Quebec permanently halts gas and petrol explorations on Anticosti Island

Extended: Drilling halt on Anticosti Equiterre co-founder Steven Guilbeault runs down the government’s decision to cease oil exploitation on the Anticosti Islands

Anticosti Island – a stretch of land in the St. Lawrence lowlands, 900 km from Montreal – will no longer be exploited for its oil and gas resources.

Quebec’s Minister of Energy and Natural resources, Pierre Arcand, make the announcement Friday, saying that the decision is part of an endeavour to appoint the island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“To ask to have an island that will be kind of a jewel that will be accepted worldwide and then do explorations of hydro carbons doesn't seem to be coherent,” said Arcand.

For thousands of years, the territory was inhabited by Indigenous peoples, who lived off of the land and hunted—the island, though no bigger than Prince Edward Island, boasts 575 kilometres of coastline, deep canyons, impressive waterfalls, caves and 27 rivers and streams that are home to a bounty of salmon and trout.

“Drilling for oil and gas in a beautiful island—a jewel in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence—was just pure madness from the beginning,” said Steven Guilbeault, co-founder and Senior Director of Equiterre.

Local Mayor John Pineault, a fervent opponent of the project, is ecstatic.

“If they were to do that, they would really destroy what the island is,” he said, thanking groups that supported his efforts to have drilling stopped, including Indigenous groups, environmentalists and labour unions.

In order to prevent any further hydrocarbon exploration on the island, the Quebec government has begun negotiations with the companies on the ground in hopes they’ll abandon their pursuit.

“In the US—under Trump – there are more jobs in electric and solar than there are in coal, gas and oil put together. So this is what’s happening, and I think it’s a logical conclusion to say no to oil on Anticosti,” Guilbeault added. To date, the government has entered agreements with three companies: Junex, Corridor, and Maurel & Prom— an oil company based in France.

“In the US—under Trump – there are more jobs in electric and solar than there are in coal, gas and oil put together. So this is what’s happening, and I think it’s a logical conclusion to say no to oil on Anticostil,” Guilbeault added. “Worldwide we're putting more money every year to produce renewable energies then we are from fossil fuels like oil, coal even natural gas.”

Compensation in the cancelled contracts has totaled $41.4 million so far, and negotiations are still underway with Petrolia and Trans American.

In a statement, Petrolia said it's deeply disappointed with the decision because it believes the project had great economic potential.

"Under these circumstances, it is clear that the government of Quebec cannot treat Petrolia on the same footing as the foreign companies," the company said.

Petrolia added it will pursue negotiations in good faith, but was disappointed with the government's decision.

"Although we are deeply disappointed by the turn of events, we are still convinced, even more than in 2014, of the potential and relevance of the Anticosti project for Quebec and for society," said Martin Belanger, Petrolia's acting president and chief executive officer.

"For us, Anticosti remains and will always remain a major economic project, capable of generating significant spin-offs for Quebec."

Back in January of this year, the Quebec government gave its consent for Anticosti Island to file for heritage designation in Canada. Proposals will be reviewed by a departmental advisory committee of Parks Canada.

In a statement issued Friday, the energy ministry stated that the initiative “will help to protect and preserve the exceptional natural character of Anticosti Island and ensure its continuity for all Quebecers.”

In June 2011, Quebec firm Petrolia claimed to have discovered 30 billion barrels of oil on the island, which is rich in shale gas reserves.

In 2014, former premier Pauline Marois announced government backing of exploratory shale gas operations: $115 million was invested to finance drilling in two separate ventures, a first step towards gas exploration on Anticosti Island, estimating a potential of 46 billion barrels.

However, Couillard increasingly distanced himself from the project after attending the international climate conference in Paris in 2015.

The premier expressed concerns about environmental risks and had questioned the project's economic viability, repeatedly noting it was reached under the previous PQ government.

“It was a bad project to start with,” said Guilbeault, adding that the island still needs help. “There are almost no fresh water reserves. People have difficulty having water in their houses. There's very little infrastructures. It's very hard to get to.”

A petition released at the time of the announcement amassed 36,000 signatures against fracking, asking the government for a moratorium and environmental assessment.

With files from The Canadian Press