Federal, provincial governments ignoring lessons of Gulf oil spill

This is one for the “they just don’t get it” file, or possibly the “they get it, but just don’t care” file.

While authorities in the Gulf of Mexico scramble to contain the largest oil spill in U.S. history that killed 11 workers, the Canadian government is busy relaxing regulations on off-shore drilling along the Atlantic coast and in the Arctic. The Gulf spill is potentially 10 times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster.

As incredible as it may seem, new federal regulations remove the requirement for off-shore drilling operations to use relief wells as part of contingency plans to contain oil spills. Previously, companies were required to have a drilling platform ready to drill a relief well to stem off-shore oil spills.

Meanwhile, the news media is reporting that the federal and provincial governments are refusing to close the door on off-shore oil drilling and supertanker traffic in B.C. coastal waters.

At a time when the ecosystems and economies of the Gulf of Mexico, Carribbean and Atlantic states are threatened by a natural disaster with no equal in modern times, Canada’s governments are making it easier for such spills to occur in Canadian waters.

What part of the word “no” do these politicians not get? Canadians clearly want increased environmental protection and action on global warming. What we get instead is indifference and the reckless endangerment of our environment. All, apparently, so that oil companies can make an easy profit at our expense.

Join me in sending a message to Prime Minister Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca) and Premier Campbell (Premier@gov.bc.ca), and tell them to maintain the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling and supertanker traffic in B.C., and to re-instate the requirement for relief wells at off-shore drilling sites.