Coalition of environmental groups lose case against offshore oil exploration

Offshore oil and gas drilling will continue without proper environmental assessments and threaten Canada’s delicate marine ecosystems, environmental groups say, after a court appeal was dismissed Wednesday.

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a case to change the regional impact assessment process for exploratory oil and gas drilling in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The decision was a disappointing blow to a coalition of environmental groups who argued that regional assessments failed to consider the increasing impacts of offshore oil and gas drilling off the coast of the Maritime province. 

Sierra Club Canada Foundation, World Wildlife Fund Canada and Ecology Action Centre filed the initial judicial review against regional assessments in May 2020. The trio of organizations were represented by lawyers from Ecojustice.

“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”, Gretchen Fitzgerald, national programs director at the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, said in an Ecojustice press release. 

Experts agree global warming — caused by burning fossil fuels — will continue to negatively impact the world’s oceans, threaten marine life and lead to more weather-related disasters, the groups noted in the press release.

“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,” said Ian Miron, an Ecojustice lawyer.  

As well, increased exploratory offshore drilling can heighten the risk of dangerous oil spills harmful to the environment, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the press release noted. 

Indigenous communities that depend on marine life would also be negatively impacted. 

“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,” Miron said in the release. 

The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the case on technical grounds, ruling that recent changes made by the federal government to the Impact Assessment Act do not allow reconsideration of prior appeals. This was the second round of appeals filed by the environmental groups.

The decision weakens public trust in the ability of the Impact Assessment Act to protect the environment, the press release noted. 

Despite this unfortunate decision, Fitzgerald says this is not the end. 

“In spite of this terrible outcome, we will continue to fight the ‘drill baby drill’ attitude this assessment and deregulation represents,” said Fitzgerald in the press release.