The Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Assessment of Offshore Exploratory and Gas Drilling: One Year Later

Things have changed dramatically since February 29, 2020. On that date, while the global COVID-19 pandemic escalated, the Final Report of the Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling East of Newfoundland and Labrador (“Newfoundland Offshore RA”) was published. This was Canada’s first regional assessment (RA): a new type of federal environmental assessment created through the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) structured to study and assess multiple potential or ongoing activities in a region and their environmental risks. RAs are intended to guide future decision-making in the region, accounting for cumulative effects of natural processes and anthropogenic activity.