The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) is inviting comments on the draft Scoping Document for the Western Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area Strategic Environmental Assessment Update.
The C-NLOPB published a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for a portion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence offshore western Newfoundland in December 2005 and amended it in November 2007. The reports associated with these initiatives are available on the C-NLOPB website at http://www.cnlopb.nl.ca/env_strategic.shtml. The C-NLOPB is planning to update its 2005 Western Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area Strategic Environmental Assessment and its 2007 Amendment, in consideration of both the elapsed time since the documents were published and recent correspondence from the Minister of the Environment.
A SEA is a broad-based approach to examining the potential environmental implications of a proposed program or policy decision. The results of a SEA are used to assist the Board in its decision to issue exploration licenses for marine areas within the Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area. The C-NLOPB is updating the Western Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area SEA with the assistance of a working group made up of representatives from federal and provincial government departments and agencies and One Ocean; a liaison organization for the fishing and petroleum sectors which provide a forum to enhance mutual knowledge and understanding between the two industries. The C-NLOPB prepared a draft Scoping Document with the assistance of the working group.
Written comments on the draft Scoping Document will be accepted until noon on January 18, 2012. Comments can be sent to the address below or via email to information@cnlopb.nl.ca.
All responses will be posted to the C-NLOPB website. The responses will
not be treated as being confidentially submitted and will be posted in the
official language in which they were provided. All identifying
information will be removed except the name under which the documents
were submitted.
If a third party is to be referenced in the documentation, the
respondent should first obtain the consent of any third party before
making the submission to the C-NLOPB.
The C-NLOPB takes no responsibility in relation to the content of the
documentation provided by respondents.
The Board reserves the right to withhold from publication comments that
are deemed to be spam or unrelated to the Western SEA Update.
Separate from this review, the C-NLOPB has engaged an Independent Reviewer to conduct public consultations with regard to proposed drilling on Exploration Licence 1105, also known as Old Harry. Further information on this public consultation process can be found at the following link: http://www.cnlopb.nl.ca/news/nr20110825.shtml.
Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board
5th Floor, TD Place,
140 Water Street
St. John’s, NL
A1C 6H6
Media Contact:
Sean Kelly M.A.,APR, FCPRS
Manager of Public Relations
(709) 778-1418
(709) 689-0713 (cell)
skelly@cnlopb.nl.ca