All the name changes in the world won't disguise what Bay du Nord has always been about

The federal government seemed to go out of its way Wednesday to not make a big deal out of the announcement the Bay du Nord offshore oil megaproject had cleared what may be its biggest hurdle: environmental assessment approval.

That decision was expected last year. Then it was pushed back to March, and then pushed back again to this week.

When made, the decision was certainly not something the Trudeau government trumpeted. There was no major news conference. In fact, the decision was quietly posted online late Wednesday afternoon, although there was already sharp national attention because word leaked a few hours before about the key facts.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault paused later in a scrum with reporters on Parliament Hill to confirm the news.

The timing is really important to note: all this played out as late in the working day as possible, on the eve of the annual federal budget. Budget day is a news blizzard the government knew would change the country's focus, and news agenda.

In the days before the feds announced Bay du Nord — a $12-billion project by Norway's Equinor that could extract an estimated 300 million barrels of oil from deepsea territory — was effectively a go, a few curious things happened, which all seemed to set the table for how politicians are framing a huge, new oil development while simultaneously dealing with the climate change emergency.

The day before, the federal and Newfoundland and Labrador governments took the word "petroleum" out of the name of the regulatory body that has been overseeing the offshore oil industry since 1986. Once the legal niceties are done, the soon-to-be-former C-NLOPB will be known as the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Board, or the C-NLOEB.

It's not just a change of name, but mandate: the board will now be responsible for developing renewable energy offshore. Think offshore wind stations, for instance. 

The very same day, the provincial government also decided to lift a long-running moratorium on onshore wind energy. In effect, it's been illegal for the last 15 years for any private company or citizen to generate electricity with wind, in a province that is renowned (maybe infamous) for its hefty winds.

Change certainly has been in the air in the oil, er, energy industry lately. In March, NOIA (once the Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association) changed its name to Energy NL, while also announcing its members were keen to expand into other energy frontiers, including renewables.

From the perspective of oil development supporters, all of these things would seem to soften the ground for the biggest announcement of all, which was Bay du Nord.

Which was not about renewable energy, just — undeniably — oil.

It was certainly something to see Guilbeault, a former Greenpeace campaigner who scaled the CN Tower in 2001 to protest inaction on climate change, defending Bay du Nord, which will pull oil out of the ground for decades to come.

Guilbeault insisted that Bay du Nord will operate only a host of conditions — 137 of them, including one that the project be net-zero on emissions by 2050.