May 07, 2010
MPs to grill BP execs on drilling safety
Ottawa Citizen
Federal politicians will put executives from energy giant BP PLC and national regulators on the hot seat for parliamentary hearings that begin next week on the safety of offshore drilling.
The hearings were requested by NDP MP Nathan Cullen and approved Thursday by a parliamentary committee. They’ll examine whether Canada has adequate laws and regulations to prevent an economic and environmental disaster on the scale of the recent oil spill at a BP-leased operation in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cullen said he believes that many companies are taking risks by exploring in depths and regions that have never been exploited before, with only guidelines from the government about how to proceed.
“I don’t care about guidelines. I want to know what the rules and laws are in place,” Cullen said at a news conference.
“What do you have in place in case there was a blowout like there was in the Gulf? And no more industry assurances (saying) ‘Just trust us.’ . . . That’s not going to make it for the Canadian public. People are concerned.”
But Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Canada has avoided disasters such as the spill in the Gulf of Mexico because of existing regulations applied by the National Energy Board. He said there is no need to stop existing or new offshore Canadian drilling projects.
“I don’t think the answer is a moratorium,” Prentice said after the daily question period in the Commons.
“The answer is to make sure that the National Energy Board continues, as they have in the past, to be absolutely up-to-date, state-of-the-art in terms of technology, in terms of protecting the environment and making sure that these kind of offshore drilling activities are conducted in a very safe way. . . . This government will ensure that happens.”
Here in Canada, Cullen said he is particularly concerned about whether companies are testing new techniques at depths of 1,500 metres without guarantees that the operations are secure. He also expressed doubts as to whether the National Energy Board was the best agency to monitor or assess projects, as opposed to Environment Canada.
