Several environmental and Indigenous groups in Canada are challenging in federal court the Minister of Environment and Climate Change’s approval of Bay du Nord, a $12-bn oil and gas project proposed off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. The lawsuit was filed by Ecojustice on behalf of Équiterre, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, and Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Incorporated (MTI).
The groups say the project’s approval overlooked significant risks the project poses to local ecosystems and failed to account for significant downstream emissions from the project. In a press release, the groups say that downstream emissions would account for 90% of the emissions Bay du Nord would generate and that they were likewise excluded from the condition that the project be net-zero by 2050.
They also say the federal government “fell woefully short in its constitutional duty to consult with affected First Nations communities when assessing the impacts of Bay du Nord.”
Minister Steven Guilbeault faced backlash from environmental groups when the project was first approved in April 2022, just days after the United Nations released a statement saying funding new fossil fuel projects was “moral and economic madness.”
Ian Miron, a lawyer with Ecojustice, said: “Minister Guilbeault’s decision to approve this massive new oil and gas project is short sighted and not in line with Canada’s climate commitments. Bay du Nord will lock the province and Canada into further dependence on fossil fuels at a time when the science demands we take urgent action against the growing climate crisis.
“Canada is the only G7 country that has increased its emissions since ratifying the Paris Agreement in 2015; this is coupled with having the highest fossil fuel subsidies and public financing of the oil and gas industry of any G20 country. Canada needs to do better — that starts with following its own laws and considering the real impacts of Bay du Nord.”
