The federal Liberal environmental plan would make the Hebron offshore oil megaproject "dead on arrival," a Newfoundland Tory MP says.

Avalon MP Fabian Manning describes the Liberal environmental agenda as too demanding on industry.
(CBC)

Fabian Manning said Liberal policies will at least still if not kill the Hebron, which the Newfoundland and Labrador government expects to deliver at least $16 billion in royalties over a 25-year production period.

A tentative deal on the megaproject was announced last week.

Manning said the Liberal-supported Bill C-288 "certainly creates some major problems for the Hebron project," since it calls for what he called "drastic" reductions in carbon emissions within four months.

Chevron Canada and its partners do not yet have a development plan — let alone a binding agreement with governments — on the field, but hope to be drawing oil within the next eight to 11 years.

Manning said he is confident that if the Liberals take power, Hebron will be scaled back or derailed. He said C-288 puts Canada on a fast track to meet goals of the Kyoto environmental protocol, but at the expense of industrial growth.

"If anybody thinks [Bill C-288] is not going to drastically reduce economic activity in this country … they're dreaming in Technicolor," Manning said in an interview.

'This is not going to kill a deal the size of Hebron,' says Liberal MP Scott Simms.
(CBC)

Federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who met with the Liberal caucus this week in St. John's, described Manning's remarks as fear-mongering.

Political motivation claimed

Scott Simms, a Liberal MP representing a central Newfoundland riding, said Manning's remarks have more to do with improving the federal Conservatives' electoral standing than the environment.

"That's garbage," Simms told CBC News. "This is not going to kill a deal the size of Hebron. That's absolutely ridiculous.

"The point of Kyoto was never to shut down these industries. It was to clean up the way that the pollution is put out there."

Simms said he believes Manning is using the issue to steer voters in Newfoundland and Labrador away from the Liberals. Largely because of a long-running dispute between Premier Danny Williams and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, support for the federal Tories in the province has dropped like a stone this year.

For example, a Corporate Research Associates poll released in June suggested that only 17 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador respondents would vote Conservative federally.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is now negotiating the final terms of Hebron. If approved, it will become the fourth field off Newfoundland's east coast to go into production.