Risk Analyst says offshore drilling may be perilous

dale stewart

Still on the question of oil exploration, one of the guests at a forum held on Tuesday by the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage forum was flown in from the United States to build awareness on the potential risks to the environment in case of an oil spill. Dale Stewart, a U.S. citizen, comes from Louisiana, one of the areas affected by the British Petroleum oil spill which started in the Gulf of Mexico.  Stewart is a Risk and Security Specialist in tourism markets all over the world.  His company recently trained personnel who intervened in the Louisiana oil spill and in his expert opinion, Stewart believes that offshore oil exploration may be too risky for Belize.

Dale Stewart, Risk and Security Specialist

“We are brought in often times to look at risks associated with different events. In other words, a company might bring us in or the tourism industry might bring us in to look at risk that could happen from any number of things—from natural disasters to manmade like the oil spill in Louisiana to security issues—different things that could impact the tourism industry. I think it’s great. The risk there for Belize unlike the United States and Louisiana, and I’m actually from Louisiana originally. So, I know that area where the oil spill and how it has impacted the people there. But even in Louisiana where we so have large wetlands and large wildlife—that have obviously been impacted by the oil spill, as well as, the people and their jobs from the fishermen to the tourism industries—and so there are some similarities there. But what Louisiana and the United States doesn’t have is the barrier reef here in Belize. I have been coming to Belize for quite some time now. And I love this country and I think it is one of the true gems of the Caribbean. And the risks that the people and the industries will be taking to allow oil drilling are pretty amazing if something would happen. Yes, the oil industry will argue that they have a great safety record and in some ways they do. They have been good. If you look there are a lot of rigs in the gulf and this is the first major oil spill that they have taken. But you have to remember that it only takes one. And when we are doing a risk analysis, we look at what happens when one thing happens. We also look at what are the unknowns and there are many unknowns, those are the things that are very difficult to do anything about.”

At the forum, Melanie McField of the Healthy Reef Initiative made a presentation which showed the devastating effects to the ecosystem that can be caused by an oil spill.