CNLOPB won't appeal court decision to keep rig safety incidents secret
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board will not be appealing a federal court ruling that keeps records about safety incidents secret aboard the Henry Goodrich drill rig.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the board won't appeal the ruling because its legal advice is that it would be not be successful.
CBC News asked for the reports after an incident on the drilling rig in 2012 — one the board said could have caused a fatality.
The C-NLOPB agreed to release the documents the CBC requested.
But Husky Oil Operations went to court to keep them from becoming public.
Federal court judge Elizabeth Heneghan agreed with Husky, citing privacy provisions in the Atlantic Accord.
But on Dec. 31, the Atlantic Accord Act was amended, giving the board powers to release health and safety information it deems to be in the public interest.
The board said that while it has new powers under the amendment, the court can only consider the matter based on the legislation that existed when the application was made.
The C-NLOPB says it's disappointed by the federal court's decision. But the court could not consider the new amendments.
