Seismic companies to postpone Nunavut project until 2017

Nader Hasan, lawyer for the Clyde River opponents to seismic testing, says he’s pleased the companies who want to conduct seismic testing off Baffin Island have agreed to postpone their plan until next year, pending a hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada in November. (FILE PHOTO)

The companies which want to begin a five-year seismic testing project off Baffin Island’s east coast have agreed not to begin this summer while they await the outcome of a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada.

This is the second time the seismic proponents have agreed to postpone their project for legal reasons.

In 2015, when seismic opponents from Clyde River took their case to the Federal Court of Appeal, the companies agreed to halt plans set for the 2015 open water season while they awaited that outcome.

They have now agreed to postpone their plans again until 2017.

Nader Hasan, lawyer for Jerry Natanine, the Hamlet of Clyde River and the Nammautaq Hunters and Trappers Organization, who are against seismic blasting in the Arctic at this time, said he received news from the proponents’ lawyers April 1.

“I wasn’t surprised but I was pleased,” Hasan said April 1 from his Toronto office.

“I wasn’t surprised because they did have the good sense to agree to postpone testing for 2015 when the matter was before the Federal Court of Appeal, so there was precedent. Still, nonetheless, I was very pleased.”

Hasan also said that the Supreme Court has set a tentative date for the hearing: Nov. 30, 2016.

The hearing, at the downtown Ottawa Supreme Court building, will take at least a full day, Hasan speculates, and perhaps more given the interest the case has garnered and the number of intervenors expected to join in.

The Clyde River case will also be heard in conjunction with another case involving Aboriginal rights, resource development and the National Energy Board.

The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, near London, Ont., have appealed to the Supreme Court to stop the expansion of an Enbridge pipeline through their traditional territory.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear those cases jointly on Nov. 30.

Unless there is a publication ban of some sort, Supreme Court hearings are usually streamed live from their website so it’s likely northerners who wish to watch the hearing unravel in real time will get a chance to so — if they have a good internet connection.

The consortium of seismic companies — Petroleum Geo-Services Inc., Multi Klient Invest AS, and TGS-Nopec Geophysical Company ASA — want to conduct seismic testing in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait to identify hydrocarbons beneath the seabed.

They currently have the right to do so thanks to an OK from the National Energy Board but their project has been hung up in legal battles for nearly two years.

That’s because communities on Baffin’s east coast, including Clyde River, are concerned that seismic testing is unsafe for marine animals, that it could jeopardize a crucial food source and that local people weren’t properly consulted prior to the NEB giving the companies approval.

Hasan said the postponement has saved him the trouble of opting for his other two options: applying to the court for an order forcing the status quo to remain until the hearing was held, or asking the court for an expedited hearing before the 2016 open water season.

“This is an important development,” Hasan said.

“Every day that seismic testing doesn’t happen is another day Arctic wildlife survives. And another day when the people of Nunavut don’t have to worry about the loss of an important food source, and a way of life.”