Sigrid Kuehnemund serves as vice-president, wildlife, and industry for WWF-Canada. She writes from St. Johns.
By Sigrid Kuehnemund
Bay du Nord, a proposed oil drilling project located approximately 500 km off the coast from St. Johns, could contain up to a billion barrels. It would also be Canada’s first deep-water oil project, with drilling to a depth of around 1,200m.
The Flemish Pass Basin is where the proposed development will be located. This area is ecologically sensitive and biologically rich and is home to many marine species, including endangered fish, sea turtles, whale species, and millions of seabirds. A major oil spillage in the North Atlantic could cause a devastation to marine ecosystems, wildlife, and threaten future fishery potential for the project’s 30-year lifespan.
Bay du Nord has had a final decision on climate change by the federal minister of Environment and Climate Change delayed twice. It is now expected that it will be made by April 15. Bay du Nord supporters argue that the anticipated economic benefits make it worth the environmental risks. Equinor, a multinational Norwegian state-owned energy company, behind the proposal claims that the environmental impacts can easily be managed and that the project is likely to generate thousands of jobs as well as $3.5 billion in government revenue.
Bay du Nord’s arguments are not strong enough, especially in this dangerous time for the planet.
The Bay du Nord project, which would produce the equivalent of 100 coal-fired power plant emissions for an entire year, cannot be approved without addressing climate change.
One, it overlaps with vulnerable marine ecosystems like the Northwest Flemish Cap Closures and Northern Flemish Cap Closures. These closures were designated by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, NAFO, to protect fragile corals. It is also southeast of the Northeast Newfoundland Slope Marine Refuge where fishing is prohibited but oil and gas drilling, inexplicably, is allowed.
A Newfoundland and Labrador oil oil patch is prone to oil spillages, such as the 2018 leakage of 250,000 litres crude oil into the ocean. It would be nearly impossible to do a thorough cleanup in this remote region that is known for its extreme weather conditions. Equipment to cap a blowout from a well is not required to remain near the project. It could take up 36 days to ship a cap stack from Brazil or Norway. Drilling a relief hole would take 100 to 115 additional days. During this time, millions of litres would be released into the North Atlantic.
The Canada’s Impact Assessment Agency of Canada acknowledged the project may have adverse environmental impacts on certain areas such as the NAFO fisheries closings and the marine refuge. The agency acknowledged Equinor’s claims that the impacts of accidents and other malfunctions, including subsea leakouts, such as the one that caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spillage, the worst in American history, could be mitigated. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans did a science review and concluded that Equinors Environmental Impact Statement was flawed, contained incorrect conclusions, and was not reliable information for decision making.
Approval of the Bay du Nord development would result in the equivalent of 100 coal-fired power stations operating for an entire calendar year. This cannot be reconciled to the urgent need to combat climate change. The International Energy Agency, the top global energy authority, stated last year that there cannot be any new oil, gas, or coal development if the world wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Benefits and Risks
What about the economic benefits? The North Atlantic has some of the highest oil production costs anywhere in the world. Bay du Nord, if approved, could need massive ongoing public subsidies. The federal government paid almost $400 million to the province last year to support the struggling offshore oil-and-gas sector.
Governments shouldn’t be tempted to gamble on oil prices if they are more secure and sustainable. Instead, the province should adopt an economic strategy that creates long-term stable jobs, but not worsening the global climate and biodiversity crises.
Bay du Nord would not begin producing any oil until late 2020s. Just as the world is shifting away fossil fuels, so is Bay du Nord. Also, renewable energy is often the most cost-effective option for energy generation. Simply put, there are no long-term prospects for new oil and gas projects located in high-cost areas.
Instead of spending public money on another oil project that is environmentally and economically dangerous, now is the right time to invest in a just transition, for Canadian workers, Canadian wildlife, and the planet.
