Natural Resources Committee on May 15th, 2012

Evidence of meeting #40 for Natural Resources in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was design.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Resource Development in Northern Canada

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael Binder President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Christofer Mowry President, Babcock and Wilcox mPower Inc., Babcock and Wilcox Ltd

Martin von Mirbach Director, Canadian Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund (Canada)

Barclay Howden Director General, Directorate of Regulatory Improvement and Major Projects Management, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Patsy Thompson Director General, Directorate of Environmental and Radiation Protection and Assessment, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Christopher Deir Manager, Babcock and Wilcox Canada, Babcock and Wilcox Ltd

Clerk of the Committee Mr. Rémi Bourgault

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON

Do you have any idea on the order of magnitude?

9:40 a.m.

Director, Canadian Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund (Canada)

Martin von Mirbach

I would be on shaky ground, as Mr. Binder was.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON

In your testimony, Mr. von Mirbach, you said we basically don't have the technology to deal with a potential spill in the Arctic. I asked senior officials from the relevant government department at the last meeting, if we lined up four or five engineers, whether we could get a consensus on that. They were unable to answer that, just as they admitted they don't factor greenhouse gas implications into their regulatory decisions either—licensing, for example.

Do you think we can get consensus that there is no existing technology to deal with this?

9:40 a.m.

Director, Canadian Arctic Program, World Wildlife Fund (Canada)

Martin von Mirbach

Will we get consensus? No, I think the issue will tend to be shaped according to people's interests. For example, we made an intervention and the entity agreed with us in general that the requirement to be able to drill a same-season relief well was important and should be retained. There was a point of contention around whether or not there were equivalent methods in place.

There are comparable or equivalent methods in place, but only for certain types of blowouts. A blowout that happens right at the point where the oil emerges, for instance, can potentially be capped. But a rupture in the pipe farther down can't be capped with a cap. On the statement that this is equivalent, it's equivalent but only for certain types of spills. Of course, if we could control the type of blowout that might happen we wouldn't need the provisions in the first place.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON

Mr. Mowry, you talked about the economics of your new equipment, your new system. If the Government of Canada were to follow through on the Prime Minister's promise to price carbon emissions at $65 a tonne in the next five years—an explicit international promise he made in London, England, in 2008 on pricing carbon—what effect would that have on the economics of your industry?