Natural Resources Committee on May 25th, 2010

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

This is a curiosity to me, then, because of this competition of who has the better regulatory environment. We hear from the regulators that Canada is stronger than the U.S. It may be the strongest in the world.

But when a company goes forward to do an exploratory well, which has consequences and risks that we all appreciate, they have a lower standard than they required in 2005 even though we're drilling deeper and riskier wells. I think that's the trend we're trying to understand.

I want to go to Mr. Herring for a second. I think it was in questioning that you said you want to see what happened in the Gulf before we make decisions here. Industry says “don't overregulate us, don't overreact”. That's been one of the calls from industry.

We don't yet know what happened in the gulf, as you said. Would it not be wise in terms of workers' safety and environmental stewardship to first find out what happened in the gulf before we issue more leases, before we allow deepwater drilling to go on? Does that not follow with your statement? We don't know what happened, so let's be prudent and let's be “precautious”, as it's termed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

A very short answer, Mr. Herring, if you could, please.

[Don Herring]

Is your question directed at the Arctic or the east coast? Because I think they are different.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Just to be specific, then, Chair, let's go to the east coast first, since it was most prevalent.

You said that we don't know what happened yet, that we don't want to make decisions before that happens. But right now we're drilling an even deeper well with even more pressure. Would it not be prudent to take a look at what happened in the gulf, at what the error was--faulty equipment or whatnot--before we continue with the project?

[Don Herring]

Well, certainly, the particular well in question is ongoing or is under way. The procedures in place and the experience we've seen to date indicate that we can drill in Canada safely and effectively. I guess if we're going to start looking at other areas, particularly areas in a completely different environment, as suggested by the open water in the Beaufort Sea, that may be a different issue that we have to bring to the table.

Certainly there will be learning from what takes place in the Gulf of Mexico. Importantly, though, if we have in place procedures that we know work--because we test them effectively and we know they work--then one has to ask the question: what are we stopping? It was a tragic accident. We don't know if they followed the procedures they were supposed to follow. If they did, I'm not really... And I don't want to go much further than that, because I just don't know what happened.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Herring and Mr. Cullen.

Mr. Anderson, go ahead, please.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to focus on the cleanup. In the United States, there seems to be a bit of a bureaucratic mess, to put it mildly, about the cleanup. In terms of that, how is our system different? If you find yourself in a situation like that, how do you fit into the equation here? Where do you come in? How do you deal with the bureaucracy and those kinds of things?

[James Carson]

Thank you for the question.

ECRC, as I mentioned, is a management company, but we do have the specialized equipment and we have the trained operators who can deploy and operate the equipment. In a spill situation, we work directly for the responsible party--in other words, the polluter.

We would assign a spill response manager and a spill management team. Based on assessments, we would apply to the spill whatever equipment and resources would be required. All throughout the spill, as I say, command and control remain with the polluter.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Just this morning we heard that the regulators have the opportunity or the right to take over at a particular point. They're discussing that in the States.

[James Carson]

That's correct.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

You would continue to work for whoever is in charge of the operations?

[James Carson]

That's correct.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I don't think we have much more time, so I'll stop.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you very much, Mr. Anderson.

Thank you all for coming today. The information you've given and the answering to the questions, brief though it was, has been very helpful. The committee will decide where to go with this from now at another time.

Thank you all very much.

The meeting is adjourned.