Shawn McCarthy Global Energy Reporter
Ottawa — From Thursday's Globe and MailPublished on Wednesday, Jul. 07, 2010 7:37PM EDTLast updated on Thursday, Jul. 08, 2010 10:35AM EDT
BP (BP-N33.220.030.09%) disastrous blowout has prompted both Canada and the United States
to review offshore oil and gas drilling, but the results could be dramatically different given the contrasting nature of the panels charged with charting a new course for the industry.
While U.S. President Barack Obama has appointed a panel of prominent people with virtually no ties to the industry, Prime Minister StephenHarper is relying for advice on the National Energy Board, many of whose board members come straight from the energy sector.
Republicans and oil industry supporters are outraged that Mr. Obama has appointed a group that includes an environmental activist and oceanographer but no engineers or industry experts to provide guidance on how to best manage the inevitable risk that accompanies deep-water drilling offshore.
But in Canada, the complaints have been the opposite, that there are no environmentalists or northern residents represented on the National Energy Board.
In a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton urged the government to expand both the membership and the scope of the NEB review, which gets under way next week. The board’s makeup is not “representative enough to provide the kind of review Canadians want for oil and gas activities in the Arctic offshore,” Mr. Layton said in the letter, released to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.
And he urged the government to postpone the issuance of new exploration licences in the Beaufort Sea, also scheduled for later this month, until all relevant questions are answered.
In an interview, Mr. Layton said the National Energy Board has traditionally been close to the industry and operates under a weak environmental mandate. Its role has now been expanded not only with the offshore review but with the government’s legislation that anoints the board as the single federal regulator for oil and gas projects.
Several current NEB members worked in the industry before their appointments, or with Alberta provincial regulators that have green-lighted resource projects. The board has not yet revealed the composition of the offshore review panel.
While the National Energy Board is reviewing federal rules, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has appointed Captain Mark Turner to a one-person commission to review regulations governing the offshore industry in that province. Capt. Turner has also faced criticism that his lengthy career in the industry will affect his judgment, though he also ran an offshore safety program at Memorial University for several years.
In the United States, conservative and oil industry critics have slammed Mr. Obama over his handling of the BP crisis. They have targeted in particular his decision to enforce a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling and his selection of people to serve on the panel that will provide advice on how to proceed as the moratorium is lifted.
Critics note that co-chairman Robert Fraham, a former Democratic governor and senator from Florida, has long opposed offshore drilling in his state. Also singled out has been Frances Beineke, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who is seen as hostile toward the oil industry.
“I have a very serious concern about it,” said John Hofmeister, a former president of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s U.S. operations and now head of a public advocacy group.
“What you have is a group of private citizens from distinguished backgrounds who have no knowledge or experience of operating in a highly capitalized industry with long-term time horizons. And they will be making recommendations on serious matters for which they have expressed, most of them, particular ideologies that are fundamentally anti-hydrocarbon.”
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