Coastal economic study sets off alarms for environmentalists

Environmentalists are concerned about a government plan toassess the economic value of all activities along the B.C. coast, including the potentialfor offshore oil and gas drilling.

The federal and B.C. governments say they want to find ways to plan ocean activities in an environmentally safe and sustainable way.

Jennifer Lash from the Living Oceans Society says she's worried that the B.C. government—which is pushing to lift the federal moratorium on offshore exploration—will use the information to advance its case.

"We're very concerned that the province is simply building evidence to justify completely unsustainable industries such as offshore oil and gas by simply looking at the dollar amounts that it can contribute to B.C."

Bill Wareham of the David Suzuki Foundation said thatwhile the study could produce good information,it should also assess the potential risks as well as the benefits of offshore drilling.

"What's the cost if it went wrong? We've seen that with the Exxon Valdez," he told CBC News.

"We have ongoing pollution and oil-contamination problems in Alaska, and they're not costing in the real risks to the environment and the risks to those other industries such as tourism and fisheries, which depend on healthy marine environments."

Wareham says he is also concerned about how thorough the B.C. coastal assessment will be, noting it has a budget of only $80,000 andis scheduled for completion by next April.

Jamie Alley, the director of the Oceans and Marine Fisheries Branch for the B.C. Ministry of the Environment, says the study will not form the basis for any decision on offshore exploration.

"We're just simply trying to get an understanding of what kind of contribution that sector could make to the economy if in future a decision was made to explore for and develop those resources," he said.