Couillard seeks slower Anticosti Island oil plans

SHERBROOKE — Philippe Couillard said Thursday he will slow down oil exploration on Anticosti Island.

The Liberal leader told reporters he wants to commission a strategic environmental study before companies begin drilling near the island.

It’s unclear if that would be possible, given that just a few months ago, the Parti Québécois signed an agreement to begin exploring for oil off the coast of Anticosti. The PQ government signed a deal with four companies to invest $115 million of public funds for the project. There was no stipulation that a strategic environmental study be conducted before exploring for oil.

Because the contract came with confidentiality clauses, it’s unclear if it would be possible to modify that aspect of the agreement, Couillard said.

“The PQ skipped some important steps here,” Couillard said. “Where are the natural resources, what are the potential gains, what is the environmental impact? No one asked Marois the essential question when she made the Anticosti announcement: How do we get the oil out of there? How do we make a drilling platform on open waters where there’s no infrastructure?”

Under the PQ’s agreement, studies will only come after the drilling, which requires hydraulic fracturing. They say the process will allow them to collect data and analyze it later.

Though he expressed concern over the potential environmental damage the drilling could cause, Couillard’s real worries appear to be economic.

“It’s possible that there’s accessible oil on Anticosti Island, but no one has demonstrated that,” Couillard said. “It’s important not to put hundreds of millions of taxpayer money at risk while the private sector is much more sheltered.”

PQ Leader Pauline Marois has re- peatedly claimed there could be 46 million barrels of oil contained in the Anticosti patch. In fact, the Anticosti deal features prominently in the PQ’s platform.

Studies suggest the oil might be worth billions less than the price of accessing it.

“Marois speaks about 46 million barrels, but the probability of that being true is only 10 per cent,” Couillard said, referring to the 2011 Sproule Report on the Anticosti project.

Environmental issues haven’t featured prominently in a campaign marred by personal attacks and counterattacks. Earlier this week, an environmental group released a report card for the various party’s platforms, giving the Liberals a score of 33 per cent. The PQ scored higher with 45 per cent, with the Coalition Avenir Québec at 28 per cent.

One of the major projects endorsed by both the PQ and Liberals could dramatically increase Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Experts say the construction of the $1-billion Port-Daniel cement factory will increase the province’s GHGs by 2 per cent.

If the cement plant operates at full capacity, it can produce upwards of 2 to 3 million tonnes of GHG’s each year — the factory would run on coke, a coal-like substance.

Couillard says its not necessary to hold public hearings on the project because it was first drafted in 1995, before Quebec’s environmental laws were tightened.

“We will take the project as it stands, and the project will go forward,” Couillard said. “The project will go forward, I like it, it’s good for the economy of the region.”

While the Liberals were last in power, the party struggled lower GHG’s at a rate that would place them 20 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.