TORONTO, March 8, 2011 − York University will host a symposium Thursday about the risk of a major oil spill in Canada, the environmental and ethical issues related to an event on the scale of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the need to prepare for such an emergency.

The symposium − Oil: Slick Suits and Sinister Scenarios − will examine Canada’s aggressive agenda of exploration and offshore production, and the potential health and economic hazards related to the oil sands, shale-gas reserves and refining industries. York University experts will speak about corporate responsibility, environmental hazards and disaster and emergency management. Speakers and topics are as follows:

Mark Schwartz, associate professor of law, governance and ethics in the School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University, will discuss the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused the largest off-shore spill in U.S. history. Schwartz will present an ethical critique of BP, and speak about the importance of ethical crisis management and the lessons for Canadian oil producers. He is co-author of the textbook Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality (McGraw Hill) and author of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach, published by Broadview Press.

Gail Fraser, associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, will compare the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its estimated impacts on marine birds to that of a much smaller spill in offshore Newfoundland. Fraser argues that cumulatively smaller, more frequent oil spills off the coast of Newfoundland likely have resulted in higher seabird mortalities compared to the very large single spill in the Gulf of Mexico because oil breaks down more slowly in cold water and the species composition is different. Fraser underscores the importance of having baseline data to estimate the impact of oil spills and discusses current challenges in NL regarding access to information relevant to oil spills.  Her research focuses on issues around the ecology and management of avian wildlife, and the environmental management of the extractive industries of oil and gas.

Ali Asgary, associate professor of emergency management in the School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies at York University, will examine the Canadian emergency preparedness and response capacities and gaps in dealing with large scale oil spills. Asgary’s areas of research include disaster and emergency response, business continuity, development and applications of geographic information systems and agent-based modeling in disaster and emergency management. He is co-investigator on a recently-completed project, “Real-time Detection of Oil Spills,” funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, which developed an expert system for rapid risk assessment of pipeline based oil and gas spills to be used by emergency response teams.

The symposium is presented by the School of Administrative Studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, at York University. Assistant Professor Joanne Jones will moderate.

WHAT:             Oil: Slick Suits and Sinister Scenarios
WHEN:             Thursday, March 10, 2011, noon to 2pm
WHERE:           109 Atkinson Building, the Crowe Room, York University Keele campus
MAP:                #33 on Keele campus map, http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/keele.htm
More Info:        http://yorku.ca/laps/sas/oil

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Media contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101, wallsj@yorku.ca