Newfoundland Advocacy
Research on civil society’s response to offshore oil development reported in Fusco (2007) indicates the slow development of environmental movements as well as their reluctance and lack of capacity (expertise, funding, and access) to engage actively with this debate. Examples of non-governmental organizations involved in the oil and gas debate include:
Nature Newfoundland and Labrador (formerly The Natural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador)
Sierra Club of Canada, Atlantic Chapter
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), NL Chapter
East Coast Environmental Law Association (ECELAW)
Council of Canadians, Atlantic Chapter
NL Fracking Awareness Network (NL-FAN)
Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Association (NLEA) – In partnership with oil companies, NLEA is focused on seabird cleaning and rehabilitation in response to oil spills in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.
Note that a labour union is also periodically involved in public debates around oil and gas in the province. Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW/Unifor) is a union that primarily represents workers in the fishing industry. The FFAW has been involved with oil and gas development debates, and has expressed concern about the impact of seismic exploration and spills from oil extraction or transportation on fishing grounds. The FFAW has one staff member in the position of “Petroleum Industry Liaison” and is a core member of “ONE OCEAN,” an initiative of the C-NLOPB to facilitate discussion between the fishing and petroleum sectors.
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The content for this province was peer-reviewed in December Oct 2013. We’d like to acknowledge the assistance of the external reviewers.
