Decision delayed on the Bay du Nord project

A decision on the Bay du Nord project has been extended by 40 days.

For the project to be approved, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change will decide whether the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

The project has already been through an independent environmental assessment.

Should the project be approved, it is predicted to extract about a billion barrels of oil and create thousands of jobs in the province.

Environmental groups are calling on the government to deny the project. The Sierra Club Canada Foundation is calling for the immediate rejection of the Bay du Nord oil drilling project.

Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Programs Director said the project will only add to the climate emergency.

“We are in a climate emergency. The global scientific community and global energy analysis state very clearly that no new fossil fuel projects can be permitted of [sic] we are to achieve safe climate targets. This project will pour fuel on the climate change emergency and make the lives and livelihoods of people in Newfoundland and Labrador less - not more - secure,” she said.