Environmental groups celebrate as ExxonMobil gives up oil exploration permits in B.C.

Environmental groups are celebrating after ExxonMobil relinquished offshore oil and gas exploration permits in British Columbia dating back more than 50 years.

Environmental groups are celebrating after ExxonMobil relinquished offshore oil and gas exploration permits in British Columbia dating back more than 50 years.

Lawyer Ian Miron with Ecojustice Canada said the company had been dropped from a Federal Court lawsuit filed by the David Suzuki Foundation and World Wildlife Fund Canada last year challenging the Canadian government's continual renewal of the permits.

Miron, who represents the two groups, said the permits formerly held by Exxon covered “really environmentally significant areas” off the B.C. coast.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margot Bruce-O'Connell confirmed the company gave up nine permits it held in B.C. but refused to comment further.

Miron said the groups' legal challenge remains active against Chevron Canada, which also holds long-standing permits in the province.

He said a “policy-based moratorium” prohibits oil and gas exploration in marine protected areas off the B.C. coast, but it's not legally binding and the existence of the permits undermines environmental protection and conservation efforts.

“It can be lifted at any time. It's subject to change at the whims of the government of the day,” Miron said. “The concern was that the fact that these permits exist, they are impeding the full conservation of those areas, and there was a risk that they could have opened them up and gone in to drill.”