Sierra Club Canada Foundation is calling on Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador to withdraw its Call for Bids for new oil and gas explorations off Newfoundland. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board issued a call for bids for 9.6 million hectares - approximately 1.3 the size of the province of New Brunswick on May 11th.
"This Call for Bids is immoral and reckless in light of the warnings of climate scientists, and reveals that Canada intends to continue its long history of broken climate promises," says Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Programs Director of Sierra Club Canada Foundation. "We are engaged in two legal battles to stop rampant offshore oil and gas development off Newfoundland and Labrador. Companies looking to answer the Call for Bids should be aware there will be massive opposition to these projects from Canadians and the international community."
This week new estimates by Oil Change International shows that not only are new oil fields inconsistent with safe climate limits, existing coal, oil and gas projects need to be curtailed if we want a 50:50 chance of avoiding 1.5 degrees of global warming.
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