DELETE Stop the Big Heist - Ottawa Hands Offshore Regulation to Oil Industry

Take Action RIGHT NOW to protect our oceans and the Gulf of St. Lawrence

In a shocking move that runs contrary to transparency and their promises to protect the environment, our government is handing offshore oil and gas regulation ... to the OIL INDUSTRY!

The Trudeau government wants the two offshore petroleum boards - bodies who have been created to promote oil and gas exploration - to be the ones to assess environmental impacts of the very projects they are promoting. It is a clear conflict of interest.

The Nova Scotia and Newfoundland offshore boards are unelected bodies, unrepresentative of the public interest, and whose mandates are to facilitate and promote drilling in our offshore waters.

After the Harper reign, the Trudeau government promised to make environmental assessment credible again. If the proposed legislation is passed, they will be doing the opposite.

Dorene Bernard, Mi’kmaq Elder and Water Protector put it succinctly: "Mi’kmaq leaders have been calling for a moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of St Lawrence for several years now. Why is the federal government not upholding Indigenous rights? Our waters are sacred. We need to ensure we uphold our responsibilities to protect and keep them healthy. Water is more precious than oil. Water is Life.

Help protect our oceans and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, endangered whales and the many other creatures that live there.

Please send your letter today!

Thank you for taking action.

Gretchen Fitzgerald - National Program Director
Sierra Club Canada Foundation
gretchenf@sierraclub.ca

The letter *

To: 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Minister Jim Carr - Natural Resources
Minister Dominic LeBlanc - Fisheries and Oceans and The Canadian Coast Guard
Minister Catherine McKenna - Environment and Climate Change
Scott Tessier, Chair & CEO - Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board
Stuart Pinks, CEO - Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board

On December 15th, 2016, in spite of receiving thousands of letters of concern from Canadians, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board announced its decision to grant a new license to Corridor Resources in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The federal and provincial governments have until January 14th to veto the C-NLOPB’s wrong-headed decision. We are now in the final week.

Corridor Resources has already been granted three free extensions on its license in the Gulf. The Atlantic Accords Act only allows a company to hold onto a license for up to nine years. Issuing a new license to Corridor Resources is contrary to Canada's obligation to respect the rights of indigenous peoples, to the intent of the Accords Act, and to Canada’s commitment to expand protection of Canada's ocean spaces.

Their time is up.

Scientists have recommended the Gulf of St. Lawrence remain off limits to oil and gas development because it is a highly productive, diverse, semi-enclosed sea home to thousands of species. The Old Harry license being issued to Corridor is located in the migratory pathway of the endangered blue whale.

In 2014, Chiefs of Innu, Maliseet and Mi'kmaq communities bounding the Gulf called for a 12-year moratorium on oil and gas development in the area. Their repeated calls to have their traditional territory in the Gulf acknowledged and their right to consultation have been ignored.

The counter-clockwise currents in the Gulf could carry oil spilled there to the coasts of five of Canada's ten provinces. Seismic blasting and pollution from oil and gas development threaten thousands of jobs and multi-billion dollar tourism and fishing industries.

As far back as 2001, the all-party Parliamentary Committee on Fisheries and Oceans recommended a full environmental assessment occur before oil and gas proceed in the Gulf. This has never taken place.

The Committee reports states: “it may be prudent to consider placing this region under an oil and gas exploration moratorium similar to that on the Georges Bank until the fishermen and their communities can be assured that the risks of exploration and development are minimal.” The Committee reaffirmed Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible for expanding marine protection, protecting endangered marine life, and integrated ocean management. This responsibility is being undermined.

We are committed to working together to ensure a moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development is established in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

We are calling on the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador to act immediately act to veto the license issued to Corridor by the CNLOPB.

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