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April 28, 2000 For Immediate Release Are Oil Companies and the Petroleum Board trying to Avoid Proper Assessment Process? The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has come under strong criticism from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and other organizations, including the Ecology Action Centre, for its environmental assessment process. A consortium of major oil companies have submitted a draft assessment of exploratory drilling to the CNSOPB which they claim is comparable to a class screening under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act(CEAA). If the Petroleum Board approves the oil companiesU report, all future applications to drill exploratory wells could receive almost no scrutiny, cutting costs for the oil companies and eliminating public input. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in a three page letter to the Petroleum Board dated April 18th clearly rejected the contention put forward in the draft assessment that it is comparable to a class screening under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The Agency was also critical of the report because it didnUt recognize the gaps in knowledge about the marine environment and about the impacts of exploratory drilling on that environment. Observes, Mark Butler, marine coordinator at EAC, it appears the Petroleum Board wants to be seen to be following the Act, but not to actually do the proper assessments that the Act requires. Once again we question the ability of the Board to be a promoter of rapid expansion of the petroleum industry and at the same time protect the environment and other marine industries from the impacts of petroleum activities.S The EAC in a letter to the Petroleum Board raised serious concerns about the report including the following concerns: -no field work is required before drilling proceeds -the method used to rate impacts is flawed, eg. the death of 11,000 birds from an oil spill is ranked as minor The Petroleum Board held a public meeting on March 30 at which time the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the EAC expressed concern about the process being proposed. The Board has now received written comments from interested parties and will be making a decision shortly. -30- For more information contact Mark Butler, Marine Coordinator, Ecology Action Centre at 429-2202/423-9700. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The preceding message was posted on the Sustainable Maritimes mailing list (sust-mar). http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/lists/sust-mar -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Sponsors: Chebucto Community Net http://www.chebucto.ns.ca Sierra Club - Chebucto Group http://www.sierraclub.ca Volunteer moderator: Paul Falvo mailto:sust-mar-owner@chebucto.ns.ca
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