Offshore oil exploration and extraction puts the
marine environment
at risk,
as well as coastal communities and businesses that depend on a clean, healthy ocean.
Large oil and gas deposits lie under the seabed off B.C.’s coast although no one knows their extent. In the 1950s and ‘60s, over 90,000 km sq. of coastal waters were leased to oil companies.
B.C.'s coast has remained free from the threat of oil and gas exploration and drilling in its offshore waters for more than thirty years. Federal and provincial moratoriums have protected the creatures and marine ecosystem from the threats of oil spills, seismic testing and pollution. But the B.C. government is pressuring the federal government to roll back this protection and open up the coast to offshore oil and gas exploration and development.
