(Eel Ground) An organization of eight Mi’kmaq communities in New Brunswick is joining the legal challenge to Ottawa’s approval of the Bay du Nord oil project off the coast of Newfoundland.
Posted at 1:52 p.m.
Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’tagnn says a single oil spill from this offshore project could harm Atlantic salmon.
The group says Ottawa has failed to fulfill its duty to meaningfully consult with indigenous communities about this project by Norwegian oil company Equinor.
In April, the federal government granted the regulatory green light to the Bay du Nord project, which would be located about 500 km northeast of Saint-Jean.
The environmental law organization Ecojustice filed a motion in Federal Court on May 6 seeking a judicial review of Ottawa’s approval of the environmental assessment of the Bay du Nord project.
The body says that in his analysis, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault did not take into account “downstream” greenhouse gas emissions – those that would be released by burning the estimated 500 million barrels of oil that could be produced by this project.