August 5, 2015 - 15:58 — Timothy Gillespie
We all better hope that the people running Shell Canada are not as stupid as the people currently running our government.
Because the devastation caused by a major oil and gas drilling blowout can be so monumental - as evidenced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which spilled 650 million litres of oil into the gulf and onto the beaches and wetlands of Mississippi, Louisiana, Floridana and god knows where else - U.S. regulations requires blowouts to be capped within 24 hours.
Now, when Shell oil wants to drill in the Shelburne basin near some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq approved an offshore drilling plan that allows up to 21 days to contain a subsea blowout, when the most recent.
21 days?
On June 15, Aglukkaq signed off on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's assessment of Shell Canada's Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project.
Shell Canada's spill containment plan, accepted by the agency, says it can have a primary capping stack in place within 12 to 21 days after a blowout off southern Nova Scotia.
John Davis, a long-time environmentalist who spends a lot of time on Nova Scotia's South Shore, told CBC today that Shell's plan doesn't make sense.
"It seems to me almost inconceivable that [Shell] would give themselves up to 21 days to stop a blowout in an area that is so close to all of our major fishing ground here on the South Shore," he said.
Shell Canada says the capping stack equipment would be brought in from Stavanger, Norway.
Norway?
Shell said it would also deploy a backup capping stack from either Scotland, South Africa, Singapore or Brazil.
Scotland, South Africa, Singapore or Brazil?
Environment Canada and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency have refused to explain Aglukkaq's reasoning for approving Shell Canada's well containment plan for Shelburne Basin, deferring questions to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.
That board has historically been a rubber stamp for industry wishes.
The costs of a major blowout would cripple this area, as they did much of the Gulf Coast. Some examples: (in addition to the 650 million litres of oil):
- $42 billion in clean-up costs
- Billions in fines to BP and others
- 25,000 kilometres of spoiled coastline, spanning five states. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
- 400 animal species affected. Over 6,000 dead birds, over 600 dead sea turtles, over 150 dead mammals
We all better hope that the people running Shell Canada are not as stupid as the people currently running our government.
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