Canada's major oil and gas regulator, the National Energy Board (NEB) has given in to the requests of Imperial Oil (a subsidiary of ExxonMobile) and Chevron to fast track an exemption from one of the most important safety regulations that guard against catastrophic oil spills. The drilling of relief wells.
In 2007, the Canadian government, under Steven Harper, granted licences to several oil and gas companies to do exploratory drilling: Imperial Oil and Chevron as well as British Petroleum and ConocoPhilips. Those licences now extend until 2020. In 2010, the massive explosion and resulting horrific oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico. BP had drilled no relief well when building the well. Despite this disaster, Imperial Oil has pushed ahead with it's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.
Following the Deepwater disaster, the NEB updated their requirements for off-shore drilling. In September, 2013, Imperial Oil submitted their plans to the NEB and a regional regulator(the Environmental Impact Screening Committee) and confirmed that they would not be drilling a "same season relief well". The proposal was then sent to the Environmental Review Board (EIRB). Public input is a part of that board's decisionmaking process.
Now, Imperial Oil and Chevron are trying to bypass that process and cheat.
Why are relief wells so important and what does this decision mean for any resource based industry looking to set up shop in Canada?
Jump over that nasty orange oil spill and find out
These relief wells allow for shutting off the main well should something dire happen, such as an oil leak. They are a requirement for both the US and Canada for any company wishing to drill an off-shore oil well in the Arctic. When Deepwater Horizon exploded there was no relief well, and the leaking bore was not considered "killed" until one had been drilled. Not having these relief wells already in place means having to rely on other methods to stop leaks, such as blow-out preventers ( yeah..look how well that worked for Deepwater Horizon), containment domes and capping sticks. These solutions have never been tested in the challenging Arctic seas. In fact, they have problems when used in open water and have not been very successful at all.
Add to this the potential for a major disaster in the Beaufort Sea, where no deep water oil well platform has ever been done before, and the mind boggles at the thought of an oil spill in these half-frozen choppy waters.
The Canadian Beaufort Sea’s unique bathymetry makes this risk even more dire. Major ocean currents, especially the clockwise moving Beaufort Gyre, could play a significant roll in dispersing oil from a major spill throughout the Arctic region, with the most immediate impacts falling to the coastlines of northern Alaska. In addition, the Beaufort Sea is home to numerous threatened and endangered species, and is the critical habitat of numerous North American migratory birds. Polar bears, bowhead whales, and beluga whales all occur in significant numbers in the Beaufort Sea and play critical rolls in the lives and traditions of local indigenous populations.
Is the prospect of drilling for oil that addictive to these companies, who seem to not have the slightest idea of the risks? Who have made no back-up plans to deal with the possibility of a massive blow-out or spill?
Shell, the first operator in American waters has sunk nearly $6 billion into its Arctic offshore aspirations and has yet to withdraw a single drop of oil, despite already encountering major operating challenges. Worse still, a report released last week from the Nunavut Planning Commission found that little is known about how oil would spread in icy and snowy conditions and that little is known about how to clean up such a spill.
The risks these companies are willing to take are truly staggering.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/...
So just what does this mean for a resource based company wanting to set up shop in Canada? We're open for business! Risky business ..no problem. Just bring your money, damn the regs and damn the consequences!
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The World Wildlife Fund has been considering these risks too, and has come up with an incredible interactive map of the potential for oil spills in the Arctic Ocean; where they will happen and how they will travel, what wildlife they will affect and to what extent.
The results revealed a number of concerning trends, notably that spilled oil is easily trapped in sea ice, making it difficult to contain and clean up, and allowing it to spread far from the site of the spill – in some cases the models showed oil reaching Russian shores. The research also showed that oil spilled in Canadian waters could reach U.S. shorelines and affect communities and wildlife there. The bottom line message is clear: even minor spills can have major impacts. We must tread very carefully, and treat any Arctic development with great care and concern.
I highly recommend checking out the map. Hover on the blocks at the bottom, click on them, and click on the menu blocks that show when you hover as well.
The article:
http://blog.wwf.ca/...
The map:
http://arcticspills.wwf.ca/...
I fear if off-shore drilling goes ahead in the Arctic, we are in for a world of black , oily shit that we can never clean up and will regret for the remainder of our grandchildren's lives and their grandchildren's.