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Process

and Methodology

Anchor 1

Guidelines

Offshore Exploratory licenses and related activities are listed in the Physical Activities Regulations List, as such, they are subject to federal impact assessment. Throughout the EIS creation, BHP worked with Stantec Consulting Ltd to prepare and manage the EIS. The methods used throughout the BHP exploration drilling EIS were developed in consideration of the requirements from the Canadian Impact Assessment Act 2012. The project followed the procedures set out in the "Guidelines for the Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012.” In particular, this Project focused on identifying project-specific sensitivities and mitigation measures for them, public and Indigenous inclusion was another guiding principle that was highly stressed by the proponets.

Steps

Due to its large scale and potentially far-reaching effects, there were numerous stages in preparing the EIS. Summarized here they are:

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  1.  Establishing the scope of the project including which activities would be accessed as well as identifying and selecting Valued Environmental Components. For more information please refer to the Scope page

  2. Assessment of the environmental effects. At this step, thresholds were developed for each VEC to determine when the effects from the project could be considered significant, and mitigation measures were considered for each. The criteria for assessment were:

    • direction​

    • magnitude

    • geographic extent

    • frequency

    • duration

    • reversibility

    • and ecological/socioeconomic context

  3. Project Specific Modelling, BHP undertook modeling studies to understand the fate/behaviors of the various discharges and emissions emitted from the project. This included:

    • Drill cutting dispersal​

    • Underwater sound from VSPs

    • Spill trajectory

  4. Cumulative Effects Assessment

  5. Accidental Events Assessment

  6. Assessing the effects of the environment on the Project

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After the completion of the EIS, the public, as well as key stakeholder groups like Indigenous communities, were invited to comment and provide feedback. The proponent was then required to read, consider, and respond adequately to what was pointed out. 

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