A coalition of groups including the Ecology Action Centre, SumOfUs and Greenpeace wants the the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to revoke its recent decision to grant approval to Shell Canada Ltd.'s plan to drill off the coast of Nova Scotia.

On Wednesday, the groups delivered a petition with more than 233,000 signatures and protested outside the office of the petroleum board.



Last month, the board authorized a Shell drilling plan in the Shelburne Basin, which is about 250 kilometres southwest of Shelburne. Initially, the plan had a 21-day timeframe to contain subsea blowouts, but the approved plan was shortened to between 12 and 13 days.

Environmental groups say that timeline is too long and falls short of the U.S. requirement of 24 hours for drilling in the waters off Alaska.

About a dozen people attended today's protest. They want want Shell's drilling program to be stopped.

"It's just unacceptable for the regulator to be saying safety is too expensive. Their job isn't to keep this job profitable for Shell. Their job is to protect the public and they're failing in that duty right now," said Greenpeace's Alex Speers-Roesch.

The head of the petroleum board disagrees.

"I think that the regulations that are in place and the regulations that we enforce are very stringent, very robust," said CEO Stuart Pinks.

Shell says there is an "extremely low" probability of a blowout and there are multiple mechanisms in place to prevent one. The company also recently told the Nova Scotia legislature's resource committee that they have immediate response capability at the drill site in the first hours of any incident.

Shell began its drilling program on Oct. 23.

A representative from the fishing industry also attended the protest. The fishing industry is concerned the project is taking place too close to some of the province's most lucrative fishing grounds.