"Priddle Report" on BC's offshore moratorium

Report of the Public Review Panel (the "Priddle Report") on the Government of Canada Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Activities in the Queen Charlotte Region British Columbia
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The "Priddle" report fairly represents and summarizes the views presented to the panel. 75% of the public are opposed to lifting the moratorium. Significant knowledge gaps exist. The panel recommends four options to government, and gives no preference to any of them. The four options are:
1. retain the moratorium
2. retain the moratorium and fill the knowledge gaps
3. lift the moratorium, issue no exploration permits, fill the knowledge gaps
4. lift the moratorium

CONCLUSIONS PRESENTED
The Panel concludes in Section 5 that the strongly held and vigorously polarized
views it received do not provide a ready basis for any kind of public policy compromise at this time in regard to keeping or lifting the moratorium. It formed the impression that there had been little recent dialogue among stakeholders and that increasing this dialogue could be helpful. The need to address First Nations interests and concerns was the major area of near consensus. Ecosystem protection was a widely shared priority, but there is
fundamental disagreement on how it could best be achieved: by keeping the moratorium, or by lifting it and relying on a modern regulatory regime.

There was near consensus among participants that there are significant information gaps regarding biophysical data and environmental and socio-economic impacts information for the QCR, were oil and gas activities to proceed. However, participants wishing to keep the moratorium consider it unsafe to lift the moratorium prior to filling those gaps, while participants wishing to lift the moratorium are of the view that the only way to fill those gaps is to lift the moratorium. Information gathering and consensus building activities would serve to reduce areas of disagreement.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Panel in Section 6 sets out for the Government of Canada’s consideration
options ranging from: keeping the moratorium (Option 1), which would be supported by 75% of those who took part in its process; to keeping the moratorium or deferring the decision on it while undertaking a suite of activities and taking a decision at a future time (Option 2); to lifting the moratorium and undertaking a suite of activities prior to accepting any oil and gas activity applications (Option 3); and to lifting the moratorium (Option 4) which would be supported by 23% of participants. The Panel had not specifically asked participants for views on Options 2 and 3, where the issues in regard to doing further work include: the activities to be pursued; the parties to be involved; and the process for that involvement. In addition to considering these options, the Panel considers that any further studies related to the moratorium should give particular attention to the following matters: environmental effects; fisheries; information issues; technology; hydrocarbon resources; regulatory regime; protected areas; alternative energy sources; the Kyoto Protocol; cultural values; and social and economic impacts. The need to address First Nations concerns is of central importance.