Offshore oil court challenge not dead yet

Groups fighting the approval of Canada’s first deepwater offshore oil project aren’t backing down. On Friday, they submitted an appeal after their court case against Bay du Nord was dismissed in June.

In March, lawyers from Ecojustice on behalf of Sierra Club Canada, Équiterre and Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn Incorporated (MTI) — a group representing eight Mi’gmaq communities in New Brunswick — said Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault didn’t have the full picture when considering the project’s environmental effects and that the project was unlawfully approved. The environmental assessment he based his approval on was missing downstream emissions, which happen when the oil is burned, and ignored the potential effects marine shipping activity could have on the environment and Mi'kmaq rights, the groups maintain.

In his dismissal, Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn said it isn’t the court’s job to decide if approving Bay du Nord “was wise or in keeping with Canadian policy objectives.” Rather, he said the court looked at whether the decision was reasonable, “not whether it is the right decision.”

Concerns around consultation and the effects Bay du Nord could have on marine life and the environment “have not changed,” said Dean Vicaire, executive director of MTI.

"This is why an appeal is necessary. We will do whatever we can to protect the waters and the species that are culturally significant to our communities,” he said.

Regardless, it remains unclear whether the Bay du Nord project will proceed. Equinor, the majority owner and operator of the project, announced in May that it was putting the project on hold for up to three years. However, a few months later, it hired a drilling rig to look for more oil in the Flemish Pass, the site of Bay du Nord.

The groups fighting the approval said potential findings could “expand Bay du Nord even further and push the project past the one-billion-barrel mark.”

In a statement to Canada’s National Observer, Equinor said it has received notice of the appeal, and notes it has followed all regulatory requirements for developing offshore oil.

“Equinor appreciates that there are differing views in the energy debate — something we experience in Norway and everywhere we have activity,” said Alex Collins, head of public affairs and communications for Equinor Canada.

“Our focus is on the collaborative effort with partners and local authorities to now optimize the Bay du Nord project towards an investment decision in the future.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada said it is not appropriate to comment on active litigation, but it is “confident that its decision-making for the project was appropriate and consistent with its legal obligations.”

The groups say their appeal is especially timely, noting the millions of people who took part in the global climate strikes over the past few days. Hundreds gathered specifically in St. John's, N.L., where they urged the provincial government to stop its plan to double offshore oil production by the end of the decade.

“From record-breaking heat waves and wildfires to tornadoes and other extreme weather events, communities across the country have been feeling the impacts of climate change first-hand,” said Ecojustice lawyer Ian Miron.

“Bay du Nord will lock Newfoundland, and Canada as a whole, into further dependence on fossil fuels at a time when the science demands we transition away from fossil fuels.”