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A humpback whale jumps out of the blue water.

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Court decision leaves fragile marine ecosystem wide open to accelerated oil and gas exploratory drilling 

October 23, 2024

This decision maintains a dangerous precedent set by the lower court that weakens key protective mechanisms under the Impact Assessment Act  

ST JOHN’S, N.L./TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE BEOTHUK AND MI’KMAQ:  The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a legal challenge to the regional assessment conducted for exploratory offshore drilling off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.  

Last week, the Court decided that the federal government’s amendments to the Impact Assessment Act did not allow for reconsideration of its earlier dismissal of our appeal.  For technical reasons the Court declined to rule on our clients’ many serious concerns about the flawed regional assessment and blanket exemption from environmental assessment for exploratory drilling in a vast area of the Atlantic Ocean.   

Lawyers from Ecojustice represented the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, World Wildlife Fund Canada, and Ecology Action Centre at the appeal hearing in March 2023. The groups argued that the regional assessment did not consider the cumulative impacts of industrial activity on the sensitive marine ecosystem off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. These Atlantic waters are one of the most important marine environments in the world and home to a wide range of ocean life, from endangered cod to humpback whales, corals, and sponges. The Court’s decision leaves these valuable marine ecosystems and the local and Indigenous communities that depend on them vulnerable to the dangerous effects of offshore oil drilling. 

Not only does this decision set a frighteningly low bar for the standard that Regional Assessments must meet under the Impact Assessment Act, but it also sets a dangerous precedent that future blanket exemptions may be used to accelerate development across the country without proper environmental assessment. 

Unchecked fossil fuel expansion can only cause great harm to our climate and our environment. The Impact Assessment Act came into force in 2019 to better protect the environment, improve the assessment process, and make decisions more transparent. The federal government has championed this law, but fast-tracking exploration drilling to avoid the Act’s protections is contrary to the purpose of the law it passed. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and all Canadians, must be able to trust that projects will only proceed if they pass a proper assessment and their impacts on the environment are accounted for and mitigated. This decision weakens public trust in the effectiveness of the Impact Assessment Act’s ability to protect our environment. 

Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Programs Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation said: “In spite of this terrible outcome we will continue to fight the ‘drill baby drill’ attitude this assessment and deregulation represents. With increased damage from hurricanes, wildfires and flooding the impacts of allowing more climate pollution are even more apparent. This decision allows exploratory drilling to get less, not more, scrutiny and public accountability. It is important to recall that the tragic accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred when BP was undertaking exploratory drilling. The area covered by this assessment includes much more dangerous North Atlantic conditions, waters that are much deeper and remote than the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the dangers, Canada is allowing this activity to be deregulated. This will cause damage to sensitive ocean life – things like slow growing deep-sea communities of coral and sponges – and endangered whales, which if harmed may never recover.” 

Ian Miron, lawyer, Ecojustice said:  “We are disappointed that the Court chose not to rule on the serious concerns our clients raised about this regional assessment, particularly given what’s at stake. There is solid evidence from the global scientific community that burning oil and gas from new fossil fuels will increase global temperature beyond safe limits – leading to more hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. We know the area under assessment includes sensitive corals and sponges that will be damaged beyond repair if disrupted by oil exploration. We also know exploration drilling is very risky – the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred during exploratory drilling. Regardless of this setback, we will continue to fight for whales, fish, and other ocean life that call this area home – and to fight for better laws to protect us from worsening impacts of climate change.“ 

Background  

Offshore drilling threatens to permanently damage our oceans and coastlines without reducing dependence on oil at a time when the world leaders grapple with reducing the impacts of global warming and transitioning to renewables.  

Recent experience shows that spills in the region are commonplace and hard to recover from. For example, in July 2019, an oil spill released 12,000 litres of oil from the Hibernia oil platform, approximately 315 kilometres east-southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Scientists described it as playing “Russian Roulette” with wildlife.   

Offshore exploratory drilling poses an elevated risk of serious oil spills and harmful impacts from seismic testing. On April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon, an exploratory oil drilling rig operating in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and spilling nearly 800 million litres of oil over an 87-day period. Satellite tracking suggested the spill covered an estimated 149,000 square kilometres, the largest spill in the history of marine oil drilling operations.   

In June, the federal government joined other G7 leaders in a commitment to phase out new direct government support for international carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy as soon as possible; yet the government continues to limit barriers on expanded domestic production – a move inconsistent with the decisive action needed to keep global warming below the critical 1.5 degree threshold set out in the Paris Agreement.   

About 

The Sierra Club Canada Foundation empowers people to be leaders in protecting, restoring and enjoying healthy and safe ecosystems. At its heart, the Sierra Club Canada Foundation is a grassroots organization with a “think globally, act locally” philosophy. Members are encouraged to actively contribute to environmental causes that engage or inspire them, in a capacity that best suits their capabilities. 

Ecojustice goes to court and uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, innovative public interest lawsuits lead to legal precedents that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax.