On November 30, a certificate of authorization expired that would have allowed TransCanada to resume drilling in sensitive beluga habitat off of Cacouna in the Lower St. Lawrence.
This refusal by the Quebec government to give into TransCanada's repeated requests for an extension further halt the company's plans to identify a location for a proposed oil port, which would be used to ship crude oil from Canada's tar sands to foreign markets as part of its controversial Energy East pipeline project.
The drilling worried citizens for many reasons, notably because measurements taken in September revealed that the drilling was achieving its maximum noise threshold in an area five times greater than was legally allowed, posing a threat to the beluga, a species whose status recently changed from "threatened" to "endangered."
What can you do?
Sign the "No to tar sands" petition (also available in English).
