The Sierra Club of Canada says both levels of government are ignoring serious environmental concerns when it comes to the Bay du Nord project.

The group raised questions during the final day of in-person public consultations this week in St. John’s.

Their focus was mostly on the company’s plan to mitigate environmental impacts, and how it would handle a potential oil spill.

Spokesperson Spencer Scott says other countries have already pulled out of major oil and gas projects over similar environmental concerns.

“Looking through their environmental safety assessment, I don’t understand how they got passed, first of all, considering they admit that if there’s an oil spill, depending on the time of year, it could be catastrophic to seabirds,” he told reporters.

“It could be catastrophic to sea turtles, cetaceans, other marine life. And they also admit that if they do need to cap the project, it’ll take up to 18 days. That’s a long time for oil to just be spilling into our oceans.”