Port au Port wind project needs federal environmental assessment, says advocacy group

A local chapter of the Council of Canadians is calling on the federal government to subject the wind energy project being developed on the Port au Port Peninsula to a federal environment assessment.

In a press release Monday, the Council of Canadians Avalon Chapter, a local chapter of a larger organization that advocates for clean water, green energy and democracy, said it has paired with the Port au Port Environmental Transparency Committee to ask Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for a federal assessment of the project, proposed by World Energy GH2.

The Port au Port Environmental Transparency Committee is a group based on the Port au Port Peninsula that is opposed to the project. Some of its members are currently fighting a court injunction issued after they blocked a road leading to the project site.

Helen Forsey, a member of the Council of Canadians Avalon chapter, says a federal assessment is much broader than a provincial environmental assessment and will allow parties outside of the province to examine the project.

"The provincial level [assessment] is, for various reasons, is much less comprehensive. And in this case, quite likely actually compromised, we think, by the avid promotion by the provincial government of the project itself," Forsey said Tuesday.

"Although it's provincial, primarily provincial because it's on land, it infringes on areas of federal jurisdiction such as fish habitats.… There's just so many ramifications."

Forsey said the council is also highlighting what it says is a lack of transparency around the project — which has been in development for close to a year — and what the release calls a "deceptive spin" and biased promotion of the project by the provincial government.

For example, she said, residents of Stephenville were blindsided when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a hydrogen export agreement in the town, which came with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey endorsing the project — telling CBC News it "just makes sense."

Furey also made headlines last year over his stay at a luxury lodge owned by the billionaire behind the project, John Risley.

"Even the Council of Canadians, when we started hearing about it, it was difficult to find out very much [information]. And certainly difficult to find out anything except the 'Rah, rah, rah, isn't this wonderful' spin that the government was giving," she said.

"Everybody thinks … wind energy to hydrogen is God's gift to Newfoundland and Labrador via a couple of billionaire entrepreneurs and Germany. But some of us don't agree that that's the case."

Forsey says residents who have voiced concerns over the project know they're fighting an uphill battle but believe the project may not be able to go ahead if it was to get a federal environmental assessment.

"We have a chance here to set a precedent of [getting] at least the right kind of assessment and examination before these things go ahead," she said.

On Monday, Energy Minister Andrew Parsons said he wasn't aware of the letter, He tends to take a hands-off approach when it comes to environmental assessments, he said, but he's "absolutely supportive" of projects going through the necessary assessments.

"Like any of our resource developments, I expect them to go through the necessary environmental assessments at either level," Parsons said.

Asked if he had any concerns about further assessments potentially delaying the project, Parsons did say time is of the essence in an industry like energy.

In a statement, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada confirmed it had received a request for a federal impact assessment from the Avalon chapter of the Council of Canadians as well as the Environmental Transparency Committee.

"The federal minister of the environment and climate change has discretionary authority to designate a project under the Impact Assessment Act where a project is likely to have adverse effects in areas of federal jurisdiction," wrote a spokesperson for the agency. 

"This discretion allows the minister to consider exceptional circumstances, such as a new or unique type of project."

The spokesperson said agency is reviewing the letter and will respond "in due course."

World Energy GH2 did not respond to a request for comment from CBC/Radio-Canada.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador