Opinion: Are Leona Aglukkaq and Stephen Harper fucking crazy?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:58:26 +0000

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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DEEPWATER HORIZON

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BP to pay billions in Deepwater Horizon spill settlement

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 16:23:05 +0000

The federal government and the Gulf Coast states have reached a tentative deal with the British oil company BP for it to pay about $18.7 billion, the largest environmental settlement in American history, to compensate for damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, federal, state and company officials said Thursday.

An American BP subsidiary, BP Exploration and Production, will pay at least $7.1 billion, and possibly more, to the federal government and the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Florida, for damage to natural resources; $5.5 billion in penalties to the federal government for violation of the Clean Water Act; $4.9 billion to the states to compensate for harm to their economies; and up to $1 billion to more than 400 local governments.

It is thought by many that the Deepwater blowout, fire and spill triggered the Dexter NDP government's descision to impose a moratorium on oil and gass drilling on Georges Bank in 2010. Prior to the spill, premier Dexter had traveled to an oil and gas convention in texas where he offered up drilling leases on Georges Bank as enticements for exploration commitments in Nova Scotia waters.

Less than 72 hours before the Deepwater spill, Fisheries and Environment minister Sterling Belliveau told a legislative committee that deepwater drilling was so safe, it would be near-impossible to have a major blowout.

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South Coast Today - DEEPWATER HORIZON

Opinion: Are Leona Aglukkaq and Stephen Harper fucking crazy?

BP to pay billions in Deepwater Horizon spill settlement