Government of Canada Invests in Research and Development to Ensure Marine Safety

EDMONTON, Dec. 8, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada is investing in research and development in our natural resource sectors to support the economy and our environment for future generations.

Today, Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, Jim Carr, announced an investment of over $1.5 million for two projects that will enhance marine incident prevention and responsiveness in Canada's oceans.

Through its Oil Spill Response Science (OSRS) program, the Government of Canada provided the University of Alberta with $600,000 to develop an oil-and-water separation system that may be eventually deployed on a recovery vessel to significantly reduce the cost and spill-response time for a marine cleanup. MP Boissonnault also announced over $925,000 to B.C. Research Inc., a company with a broad experience in chemical product development, to further develop a hybrid spill-treating agent that will help slow or prevent the spread of an oil slick on water.

OSRS is a four-year, $5-million program aimed at improving the technologies and techniques for recovering or removing heavy oil products from marine environments, in the unlikely event of a spill.

Our government recognizes the importance of environmental stewardship and will continue to invest in clean technology and drive clean growth.

Quotes

"Our oil and gas industry is an economic engine for our province ? creating jobs, generating revenues and bringing new opportunities. We also recognize the importance of environmental stewardship, investing in clean technology and driving clean growth. Environmental responsibility is a condition of Canada's economic success. It is essential we protect our oceans while we develop our resources." 

Randy Boissonnault
Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre

"Water is our most precious resource, and we are exploring new ways to conserve and protect it from the adverse effects of our society's activities. The major part of the engineer's role in society is to protect the public. This funding is improving our ability to respond faster and more effectively to these unforeseen and unfortunate environmental events. It gives us another important tool to protect our environment."

Fraser Forbes,
Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta

"BC Research is actively engaged in various projects aimed at reducing the environmental impact of processing Canada's natural resources. As part of those efforts, one of our teams of scientists has identified novel oil spill treating agents that have the potential to revolutionize the current state-of-art, drastically improving methods at mitigating the environmental impact of accidental marine oil spills. This grant from Natural Resources Canada allows us to put in place the resources required to move this technology closer to the commercial phase." 

Sergio Berretta
VP and COO, BC Research Inc.

Related Links

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/funding/icg/19774
https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/oceans-protection-plan.html

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SOURCE Natural Resources Canada