Oil and gas strategic assessment begins
Two-year NIRB process to inform federal government on development in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Saturday, June 3, 2017
QIKIQTAALUK
With $2.6 million of federal funding and a two-year time frame, the Nunavut Impact Review Board hopes to complete an Oil and Gas Strategic Environmental Assessment for Baffin Bay and Davis Strait (SEA) to inform potential development in those waters.
Kimmirut residents participate in an initial information session for the two-year Oil and Gas Strategic Environmental Assessment for Baffin Bay and Davis Strait organized the Nunavut Impact Review Board May 12. - photo courtesy of Nunavut Impact Review Board
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The assessment will inform the federal government when it reviews its five-year moratorium on oil and gas development in Arctic waters.
The process, officially handed off to NIRB in February, kicked off with information sessions in all Baffin communities from April 20 to May 13.
"Given the time of year and that springtime was coming, we were pleased with the attendance. On average we were between 20 and 40 community reps at each visit," said executive director Ryan Barry.
The sessions were informational, intended to explain what NIRB will be doing, and not meant to be consultations. NIRB will travel to each community in the fall to gather information from communities. Communities agreed fall would be the best time, when school is in.
Along with public meetings, the team met with hamlet council and staff, and schools.
The travelling team includes NIRB, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), Government of Nunavut and federal staff.
BREAKER: Assessment to meet crown obligations
NTI and QIA have been calling for a strategic assessment since before 2014. That June, the National Energy Board approved a geophysical operations authorization for a trio of companies to conduct a five-year seismic survey program in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait near Clyde River.
That survey never happened and is still at the Supreme Court of Canada awaiting decision after then-mayor Jerry Natanine and the community of Clyde River opposed the program.
"Inuit have made their position clear that we object to any seismic testing before our concerns are properly addressed and the SEA is completed in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait," a joint letter from NTI and QIA to the federal government stated. "Inuit have not been adequately consulted on the potential benefits of the project and/or impacts on marine mammals."
The Clyde River case has become one of national importance as it will deal definitively with the Crown's duty to consult and accommodate indigenous people.
In its submission to the court, NTI pointed out that Inuit requested a strategic environmental assessment to inform both the consultation process and the energy board's decision.
"It was an issue for the Crown to promptly and seriously consider, and it failed to meet that obligation," stated NTI's lawyer Dominique Nouvet.
Barry says NIRB taking over the assessment had been discussed since early 2015 by the board, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, NTI, QIA and the GN.
"Everybody agreed the board really was the best to lead this sort of study," Barry said. "We have the role of coordinating and leading all efforts in public engagement and producing and independent report. We have every bit of confidence we will provide a report, as requested, in advance of March 2019."
Process to finish with public hearing
This effort is a first for NIRB, which usually assesses projects application by application. This assessment has no project affiliated.
The fall visits will take place over two days in each of the 10 Baffin communities.
"The objectives of these meetings are really to flesh out every issue that we'll be trying to address through the assessment and try to get some consensus about what are the most important issues people want to hear back on," Barry said.
Offshore oil and gas exploration and development includes: marine seismic surveys for exploration, drilling exploratory wells, offshore drilling rigs for commercial production, and the types of technology used at each stage.
"We'll be developing what we think are realistic exploration and development scenarios," said Barry, adding that will include the stages of production and closure.
The assessment process will culminate in a final public hearing in Iqaluit, then a report to the federal government.
