Today, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) released the results of their investigation into BP Canada’s unauthorized spill of 136,000 litres of synthetic drilling mud in June of 2018.
Not surprisingly, they found that “there were no significant adverse environmental effects as a result of the incident” (the drilling mud just disappeared! Like magic!) and that BP Canada took appropriate and corrective measures (ie. they fixed their faulty equipment so this specific thing never ever happens again – good job!). As such, “The CNSOPB concluded that the facilitated compliance measures taken following the unauthorized discharge of drilling mud are appropriate for preventing reoccurrence, and that further enforcement action on this matter is not necessary to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance.”
The CNSOPB is placing a “Notice of Non-Compliance” on BP Canada’s file to be considered should another incident offshore NS occur. To call this a slap in the wrist would be an overstatement; it’s more like a tap on the finger by a newborn sloth.
The Council of Canadians sounded the alarm about this spill on June 22nd, 2018, and has been clear in its opposition to drilling offshore Nova Scotia overall. We have been working in solidarity with grassroots communities and organizations like the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia, the Clean Action Ocean Coalition and provincial and national allies.
We have also been highlighting the role of corporate capture in this campaign specifically. For more information, read Robin Tress’ blog “Canada’s offshore boards are captured by industry” here, and my recent blog “Offshore, corporate capture and the federal election” here.
