Georges Bank drilling weighed

[YankeyMCC]

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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - Canadian government officials and some fishermen are considering the once unthinkable: drilling for oil and gas on the fabled Georges Bank fishing ground their nation shares with the United States.

Surging energy prices, advances in drilling technology, and the decline of fishing have combined to reignite interest in looking for oil on the vast elevated stretch of sea floor that sits roughly 100 miles off Cape Cod and runs northeasterly toward Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia's energy minister, Richard Hurlburt, said in an interview that it is possible that fishing and oil drilling "can coexist" on Georges. He led a delegation that included fishermen to Norway earlier this year to showcase how drilling can be conducted in environmentally sensitive offshore areas. "If there is an opportunity here, we have to look at it," he said.
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There are no plans to drill on the US portion of Georges Bank. But New England environmentalists said any drilling on Canada's portion will inevitably hurt all of Georges. Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation, who fought the previous US drilling proposals, said haddock and other fish are finally showing signs of rebounding.

"To throw oil development on top of this now is particularly maddening," he said.
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The sharp decline of many species of fish off Canada in the past 20 years is partly driving the call for another look at drilling. There are fewer fishermen competing for cod and flounder.

"The fishing is not like it was. People are leaving to find work. . . . We need industry," said Hubert Saulnier, president of a local chapter of the Maritime Fishermen's Union in southwest Nova Scotia. The last time drilling on Georges was discussed, in the late 1990s, Saulnier fought it. But now, "I'm not saying yes, but I am open to looking at it," he said.
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http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2008/08/25/georges_bank_drilling_weighed/?page=1

[unhappycamper]

1. Who needs fish (or the planet) when there's black gold out there?

I'm hoping things change when Obama gets in.