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.

The C-NLOPB invited qualified individuals or companies to submit proposals for the preparation of the update to the Western Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area SEA. The contract has been awarded to AMEC Environment & Infrastructure.

The SEA Update is to be prepared in accordance with the Scoping Document prepared by the 17 member Working Group established to assist in the preparation of the SEA Update. As part of this undertaking, the Scope stated that the contractor is to coordinate and manage public consultation sessions in locations in and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence region, including Cape Breton, Magdalen Islands, Prince Edward Island, the Quebec north shore, and Newfoundland. Since this time, the province of New Brunswick has been included for consultation sessions.