In light of recent events, it’s mindboggling that it’s business as usual regarding oil exploration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
References to the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico were understandable as a number of groups called for a moratorium in these waters closer to home. It was the proverbial wakeup call, as representatives of the Green Party of Canada and the Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition joined at Melmerby Beach to urge a halt to exploration and deepwater drilling.
An oil exploration lease has been issued to Corridor Resources next to the Iles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Save Our Seas claims seismic testing is planned for the fall with drilling foreseen by 2012.
As federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May notes, the activity would put tourism and the fishery at risk. The currents are such that the counter-clockwise flow would distribute any spilled oil and result in widespread contamination of coastal communities in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Another sick feeling brought on by the BP experience to the south: it’s not a matter of if, but when such a spill might occur.
Greg Egilsson of the Gulf Nova Scotia Herring Federation said the provincial and federal governments need to show respect for the well-being of coastal communities.
He also makes reference to the moratorium on testing on the rich fishing grounds of Georges Bank, renewed by the Obama administration and also extended recently by the Nova Scotia government. The U.S. president also placed a moratorium on activity in the Gulf of Mexico following the spill.
What people worldwide have come to understand from that ecological nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico is – as these groups claim – there is no plan in place. Not only did we find that an oil industry giant hadn’t the ability to prevent the worst from happening, it also did not have the capability to quickly remedy the leak. Assurances of safety simply aren’t believable.
