Defend the Moratorium on Coastal Oil and Gas Development in
BC - Sign petition and Write!

SIGN our ONLINE PETITION to the new Prime Minister, Stephen
Harper, on the top right side at: www.bcoilslick.org

It would also be great if you could collect a few signatures
(2 or 2000 signatures - they all add up!) on the hardcopy
petitions (download from the above website) from your
friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and neighbors, and
get them to our office (651 Johnson St., Victoria, BC V8W
1M7). If you live anywhere in Canada you can circulate
the general petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Also, please write a letter to the federal government
letting them know if you want them to enact a legislated,
permanent ban on coastal oil and gas development in BC's. BE
SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR HOME MAILING ADDRESS so they know that
you're real and which riding you're in.

Write to:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: p...@pm.gc.ca
Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources: Lun...@parl.gc.ca
Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry: Bern...@parl.gc.ca
Rona Ambrose, Minister of Environment: Ambr...@parl.gc.ca
Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans:
Hear...@parl.gc.ca
All at Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ONT K1A 0A7 (no
postage needed if mailed in Canada)

Let them know whether you believe the federal government:
- Must adhere to the results of the federal public input
process held in the spring of 2004 where 75% of the people
opposed lifting the moratorium in BC.
- Should enact a legislated, permanent ban on coastal oil
and gas development off BC's coast.
- Should support sustainable energy projects, such as wind
power and tidal power, instead of coastal oil drilling.

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More Information:

See new media articles on our websites: www.bcoilslick.org
or www.wcwcvictoria.org

For 35 years, a federal-provincial moratorium on coastal oil
and gas exploration, drilling, and transportation has
protected BC's wild Pacific coast. However, the BC Liberal
government is exerting huge pressure on the new federal
Conservative government to lift the moratorium and allow for
seismic testing and oil drilling to occur.

The Conservatives appear to have recently softened their
public messaging on the issue, where their pre-election
policy resolution (Conservative Policy Convention in
Montreal, April 2005) favoured oil exploration off BC's
coast - which would require lifting the moratorium. However,
with their delicate minority government status, the
Conservative government appears to be making more cautious
public statements now, in which Lunn stated last week on the
Shaw TV's "Voice of BC" that there will be no decision
anytime soon about the moratorium - although he then stated
that "people are asking why they can do it on the East
Coast, but not over here on the West Coast?"

In the spring of 2004, the federal government's public input
process (the Priddle Process) on the moratorium on coastal
oil and gas development in BC resulted in 75% of the 3700
respondents opposed to lifting the moratorium, while only
23% supported lifting the moratorium.

The WCWC believes the federal government should be obligated
to adhere to the results of the federal public input process
and publicly announce that they will maintain the
moratorium, or better yet, simply ban oil and gas
development from Canada's Pacific waters.

Concerns about offshore oil and gas development off Canada's
Pacific coast include:

- Daily chronic pollution, including toxic drilling fluids
and drill cuttings, toxic waste waters, oil leakages, and
small spills that contaminate the marine life.
- Catastrophic oil spills in Canada's most earthquake-prone
region, which would hit the sensitive coastlines of the
Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland coast. In
Newfoundland, the Hibernia project is 300 km offshore,
whereas in BC the rigs would be as close as 20 km to shore.
Currents in Newfoundland take oil spills away from shore,
currents in BC would take the spills onto the sensitive
shores.
-Seismic testing, where underwater sonic blasts are used to
locate potential oil deposits, kills and harms fish, crabs,
and invertebrates, and drives fish and whales long distances
away from their feeding and migration areas.
-Substantial greenhouse gas emissions, which contravenes
Canada's commitment to Kyoto.
-Jobs would go in large part to foreigners. Oil companies
are not looking for unemployed loggers and fishermen in
rural BC as their main labour source, but rather already
trained and experienced workers with the specialized skills,
generally to be hired from abroad.

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Join 70 000 Canadians and become a member or donate to the
Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Canada's largest
membership-based, wilderness protection organization.

Western Canada Wilderness Committee
Victoria Chapter and Rainforest Store
651 Johnson St., Victoria, BC V8W 1M7
250-388-9292
wc2...@island.net
www.wcwcvictoria.org
www.bcoilslick.org