Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador - Comment Period on the Draft Regional Assessment Report

January 23, 2020 — Ottawa — Impact Assessment Agency of Canada

The Regional Assessment Committee is seeking public comments on the Draft Regional Assessment Report for the Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Committee invites the public, Indigenous and stakeholder groups, governments and other participants to submit comments in writing on the Draft Regional Assessment Report. The Draft Report addresses the various requirements of the Regional Assessment Agreement, which was finalized in April 2019. The Report describes the approach, methods and activities undertaken by the Committee to conduct the assessment, provides an overview of the existing environmental setting of the Study Area, and discusses potential effects and their management. The report also includes information on cumulative effects, the integration of Indigenous Knowledge, sustainability, climate change and other considerations.

The Draft Report provides the Committee's recommendations on required mitigation and follow-up measures for future exploratory drilling activities in the Study Area, and how key information gaps should be addressed.

Written comments in either official language will be accepted until February 21, 2020.

Comments can be submitted online by visiting the Regional Assessment page on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry (reference number 80156). All comments received will be published online as part of the project file.

A geographic information system (GIS) decision-support tool developed as part of the Regional Assessment process will be released at a later date, along with details on the Committee's planned public engagement activities on this system.

For more information on the Regional Assessment, the review process and alternative means of submitting comments, visit the Agency's website at canada.ca/iaac.

As next steps, the Committee will take all comments received into consideration as it prepares its Final Report for submission to the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the federal Minister of Natural Resources, the provincial Minister of Natural Resources and the provincial Minister for Intergovernmental and Indigenous Affairs. Once the Ministers receive the Final Report, the Agency will make the report available to the public.