Development of Canadian Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico

• Published in: Review of European Community & International Environmental Law
• Main Author: Amos, Will
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2011
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2011.00709.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1467-9388.2011.00709.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2011.00709.x

Canada's National Energy Board has undertaken a review of general safety and environmental protection requirements for Arctic offshore drilling within the country's jurisdiction. The review is focusing, among other things, on the requirement for same season relief well (SSRW) capacity for Arctic offshore operators, and whether proposed alternatives are sufficiently robust to allow removal of the SSRW requirement. Given the significant threat offshore drilling poses to the fragile Arctic ecosystem, safety requirements must be strengthened, not weakened. The SSRW capability requirement should be maintained, and other policies, regulations and requirements ought to be strengthened and improved.