ARCHIVED – Meeting Summary – 24 January 2011

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Arctic Offshore Drilling Review

Meeting Summary

Date and Location
Date Location
Monday
24 January 2011
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.		 Mangilaluk School
Tuktoyaktuk, NT

Purpose: Introduce the Arctic Offshore Drilling Review to the students of Mangilaluk School

Participants
Participants
Grades 9 to 12 students  
Doug Esogak Inuvaluit Game Council
Steve Baryluk Joint Secretariat
Gaétan Caron Chair and Chief Executive Officer, NEB
David Hamilton Member, NEB
Brian Chambers Northern Advisor, NEB
Bharat Dixit Technical Leader, Conservation of Resources, NEB
Pamela Romanchuk Environmental Specialist, NEB
Susan Gudgeon Northern Coordinator, Arctic Offshore Drilling Review, NEB

Introductory Remarks (NEB):

  • An overview of the Arctic Offshore Drilling Review was provided, including the mandate of the NEB, a description of the Review, the events leading up to the Review and generally where drilling may occur in the Beaufort Sea.
  • The students were asked "what do you want to see answered before the NEB looks at an application for offshore drilling?"

Dialogue with students:

In response to the question put forward to the students, a number of areas of interest and concern were raised, including:

  1. Emergency Response and Preparedness:
    • Will there be extra boats to save the workers in case the ship sinks?
    • As soon as you lose control, does the pipe break?
    • If things mess up, does the money go to the people first and then to clean up?
    • If the NEB shuts down a company, can you make them take all their stuff and not leave it behind?
  2. General:
    • Poor earth
    • It could happen up here when activity starts
    • It should be up to communities if drilling can happen
    • It would take months to stop a blowout
    • Shores at Tuktoyaktuk will be the first to be impacted
    • If there is drilling will there be money going to the people in the communities?
    • Is it more dangerous to drill deeper?
    • Will there be scuba divers to find out where the pipe is going?
    • How can the NEB trust what companies are telling them?
    • How can something on the drill pipe be fixed if it breaks?
    • Do the people have any say and will they know if something happens?
    • What if companies mess up?
    • Can the NEB shut down the company if they aren't doing what they are supposed to?
    • How many workers are on a drill ship?
    • How much money would someone make working on the ship?
    • All the drilling is just to make money
    • Do companies think 100 years ahead – generations in the future will wonder if they did
    • Will the empty containers already left behind be used or will new ones be used and then they are left behind too – they are an eyesore
    • When companies are finished can they leave their stuff behind?
    • Companies will come and take all the oil and gas and then people are left with nothing at the end
    • What if they don't find any oil?
    • Is the cost for the ships and everything from government money?
    • Will companies come and meet with people first to see what people will get out of this?
    • Can people get a certain percentage of the profit?
    • What if the majority of people don't want drilling to happen?
    • What is done with the money companies pay to be able to drill?
    • If people agree to let them drill and then regret it, can it be stopped/renegotiated?
    • Are the only jobs on the rigs?
    • What if there is a benefits plan and the companies don't find oil?
    • If lots of oil is found, lots of companies will want to drill
    • Will companies clean up when they are done?
    • Why here?
  3. Inspections and Monitors:
    • Does the NEB provide and monitor safety training and monitors?
  4. Unique Arctic Environment:
    • Vehicles can barely start in -40, how will the equipment work?
    • Would it be harder to clean up when it is cold?
    • Breaking up the ice for the ships will make the ice melt faster and this will affect the animals and fish and whales
  5. Value of Resources:
    • A blowout will take the food source away
    • Are companies going to worry about the animals?
    • People rely on the animals and fish and birds – migration of snow geese from the Gulf will affect people in the Delta
    • Polar bears eat fish and might get sick
    • Are animals going to be safe?
    • What about the drinking water?
    • If the oil gets into or on the ice, seals have their babies there
    • People eat the food from the land and will get sick
    • The whole food chain will be affected

Concluding Remarks and Follow-up Matters:

  • Specifics of where things have been left behind in the past to be sent to the NEB and the NEB will pass this on to industry
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