Imperial Oil, BP, and Exxon are in the joint venture which filed application to carry out exploratory drilling in the deep waters of Canada's Beaufort Sea.

If approved, the project would allow for wells to be drilled in waters as deep as 850 metres, far deeper than anything ever attempted in Arctic waters.

The EISC highlighted in their decision letter a number of serious deficiencies in the proposal: incomplete information about the project; no management plan; lack of detail on measures to prevent and respond to oil spills; inadequate inventory of environmental values; and inadequate consultation with Inuvialuit communities. They required the project to go through a full review by the Environmental Impacts Review Board, with the directive that these deficiencies be addressed.

WWF Canada, with Ecojustice as legal counsel, has been an active party to the public reviews to date including before the National Energy Board, and will participate in the reviews now demanded by the EISC.