INUVIK
It's clear many people in Inuvik have serious reservations about the prospect of offshore drilling in the Beaufort Sea in coming years.

Evan Birchard of Imperial Oil was one of the presenter April 23 during a public information session on the company's plans to establish an offshore drilling site northwest of Tuktoyaktuk by approximately 2020. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Representatives of Imperial Oil held a public information session April 23 at Ingamo Hall to update Inuvik residents on the company's plans.

While there was relatively little new information in the presentation, it was clear the company was garnering no real support from residents, even though they wouldn't be as directly affected by the drilling as some of the coastal communities.

It didn't take long for questions to come bubbling up from the audience and for the meeting to become emotional for some people.

One woman tearfully told the panel that she hoped the company was thinking about the impact of its actions and the lifestyle of people who live along the coast in particular.

"What about us?" she said. "This is how we eat!"

Evan Birchard, one of the Imperial Oil representatives, responded with reassurances.

"I understand your concerns," Birchard said. "We want to prevent accidents and incidents."

Birchard said the main danger from any drilling activities is the fearsome power of the Arctic ice and its unpredictability.

That's why the equipment is being designed with a "quick disconnect" system that will allow the drilling ships to move as necessary, he said. The company is also working on a system to track ice movements in "real time" to have the most up-to-date information possible.

However, he also said plainly it's the company's position that a same-season relief well isn't feasible for even an exploratory well. That means if something went wrong at an exploratory drill site, such as a blowout, the company would have to use alternate methods to try to contain the spill in a timely fashion, something which is already technically challenging due to Arctic conditions.

That's something that didn't sit well with most of the people in attendance.

Members of the Inuvik Hunters and Trappers Committee were some of the most vocal people in the smallish audience of perhaps 25 or 30 people, many of them government employees.

"At the end the day we're the ones (who will be) without a culture," Richard R. Gordon said. "That's what we're trying to protect."

Jerry Lennie asked whether "anyone has had any experience with blowouts in the Arctic." Birchard said no.

Patrick Gordon was also openly critical, telling Birchard and the other Imperial Oil representatives they were talking as if "the project is going ahead," rather than still waiting for several levels of regulatory approval to rule on whether any drilling will be permitted.

Shirley Kisoun was openly sceptical of the company's claims that many jobs and economic benefits will be created by even an exploratory program.

People in the area have heard such claims before, she told the Imperial Oil panel, and "the employment stats haven't changed."

The company is holding similar meetings throughout the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the representatives said.

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