A conference entitled "BC OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT " will be in Vancouver, Dec 6 & 7.  Premier Campbell is the keynote speaker.  Preview time, perhaps, for our new energy policy.  Calpine emerges here as a major player in BC.  But most irritating and amusing is BC Hydro.  We've all seen BC Hydro master the fine arts of community relations and consultation(1). Here, they are actually boasting about their success with the GSX.


The conference is chaired by James Reimer, of Calpine.
 
Some of the agenda:

Building a Strong Oil and Gas Industry in BC: The Road Ahead

The Honourable Gordon Campbell
Premier of British Columbia

Update on Current and Potential Exploration and Drilling Activity in BC

James Reimer
Vice President New Ventures
Calpine Canada

  • Update on the latest trends for oil and gas activity in the province
  • Where has most of the current drilling activity taken place?
  • Is this winter going to another record drilling season?
  • Which regions have the greatest growth potential?
  • How BC's resource potential compares to that of other Canadian producing basins

Successful Consulting: The Georgia Strait Crossing Pipeline Story

Dave Thomson
Community Relations Manager
BC Hydro

Learn how BC Hydro consulted with a myriad of stakeholders and government/environmental agencies for its new transmission pipeline to Vancouver Island, which will provide additional gas supply to the CentraGas system. Discover what its learned and how this consultation will help improve future investments and strengthen community relations.

  • Designing and implementing the consultation process
  • Coordinating the logistics of working with government agencies, local government, aboriginal groups, landowners, marine associations and environmental agencies
  • Staffing and training for consultation and stakeholder relations initiatives: determining what should remain in-house and what should be outsourced
  • Gaining a greater understanding of each others expectations and perceptions
  • Best strategies for fostering meaningful and lasting partnerships
  • Towards the future: successfully communicating the bigger picture of sustainable development at BC Hydro
  • Working to resolve any concerns raised during the consultation process
  • Leveraging the benefits of regional community relations over the long-term

The agenda also covers an overview of the offshore resource, presentation on an Alaska pipeline proposal, and panel discussion of forthcoming pipeline projects in BC.

This conference will be a meeting for the main corporate and government stakeholders in the oil and gas sector (excluding communities).  The agenda includes many subjects of interest, but is missing the Canadian Gas Potential Committee whose 2001 Canadian Natural Gas Potential Report is a cold dose of caution to those who are more comfortable believing there is unlimited gas in the ground.

The conference agenda is missing balance by allowing BC Hydro to claim a consultation triumph with the proposed GSX project.

At $1599 plus $111.93 GSX, it's out of the question for NGO's and real people. Clearly only those with corporate and government sponsors will be in attendance.  Expect a lot of taxpayer money tol be spent sending bureaucrats from Energy and Mines and the Oil and Gas Commission, at least..  

(1) Note, for those with a weak sense for irony and the facetious, this sentence is dripping with both