Minister raps delay in offshore spill disclosure

Newfoundland and Labrador's natural resources minister says the board that regulates the province's offshore oil industry should not have waited a few days before it reported a spill of synthetic drilling mud last week.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board reported about 26,000 litres of drilling mud spilled at the Henry Goodrich rig last week at an exploratory well for Suncor.

But Natural Resources Minister Shawn Skinner said his office was not informed until last Thursday three days after it happened.

"I would have expected to know about it on Monday," Skinner told CBC News.

"In no uncertain terms, it should have been reported to us immediately. It should have been reported by the C-NLOPB, and my understanding is their communications officer is the person in charge of the responsibility to notify this office."

Skinner said the provincial government is looking into the impact of the spill as well as why there was a delay in the release of information.

He said this is the second time since December that the board has been late in telling the government about an incident.

Skinner said he is asking for a meeting with the chair of the board.