Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What power the ocean has.
[crashing waves]
>> Ken LEE: There are a lot of emerging challenges in the field that we work in looking at energy
in the marine environment. Right now with the emerging industries in terms of offshore
oil and gas, mining, increases in shipping traffic, global climate change, we want to
make sure that we have the capability to respond to oil spills should they occur.
COOGER is a centre of expertise within Fisheries and Oceans Canada. And we are a virtual centre
that pulls together scientists from across the country to tackle environmental issues
related to the energy sector and the ocean. I’ve conducted experiments around the world
cleaning up oil spills and testing various remediation technologies. The Arctic is a
real challenge for me. It’s something I’ve been looking at for a number of years.
How do we test these technologies in the actual arctic environment and compare it to other
technologies that are also being developed.
What we’re looking at is bringing the best minds together in science internationally
that are interested in oil spills in the Arctic and how we can work together to gain as much
knowledge as we can. The worst spill that I’ve seen was in the
Gulf of Mexico. You’re looking at a situation where the
Oil is coming out of the bottom of the ocean at 1500m depth.
We worked on two research vessels that had scientists from BP, NOAA, the US EPA and ourselves,
and we all worked together, we were all trying to do the best thing that we could.
Since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a lot of people are concerned about the risk of
offshore oil and gas exploration and production operations.
One of the things we all realize is oil is being depleted around the world. And for that
reason we are looking at new exploration; and with that comes new environmental risks
that we have to consider. People want to make sure that we have ways
to mitigate spills should they occur. I haven’t been up in the arctic for a while.
It’s always fun to leave port; it’s always fun to come back. And it’s always nice to
be out at sea, and wake up early in the morning and watch the sun rise. It’s unique.
Being a Canadian I realize this is something that’s very important to us and we have
a capability right now to take a leadership role in the Canadian Arctic looking at new
technologies that we are developing.
[Pause]
[Ice Breaking]
[Pause]
[Pause]
One of the things that I notice when I’m up in the arctic right away is just the quality
of air. You feel that it is special there is no doubt about it, because there hasn’t
been that much development up there, there isn’t the air pollution up there, the habitat
is different and that habitat is unique.
The current challenges for us are working in cold water and harsh environments.
[Pause]
There has been research done, and what we want to do is to conduct controlled experiments.
We are releasing known amounts of oil, so if and when a spill occurs do we have the
tools to respond? And we are starting to develop those tools and to make sure that they do
work, and understand what the negative impacts of applying those tools could also be.
[Pause]
So there are various methods of cleaning up oil spills. You can actually try to physically
recover it by booming and skimming. You can try to burn the oil, you can add spill treating
agents either mineral fines like we have done or chemical oil dispersants used in the Gulf
of Mexico.
We are fully prepared to physically recover any oil that is released from the experiments.
We all realize the Arctic is a very sensitive environment and we all want to protect it.
So we want to make sure that if we are doing experiments we’re consulting with the communities
in the Arctic as to where we’re going to conducting the experiments. We want to have
their input in the experiment, because one of the things that’s important is local
traditional knowledge because there are things in the Arctic environment that they may understand
that we may not. In terms of, for instance, local regional currents and where things are
going. At the same time there is an education component
where we can bring in younger people to get them interested in what we are doing in science
and the opportunity of science as a career for them in the future.
What we are looking at is multi-disciplinary studies to understand as much as we can about
if we have an oil spill in the Arctic, what are the environmental effects, what techniques
can we use to clean it and how do we make sure that the environment recovers in case
of a spill event. There are these feelings that the Arctic is
more sensitive, but of course what we want to do is conduct the science to actually look
at the facts.