ExxonMobil gives up offshore oil permits in B.C.

Environmental groups are celebrating after ExxonMobil relinquished offshore oil and gas exploration permits in British Columbia dating back more than 50 years.

Lawyer Ian Miron with Ecojustice Canada says the company has been dropped from a Federal Court lawsuit filed by the David Suzuki Foundation and World Wildlife Fund Canada last year, challenging the Canadian government's continual renewal of the permits.

Miron says the permits formerly held by Exxon covered "really environmentally significant areas'' off the B.C. coast.

Ecojustice Canada says with the permits surrendered, they no longer exist, and the land they covered reverts back to the Crown.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margot Bruce-O'Connell confirms the company gave up nine permits it held in B.C. but is refusing to comment further.

Lawsuit still active against Chevron Canada

Miron says the groups' legal challenge remains active against Chevron Canada, which also holds long-standing permits in the province.

He says there's a "policy-based moratorium'' that prohibits oil and gas exploration in marine protected areas off the B.C. coast, but it's not legally binding, and the existence of the permits undermines environmental protection and conservation efforts.

"It can be lifted at any time. It's subject to change at the whims of the government of the day,'' Miron says. "The concern was that the fact that these permits exist. They are impeding the full conservation of those areas, and there was a risk that they could have opened them up and gone in to drill.''

Miron says the driving concern behind the court action is that a policy-based moratorium doesn't fully protect ecologically sensitive areas on the B.C. coast, including Queen Charlotte Sound and the Hecate Strait.

"Drilling is a possibility at some point,'' he said. "These have been identified as really important, ecologically important areas, and they should be fully protected, and they're not currently fully protected.''

Jay Ritchlin, B.C. and western director-general for the David Suzuki Foundation, says in a statement the relinquishment by ExxonMobil"is an encouraging move.''

"Oil and gas leases have no place in B.C.'s offshore. Now is the time for Chevron and other permit holders to follow suit.''

Representatives from Chevron Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wrongful extension of oil and gas permits alleged

In July 2022, the David Suzuki Foundation and World Wildlife FundCanada filed an application in Federal Court claiming the ministerof natural resources wrongfully extended the terms of oil and gaspermits owned by the firms.

The permits fall within the Scott Islands Protected Marine Areaand the Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge ReefsMarine Protected Area.

The environmental groups claimin court that the indefiniteextensions of the terms of those permits are unlawful and contravenethe Canada Petroleum Resources Act.

"Both protected areas are of outstanding ecological value andvulnerable to damage from human impacts, including oil and gasactivities,'' the court application states.

The permits were originally issued in the late 1960s and early1970s, and the framework to issue them was changed twice in 1980s.

When the rules changed, permit holders like Chevron andExxonMobil were supposed to negotiate with the minister of naturalresources to convert them into exploration licences"within aprescribed time.''

"They did not do so,'' the environmental groups claim. "To thisday, the permits have not been converted into explorationlicences.''

The David Suzuki Foundation and WWF Canada allege the permitsshould therefore be surrendered.

With ExxonMobil relinquishing its permits, the company has beendropped as a respondent from the court case, but it remains activeagainst Chevron, the minister of natural resources and the AttorneyGeneral of Canada.

Miron says offshore oil and gas exploration in British Columbiahas been an "open question for the past several decades.''

He says the approval of the Bay du Nord oil project offNewfoundland last year by the federal government indicates that theB.C. coast is not immune to oil and gas activity since the currentmoratorium could one day be lifted.

"There is a level of discomfort with the finality of thatmoratorium and that concern is kind of driving the action here,'' he
said.