Go slow on Beaufort exploration, Ottawa urged
OTTAWA – The World Wildlife Fund says Canada should come up with a sound management plan before it issues oil-and-gas exploration rights in the northern Beaufort Sea.
The global conservation group says the federal government should wait until it fully understands the environmental impacts of drilling, and knows how to clean up "inevitable" spills.
Ottawa has offered up the rights to oil-and-gas exploration on nearly three million acres of continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea, north of the Yukon and Northwest Territories cash advance.
Bids will be accepted until June 2, when the rights will be issued.
There are more than two dozen "significant discovery" leases across Canadian Arctic waters.
The WWF has said Canada's decision to open bidding rights in the Beaufort Sea will destroy large swaths of critical polar bear habitat and put the animal's future in danger.