ST. JOHN'S, N.L - The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador says his government will adopt best practices to avoid a major oil spill off of his province.
Danny Williams says he's concerned current technology can't keep up with a spill the size of the one that's threatening the U.S. Gulf coast since a BP rig exploded and sank last month.
Williams says if anything good does come out of that disaster it might be an improvement in the way such events are handled.
He says those practices would quickly be adopted to deal with conditions in the north Atlantic, where high seas and weather are always factors on the offshore.
Williams says given that the oil rigs off Newfoundland are considerably farther from land than those in the Gulf of Mexico it is unlikely that spilled oil would come ashore or damage fish stocks.
However, he says there's no guarantee and he's not trying to minimize the potential for harm should a huge spill happen.
