Premier Dan shows his hand

Doubting Thomas -

Talk about showing your hand while still at the table.

Last week in the provincial legislature, Premier Williams said asking oil companies to drill relief wells in deep water would be asking too much. He said the cost would drive oil companies away.

A relief well is a second oil well used to relieve pressure in the case of a catastrophic leak such as the one currently underway in the Gulf of Mexico.

I find the premier's assumption a little hard to swallow, and here's why.

Two years ago this month, I was a reporter working in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories. One Sunday morning in June, I was rudely awakened at 8 a.m. by my boss's boss's boss.

He wanted to know why I hadn't written a story about British Petroleum's recent $1.2 billion bid for an exploration licence in the Arctic Ocean. The annoucement had come late on a Friday afternoon, and I had missed it. He wanted to know what locals thought of the matter, and he wanted his story in two hours, before the presses started rolling.

Three sections of sea floor had been up for grabs that week. The two others had gone for a few million dollars each. The billion-dollar bid was unprecedented because if and when BP finds the motherlode of natural gas that is said to lie in the Arctic Ocean, the pipeline to get it to market is still 10 years away at best, and may never be built.

Time and time again, the oil companies have spoken with their wallets, showing just how much they're willing to pay to get at new resources. British Petroleum recently announced that despite the huge cost of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, they still have lots of funds to pay dividends to their shareholders.

In other words, the leak hasn't affected the company's ability to turn a profit.

The above numbers are just one example of why Danny is crazy to show his hand and say what he believes the oil companies' final offer will be in future negotiations. How do we know they won't drill relief wells if we don't ask them? It's an unusual departure from Mr. Williams' my-way-or-the-highway approach.

In this climate of fear about oil spills, oil companies probably would have been all too happy to get a second rig in to drill a relief well. It would've meant more jobs for Newfoundlanders. It would've been great PR for the companies. Most importantly, it would've been safer.

Now, thanks to Danny, they don't have to. They'll just play the "too expensive" card the premier just handed them.

reporter@gulfnews.ca