Deepwater offshore drilling by the energy sector has a Sydney expert flagging the threat of munitions dumped off the coast of Nova Scotia.
“The exploration companies are drilling deeper than ever before and, back in the day, these same deep waters were selected by authorities for disposal of unexploded ordnance,” Terry Long, owner of Wentworth Environmental Inc. in Sydney, said in an interview Tuesday.
Long said drilling could potentially detonate an unexploded bomb, or rupture a canister filled with dangerous chemicals.
He has credentials when it comes to risks associated with munitions dumped off the coast of Atlantic Canada and in ocean waters around the world. His business specializes in removalof underwater ordnance, and he founded and chairs the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions.
The dumps are comprised mostly of unexploded bombs and unused chemicals from the first and second world wars.
Long said the munitions risk escalated as drilling rigs headed into deeper waters to search for oil. In this province, Shell Canada Ltd. is drilling in the Shelburne Basin, and BP is expected to begin drilling in 2017, after completing seismic work in 2014.
“There is a need for some constructive discussion on how best to mitigate the risk of these munitions,” Long said.
He said he is writing a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to raise his concern about the energy sector proceeding with inadequate assessments of undersea munitions dumps near drilling rigs.
However, a spokeswoman for the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board said there are extensive protocols in place relating to a range of undersea hazards, including unexploded ordnance.
The existence of dump sites has been recognized and accepted as part of assessments of offshore drilling programs since the 1960s, said Kathleen Funke, with the board in Halifax.
“Long before drilling occurs there are consultations with the Department of National Defence regarding unexploded ordnance,” Funke said.
Risk assessments of unexploded ordnance are part of required hazard surveys, she said.
“There is potential for ordnance to be an issue anywhere offshore and particularly in Nova Scotia, with our military history,” she said.
Funke said that in the case of the Shell program, undersea hazards would have been identified by a 3D seismic survey conducted in 2013. She said there were also assessments conducted with remote underwater vehicles equipped with high-definition cameras.
“If there were any issues, they would have been uncovered by these sophisticated technologies,” she said.
Shell has the exploration vessel Stena IceMax drilling offshore, about 250 kilometres from Shelburne.(BILL POWER)
Link: http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1321948-offshore-drilling-could-detonate-unexploded-bombs-expert-warns
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