The Nova Scotia Offshore Alliance (NSOA) is reaffirming its call for a moratorium on all offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling until a full public inquiry can be completed on this dangerous activity. This statement comes in response to this week’s news that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) has approved an extension to BP Canada’s license to drill offshore.
12 Nova Scotia municipalities (and counting) are calling for a moratorium on offshore exploration and drilling until an independent inquiry can define the risks. I went to a press conference to hear about their concerns. Clearly reassurances by the province that all is well aren’t cutting it anymore.
There are no specific and formal qualifications to become a wildlife observer keeping an eye out for whales, turtles and other sensitive species while a seismic survey is being conducted.
A recent change to Bill C-69 increases concerns among Nova Scotia environmentalists about undue influence by the oil and gas industry on environmental approvals of offshore oil and gas projects in the Atlantic.
A documentary about whales and narrated by Ethan Hawke premiered this morning at a press conference in Halifax. Environmentalists are extremely worried about the damage done by offshore seismic blasting. We report on the press conference and include a link to the video and a full transcription of the remarks by Mi’kmaq film maker Eliza Knockwood.
Some 70 environmentalists from across Nova Scotia rallied at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Halifax while inside senators were conducting hearings on Ottawa’s new Impact Assessment Act, or Bill C-69. Bill C-69 contains legislation that defines how federal environmental assessments are conducted.
Media release: A coalition of fishers, fish plant operators and workers, tourism operators, scientists, environmental organizations and communities will be delivering a message to a Senate committee that is meeting in Halifax this week – the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) can’t be both a regulator and a promoter of offshore oil and gas drilling.
Scott Neigh, through his weekly Talking Radical podcast, provides a centre stage to activists, their causes, and the how and why of their strategic approaches. Scott always kindly allows me to repost a podcast if it is of particular relevance to Nova Scotia Advocate readers. Earlier we featured his eye opening interview with El Jones on organizing vulnerable prison populations and the responsibilities that brings, and an interview with water protectors Dorene Bernard and Rebecca Moore on the mess that is Alton Gas. This week we present Scott’s interview with Marilyn Keddy and Peter Puxley of the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia,, about the threat of offshore oil exploration to climate change and fisheries, and about the challenges of organizing in rural Nova Scotia.
Two things we can learn from that record-setting oil spill off the coast of Newfoundland. Storms in the North Atlantic are something else, and government oversight of the offshore in Newfoundland is very lax. The really scary part? Nova Scotia oversight is no different. And Newfoundland’s stormy ocean is Nova Scotia’s stormy ocean.
News that BP is abandoning its oil exploration off the shore of Nova Scotia is a relief, but it’s way too early to celebrate. There are other companies eyeing our offshore, and harmful seismic testing may start as early as next spring.