Georges Bank drilling weighed

Nova Scotia's interest raises alarm in N.E.; Environmentalists, fishermen concerned

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.

The possibility of drilling is raising alarm in New England, where fishermen and environmentalists in the 1970s and 1980s succeeded in getting the federal government to halt such plans on Georges Bank, which was part of the North American mainland until the ocean fully covered it about 6,000 years ago.

Many New England fishermen, environmentalists, and politicians say that if Canada drills on its small portion of the bank, any problems could quickly spread to the US side at a time when the fishing ground is showing signs of rebounding. Canada does not need US permission to drill on its side, although Hurlburt said he would keep New England officials apprised.

Nova Scotia's shift toward drilling highlights questions about how safely oil rigs can operate in prime fishing grounds, even as momentum builds in Washington to end a longtime congressional ban on most US offshore drilling.

While the number of offshore oil spills has declined in recent decades and the industry has become safer, fierce debate continues to surround drilling.

"We are saying this is the one place they should leave alone," said Denny Morrow, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association. "It is an incredibly diverse and productive place. We have fish and shellfish spawning 12 months a year. . . . There is nothing else like it."

He is leading a volunteer group scheduled to meet today to begin its fight against any Georges Bank drilling proposal. Morrow's group is called Norigs 3, named for the third time that fishermen have launched a campaign against opening Georges Bank to drilling. The other efforts in Canada were in the late 1980s and late 1990s.

In the past, the oil and gas industry led the charge to open Georges Bank. What's different this time, Morrow said, is that the Nova Scotia energy minister appears to have taken on that role.

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.

Unlike in the United States, which currently bans drilling off much of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, drilling is allowed virtually everywhere off Eastern Canada except Georges Bank. According to the Nova Scotia government, there could be about 1 billion barrels of oil and 5.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas beneath it, enough to be considered an "elephant" size field by the oil industry. Any oil and gas would probably be delivered to the US market.

Canada has a drilling moratorium on Georges Bank until 2012. But the Nova Scotia government must decide by early 2010 whether it wants a public review to see if oil and gas drilling can exist there with fishing.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers described Georges Bank as an exciting resource.

"We look forward to further developing a positive relationship with the province and the fishermen to ensure Nova Scotia's offshore resources are developed responsibly and to their full potential," association spokesman Travis Davies said.

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 [new types of] 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.

Oil and gas drilling already operate side by side throughout the world, including in large swaths off the US coast in the Gulf of Mexico. A US Minerals Management Service spokesman said spills are rare - even when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita stormed through in 2005 and toppled oil and gas rigs. A 2003 federally commissioned report said that oil spills from drilling make up a tiny percentage of the petroleum in North American waters; most of it comes from natural geological seeps.

The most infamous US platform spill was in 1969 off Santa Barbara, which sparked widespread safety changes to protect the environment. Today, rigs have equipment that traps oil below the surface or in pipelines that seal off sections if there is a break or leak.

Yet, environmentalists worry that drilling fluids used to bore below the sea can cause contamination. They are also concerned that water dredged up with oil and gas during extraction can be filled with toxins. And while companies are obligated to report spills, some scientists said it is not always clear how much oil is getting into the ocean or the damage it is doing.

"Scrutiny is not nearly as high" as it is in projects within public view on land, said Jim Cowan, professor of oceanography and coastal sciences at Louisiana State University.

Cowan studies how oil rigs attract fish much the way an artificial reef or shipwreck does. Many recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico say the rigs enhance fish populations such as red snapper and grouper. But Cowan said it is not clear if the rigs actually increase the total number of fish or merely change where they gather.

There is also evidence that seismic surveys - necessary to find oil and gas and lasting weeks - make the ocean so noisy that marine mammals can't communicate. In Nova Scotia, fishermen also worry that the rigs would require no-fishing zones.

Now, as Norigs 3 organizes for what it promises will be a sustained fight against any industry other than fishing on Georges Bank, some environmentalists worry that there are fewer fishermen to take part in that battle.

"We're getting a second chance on Georges" with fish, said Susanna Fuller, marine conservation coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, an environmental advocacy group that opposes drilling on Georges. "Adding oil and gas into the mix diminishes our chances."

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.