Oil Companies Relinquish Last Pacific Coast Drilling Permits to Canada

Breitbart.com ^ | February 22, 2024 | John Hayward

[Twotone]

Canadian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Wednesday that with the voluntary return of 23 permits by Chevron Canada in February, energy companies have surrendered the last of the outstanding permits for oil and gas drilling off Canada’s Pacific coast.

“With these final permits, Natural Resources Canada has officially secured the surrender of all 227 permits in the Pacific offshore,” Wilkinson said, describing the achievement as a milestone in “protecting the ecologically rich waters of Canada’s west coast.”

Canada’s provincial and federal governments imposed a moratorium on issuing any new oil and gas exploration permits off its western coastline in 1972. The stated reason was to avoid possible environmental disasters and interference with fishing operations in the area; no one was talking about “decarbonization” at the time. Permits issued before 1972 were still technically valid, but effectively impossible to use.

Canada considered lifting the ban and issuing new permits in the 1980s, but the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker accident scuttled those plans. The energy industry’s hopes rose when a scientific review requested by the government of British Columbia in 2002 concluded there was no scientific justification for the moratorium, provided a set of recommendations for protecting fisheries, coastal residents, and the environment were followed.

A federal panel reached similar conclusions in 2004, but the moratorium remained in place, partly due to the sense that First Nations tribal groups in the coastal region were opposed to drilling.

Sensitivity to ecology and the First Nations soon gave way to the grand drive for “decarbonization” and the fate of Pacific Coast oil exploration was sealed. A First Nations-led conservation initiative that received heavy funding from Ottawa drove the final nails into the coffin.

[Paladin2]

The Great White North will become like Antarctica?

[Just a few “stations” occupied by peeps.]

[crusty old prospector]

I don’t know of too many prospects on the western coast of Canada. It gets deep pretty fast unlike the Gulf.

[ronnie raygun]

more self inflicted death by the west

[PIF]

The tribes in Canad like here are creatures of the Federal government and do what is need to keep the $$ flowing to the ruling families, living in the life styles, new homes, and expensive vehicles they prefer.