The Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act: Transparency of the environmental management of the offshore oil and gas industry

This paper considers the overall outcome of a “public environmental audit” of the government management of the oil and gas offshore industry in eastern Canada. Five requests for data sets were placed using the Access to Information Act; all five requests were denied by the Canada-Newfoundland Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. This lack of access to environmental monitoring data significantly hinders the ability of independent scientific inquiry and/or public involvement in the environmental assessment process.