Canada gives its green light to a controversial oil project

This project will exploit an oil deposit at more than one kilometer deep 500 kilometers off the province of Newfoundland. A decision against which environmental NGOs are upright.

Le Monde and AFP

The Government of Canada, the Fourth World Petroleum Producer, has given its downstream for the construction of a large controversial oil project in the Atlantic Ocean, announced Wednesday, April 6, the Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault. This project, named Bay of the North and worn for years by the Norwegian Giant Equinor, will allow to operate an oil deposit more than one kilometer deep 500 kilometers off the province of Newfoundland. The implementation of the project is planned in 2028.

This will be the fifth oil platform of the genre in Canada and this will allow the extraction of about 300 million barrels of oil over 30 years, depending on the company. “The Northern Bay Operations Project can move forward, subject to some of the most stringent environmental conditions never imposed, including the historical requirement for an oil and gas project to achieve carbonutrality from here 2050 “, said, by communiqué, the minister and former activist for the climate.

In depth environmental assessment, the project is not likely to lead to significant negative environmental effects, he added. “The world still needs oil,” said Radio Canada the one who had been chosen for the Minister of the Environment, last October, by Justin Trudeau, for his militant past. Shield raising

The announcement also provoked a lifting of shields of environmental groups. “Approval Bay from the North is another step towards an indivivable future,” said Julia Levin of Environmental Defense, and a “slap for climatologists, the communities of Canada and the world affected by the climate crisis”. For Greenpeace, this decision is the “triumph” of policies that do “only aggravate the climate crisis and global dependence on fossil fuels that burn the planet”.

These organizations recall that the UN Secretary-General described as “madness” persistent dependence on fossil energies, an “addiction that leads us to collective destruction”. According to the last report of the UN climate experts (IPCC), to respect a rise in temperatures at + 1.5 ° C, the use of carbon capture (a large-scale non-mature technology) should be completely Stopped and oil and gas reduced by 60% and 70%, respectively, by 2050 compared to the 2019 levels.

“Cancer” in the face of climate change

Several political parties also denounced this decision of the Canadian government, including the New Democratic Party (NDP, Left), combined with the Liberals of Justin Trudeau. “This shows exactly what is wrong with this government. They listen to their buddies in the oil and gas sector instead of listening to climate specialists,” denounced Laurel Collins, NDP spokesperson for the environment.

As for the Bloc Québécois, the third parliamentary training, he believes that Canada “confirms its position as a cancer in the fight against climate change” and that this decision “sounds the grace of the credibility” of the Minister of the Environment.

The dilemma was on this project that the decision was postponed twice in recent months, especially since Justin Trudeau has often been criticized in recent years for its decisions related to the oil sector, particularly for nationalizing in 2018 an oil pipeline. He had taken strong climate commitments during the last election campaign and said last October that he had to “make sure the oil and gas industry stops increasing his emissions and begins to reduce them”.

/Media reports.