The Canada Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) has released information on oil and gas bids detailing lease areas available for 2018 – and these areas directly overlap a large fisheries closure announced in December by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
News release: The BP commissioned rig West Aquarius is now en route to drill offshore, despite not having final approval from the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).
We had a long chat with Colin Sproul, spokesperson for the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association, about the risks of offshore drilling , why we should care about something so (relatively) distant, and how to get Nova Scotians to realize what’s at stake.
A story I wrote in 2014, in my Halifax Media Co-op days, but sadly still relevant as BP will start exploratory drilling this spring or summer. I attended the Halifax town hall meeting last night, there will probably be more on this in the NS Advocate in the next little while. Meanwhile, read about corexit as the first line of defense against oil spills, and be afraid. Be very afraid.
News release by the Offshore Alliance: “Instead of holding public hearings, which should be required before industry projects are given the go-ahead, the CNSOPB through its PR staff suggested on short notice a facilitated 45 minute “sharing circle” for all 8-12 invited “stakeholder groups.”
Media advisory: With oil and gas exploration approved off the coast of Nova Scotia for this spring, the Council of Canadians is organizing a hard-hitting coastal speaking tour providing evidence of the serious risks offshore drilling presents to sustainable fisheries, tourism, clean water and our climate.
News release issued by the Offshore Alliance: “While there are some improvements in overall environmental assessment processes in Liberal legislation tabled today in Ottawa, the draft Bill is a step backwards with respect to offshore oil and gas in Atlantic Canada, appears to give oil and gas boards more authority, and points to federal concessions in response to lobbying from the provinces and oil industry.”
A coalition of environmental, indigenous and fishery organizations is worried that the Trudeau government will cave in to industry pressure and surrender federal powers of marine protection to the Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and its Newfoundland and Labrador counterpart. Petroleum Boards so reflect industry culture that it’s like setting the fox to guard the hen house, they say.
News release issued by the Offshore Alliance: The federal government plans to break their promise to “make environmental assessments credible again” by weakening federal offshore oil and gas regulations for oceans off Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The same people who gave you the Deepwater Horizon disaster now want to drill along the Nova Scotia South Shore. The Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia (CPONS) released its response to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) draft report on BP’s proposed offshore drilling program. “You would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of people along the South Shore who know anything about BP’s plans and their potential impact, let alone that a federal agency has been conducting a study of BP’s environmental assessment over the past year or so.”