government’s position, outlined in a statement issued last year, opens the door to a significant spike in tanker traffic under a $5.5-billion plan by Enbridge Inc. to build two pipelines that would carry oil from the Edmonton region to a port in Kitimat, B.C.
The pipelines are expected to become a major petroleum route from the oilsands to China and other Asian energy markets, while giving a shot in the arm to the economies of central Alberta and B.C. But environmentalists say the project puts the province’s coastal ecosystems at risk.
The offshore drilling moratorium in B.C. dates back to 1972, when the government of Pierre Trudeau banned tanker traffic through the coastal waters north of Vancouver Island. The moratorium was later extended to include all offshore oil and gas activity, putting a freeze on offshore permits held by various oil companies.
In 2004, a panel appointed by the Chretien government completed a public review of the moratoriums. The panel concluded that public opposition was too strong to consider lifting the bans.
But last year, Natural Resources Canada attached a correction to the report that takes issue with the former Liberal government’s interpretation of the bans. The correction states that "the moratorium on oil and gas activities offshore British Columbia does not apply to tanker traffic."
It also notes there is no legislation requiring the government to maintain the ban on offshore drilling, which was imposed through cabinet orders that have since expired. And it leaves the door open to converting offshore permits held by oil companies into new exploration licences.
"No activity can occur until the former permits are converted to exploration licences. The decision not to negotiate with industry to convert those permits is a pure policy decision. There is no statutory impediment to carrying out those negotiations," states the correction.
Josh Paterson, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, said there appears to be no cabinet order or other official document to support the tanker ban. Nevertheless, he said the ban has been recognized by every Canadian government since 1972.
"The current government has created a lot of ambiguity around this by going back and trying to rewrite history, by taking the extraordinary step of reaching back to a document that a previous government had written, and correcting it," said Paterson.
He said the government should introduce legislation to formalize the moratoriums.
"It’s a matter of such critical importance that we can’t afford to have these unwritten policies that are subject to different interpretations."
The government’s interpretation of the moratoriums appears to contradict recent comments by senior federal ministers. In response to a question last week by Liberal MP Joyce Murray in the House of Commons, for example, Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis said: "There is a moratorium in British Columbia and no tankers are allowed into the Inside Passage," which includes the territory covered by the 1972 moratorium.
"That will not change," said Paradis.
A spokesman for Enbridge said "both the federal and provincial governments, and their respective departments have confirmed that there is no legislated moratorium on oil tankers entering B.C. ports."
The Enbridge project, which is expected to break ground in 2013, will cause traffic through the Kitimat port to increase by 220 tankers per year. Tankers will travel through the Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance and Queen Charlotte Sound, all of which are covered by the 1972 moratorium.
Enbridge spokesman Alan Roth said the company is taking a number of precautions, such as the use of double-hulled tankers and escort tugs, to ensure the probability of an oil spill remains "extremely remote."
The project is undergoing an environmental assessment by a joint review panel of experts under the supervision of the National Energy Board, which regulates offshore drilling off the B.C. coast.
The B.C. government has been pushing Ottawa to lift the offshore drilling and tanker moratoriums, although the province’s enthusiasm has been somewhat dampened since the Gulf Coast spill. A spokesman for the B.C. energy ministry said the government "supports environmentally and socially responsible oil and gas development" off the province’s coast.
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