Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resources minister is rejecting calls for the overhaul of the agency that regulates the province’s offshore oil industry, even as the United States moves to distance its regulator from the companies it oversees, wrote The Globe and Mail May 12:

Scientists and environmentalists argue that the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) suffers the same conflicts of interest that have afflicted the US regulator.

“The regulator has all this expertise for developing and promoting oil and gas but also is mandated to protect the environment,” said Gail Fraser, a professor of ecology and biology in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies who is studying Canada’s offshore regulations. “I think there’s more than a conflict of interest.”

Fraser said the board lacks transparency on industry waste and spills into the ocean, and is too cozy with industry, running land sales as well as regulating offshore drilling.

The complete article is available on The Globe and Mail's Web site. The story was also carried on CTV News' Web site.

Fraser's long-term research projects include long-term monitoring of Manx Shearwaters and Leach’s Storm Petrels, wildlife management and aspects of avian ecology in Toronto’s urban waterfront and the environmental effects offshore oil and gas.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.