Environmental Groups Urge Ottawa to Oppose to Bay du Nord Project

Environmental activists from around the world have joined forces to urge the Canadian government to reject the proposed Bay du Nord oil project off the coast of Newfoundland.

“The most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report has been very clear that we really cannot push past our climate targets,” said researcher on climate impacts for Newfoundland and Labrador, Conor Curtis.

“There’s plenty of evidence that say developments like this 100 per cent bring us past what we can possibly look at emitting.” 

118 environmental and citizen groups across Canada signed a letter to Ottawa on Wednesday urging the federal government to cancel the project. 81 foreign groups signed and issued a second letter stating that Canada’s approval will harm its credibility as a climate leader and set back worldwide efforts to solve the climate crisis.

Bay du Nord is expected to produce a billion barrels of oil and provides thousands of jobs in a province that relies largely on oil and gas profits.

Oil industry lobbyists are trying to hide the fact that large-scale oil projects are no longer sustainable and it is necessary for governments to get serious about transitioning from the industry, Curtis added.

However, The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers argues that the project will ensure Canada’s energy security domestically and overseas.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine intensifies, the price of oil has skyrocketed around the world. Canada has imposed penalties on Russian oil imports, while other NATO members have not.

“We can produce the lowest-carbon oil in the future to help supply other countries that don’t have it, that need it, that at the moment in Europe have to rely on other countries like Russia,” said CAPP’s director of Atlantic Canada and the Arctic, Paul Barnes.

He says the project is critical for Canada’s oil industry future and that after four years of reviewing and approval process it just needs Ottawa’s authorization.

“As the industry and countries around the world like Canada want to move away from oil and natural gas development as we transition to cleaner forms of energy, we need projects like this that will help us in that transition period,” said Barnes.

Original source material for this article taken from here