A Calgary geologist is calling for the B.C. and federal governments to speed up offshore oil and gas development along Canada's West Coast.

During a recent speech to the Fraser Institute in Calgary, consultant Henry Lyatsky called for Victoria and Ottawa to lift federal and provincial moratoria on offshore oil and gas exploration on the West Coast that have been in place since the 1970s.

Lyatsky said offshore energy development would spur billions of dollars worth of investment as Canada attempts to offset the global recession - but that governments are still too scared of "lobbies" that oppose undersea exploration.

"The weapon against the lobbies is the simple truth - truth about offshore oil exploration," said Lyatsky, in an interview. "This is how it actually works, not what (opponents) say about it ... It is responsible, it is clean, it has a low environmental footprint. The technology is there. It is as reasonably safe as you can get. There is no case against it."

Lyatsky studied the potential for offshore oil and gas development on the West Coast while completing his doctorate at the University of British Columbia in the early 1990s, and has written three books related to the issue.

He says the area encompassing Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Basin, located near the islands of the same name, possesses favourable geological conditions for oil production while the Tofino, Winona, Georgia and Juan de Fuca basins could produce gas.

He said B.C. stands to gain the way Newfoundland has from its Hibernia project, which has generated billions of dollars worth of revenue for the provincial government.

Ian Bruce, a climate-change specialist with the Vancouver-based David Suzuki Foundation, dismissed Lyatsky's arguments, saying offshore exploration poses a significant safety risk, could harm tourism, fishing and other industries, and runs counter to the B.C. government's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third by 2020.

"It's a significant risk to the existing economies along the B.C. coast," said Bruce. "B.C., because of the currents ... is a high-risk area because of the consequences.

If there is a spill, the most likely scenario is that spill is going to hit the shoreline, which is the most environmentally and economically important area for that region."

The moratoria have been the subject of much legal debate. Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal government pledged in its first throne speech in 2001 to have offshore energy activity begin by 2010. But the Liberals have shown little interest in the topic in recent years after running into intense opposition.

Groups in favour of offshore oil and gas development, including petroleum producers, say that seismic and preliminary evaluations should be allowed to determine the size of the oil and gas reserves and whether they are commercially viable.

Currently, supertanker traffic is also prohibited on the West Coast.

Producers have also expressed a desire to have a harmonized federal-provincial regulatory approval process, such as the one on the East Coast, and called for governments to have clear rules in place before major investment occurs.

In 2004, a federally appointed panel headed by former National Energy Board chairman Roland Priddle made no recommendation on whether to lift or continue the federal moratorium on exploration.

But Priddle's report found 75 percent of 3,700 people who made oral or written submissions to his panel were opposed to offshore development.

Priddle concluded that opponents and proponents are so divided on the issue that there's no room for a public-policy compromise. The B.C. government rejected his recommendation of a referendum on the issue, saying a public vote would not fit into Canada's parliamentary system.

Chris Campbell, an ocean energy expert who formerly lobbied for offshore oil and gas exploration in B.C. but now heads the Nanaimo-based Oceans Renewable Energy Group (OREG), predicted in an interview that offshore exploration will eventually occur in B.C. waters - but not anytime soon.

"(Offshore oil and gas production) would be another part of what we need to develop as the marine economy in B.C.," said Campbell, suggesting it would help boost Canada's energy supply.

A biologist by profession, Campbell assisted in the Hibernia project's environmental assessment. He also gave a presentation to the Priddle panel in favour of offshore exploration while formerly involved with a group now known as Ocean Industries B.C., which is attempting to kick-start undersea exploration.

"As someone who was there in the early days in Newfoundland, I look at what's going on there now and see 20 years of successful development of a whole bunch of marine and technical industries as a result of the (offshore oil-and-gas industry) engagement there," said Campbell.

But now he pursues the development of a viable wave and tidal energy sector with more vigour because he believes it has the potential to make more of an impact.

"Quite frankly, I feel more political imperative to work on wave and tidal energy than to work on trying to pursue offshore hydrocarbons on the Pacific Coast at this point," said Campbell. "I think it's likely to make more rapid progress."

The Suzuki Foundation's Bruce noted that clean energy development would provide much greater value for the investment than offshore exploration.

Canada has the potential to be a producer and seller of clean-energy technologies around the world and set the pace in the fast-growing industry, he added.

A geological engineer by profession, Bruce also said he has seen reports that show the B.C. coastal geology is more complex and highly faulted than other locales.

"In any case, most estimates are overly optimistic," said Bruce.

In 2004, the Royal Society of Canada found there were no scientific reasons why offshore oil and gas exploration could not occur in B.C.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)