Federal court dismisses environmental groups' appeal to overturn Bay du Nord approval
'We'll still keep fighting this project,' says Sierra Club Canada Foundation
A legal challenge to appeal the federal government's approval of the Bay du Nord offshore oil project has been dismissed in Federal Court.
The challenge is led by environmental group Ecojustice, Quebec environmental non-profit Équiterre and the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, which have all called for the project to be shelved in the name of the climate crisis.
Norwegian oil giant Equinor and its partners plan to develop the oilfield at the Flemish Pass, about 500 kilometres east of St. John's, with drilling to go more than a kilometre underwater.
While announcing its approval, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said the project would not have significant adverse environmental effects because of mitigation measures that will be in place.
The groups say the project's approval went against the advice of climate scientists around the world, failed to consider downstream greenhouse gas emissions and was done without proper consultation with Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn Inc., which represents eight Mi'kmaw communities in New Brunswick.
But Judge Russel Zinn found Tuesday that the applicants failed to meet the burden of establishing that Guilbeault didn't take downstream greenhouse gas emissions into account, and that MTI had multiple opportunities to raise its concerns with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.
Zinn wrote that his role was to determine whether the government's decision was reasonable, not whether it was right. He noted that Canadian regulators have repeatedly found that later greenhouse gas emissions — in this case, the emissions that would be created once oil from the project is burned — don't need to be included in environmental assessments.
Gretchen Fitzgerald, Sierra Club's national programs director, said the group is disappointed by the ruling.
"I will say I'm pretty shaken … that the case was necessary, that the federal government would approve a project that's not in line with our climate commitments, and that was, you know, also threatening marine life," Fitzgerald said Tuesday.
"The impacts of this project on our ability to stay within safe climate limits needed to be confronted, and they still will be inside or outside of court.… I'm more convinced than ever that we have to keep fighting the approval of this project down the road."
Equinor has put the project on hold for up to three years, citing challenging market conditions and the rising cost of construction.
In a statement emailed to CBC News on Tuesday, Equinor's head of public affairs said the company welcomed the outcome.
"Bay du Nord is an important project in Equinor's portfolio and our current focus is to optimize the development following a recent internal postponement decision," the statement reads.
Fitzgerald argued the project will add more fuel to an already critical situation, at a time when the world is already moving away from oil.
"I'm based in Halifax. We feel very much at risk from climate change after the last few weeks of forest fires," she said.
"The more you pump out new oil and burn it and put it into the atmosphere, you are increasing the risk of things like that.… It seems so unwise that we're continuing to place our bets on these risky projects."
