19 Feb On the briny quarrel tossed
A native band, an environmental group, two fishermen’s organizations, and a residents’ association say they will appeal a provincial decision to let Alton Gas build a natural gas storage facility in an underground salt dome between Stewiacke and Shubenacadie.
The province had halted the project in 2014 after a dissident native group protested it had not been adequately consulted. Last month, after a year-and-a-half delay, the Nova Scotia Department of Environment deemed the project safe and said Alton had fulfilled its obligation to consult.
As often happens in environmental protests, opposing groups have raised a variety of objections, some plausible, some seemingly trivial. The main source of concern is Alton’s plan to hollow out the salt dome using fresh water from the Shubenacadie River, with the resulting brine flushed back into the waterway.
A Contrarian reader who appears to have inside knowledge of the project writes:
The river is tidal and brackish at the outfall location. The ocean is salty.
The volume of salt brine released to the river each day will be insignificant to the salinity of the river. If you measure the salinity in the river at a distance of 5 metres from the outlet, you would not see any measurable increase in salt concentrations.
Bass is an ocean-going species that does very well in salt water.
This is a classic example of uninformed civilians reacting negatively to any change in their world.
If we waited for the public to say yes to any new technology, we would never build anything.
Nova Scotians are comfortable with the use of furnace oil to heat their homes. If they understood the risks associated with the storage and use of furnace oil at their homes, they would never use it. We have more environmental contamination from leaky oil storage tanks than can ever be created by the Alton project.
Just remember the old adage “Perfection is the Enemy of the Good!” If we wait for a perfect project to come along, and for the public to get on board, we will be waiting until hell freezes over.
This situation will test the intestinal fortitude of our premier and his cabinet.
I don’t have the knowledge or training to evaluate this dispute. I publish this reader’s comments because they sound authoritative, and because media coverage has focused entirely on arguments against the project.
Frankly, the protesting organizations have run circles around Alton Gas on the communications front.
Still, these groups demanded and got a further period of consultations and additional scientific study sufficient to persuade the province the project passed muster.
It is imperative that projects with potential to affect the environment undergo public consultation and searching scientific review. But for those processes to work fairly and effectively, there must be a point of decision and a referee to make one. Environmental assessment is not a commitment to keep talking until the most vociferous or wilful participants prevail.