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Win! Barrington and Wolfville support moratorium and inquiry about offshore drilling!

Two more municipalities have joined the growing list of supporters calling for a moratorium and inquriy on offshore drilling!

On Monday December 10 2018 the Municipality of the District of Barrington became the newest supporter of a moratorium and inquiry into offshore drilling!

The Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia has been pumping up the pressure for a moratorium and inquiry by distributing signs across the province and getting a number of municipalities on their side! Photo: CPONS

Here’s an excerpt from the council meeting minutes:

A healthy marine environment is critical to industries, like fishing and tourism, that are the primary lifeblood of Nova Scotia coastal communities. It is our responsibility to protect and nurture our local economies. It is also our right, and the right of our citizens to be consulted on all major developments that might impact those economies. The catastrophic effect of a major oil spill at an offshore drill site is unthinkable, yet public knowledge of the risk and potential consequences of such a spill remains inadequate.

We hereby call for a full and independent public inquiry into the pros and cons of oil industry exploration in offshore Nova Scotia to provide our communities, who bear the lion’s share of the risk of a disaster in the offshore, a full appreciation of the extent of that risk and of the steps we can take to minimize it. We also call for a moratorium on all further oil and gas exploration in the offshore pending the completion of that inquiry.

Motion carried unanimously.

The Town of Wolfville also recently passed motion calling for an end to development of fossil fuel resources in Nova Scotia:

Where as it is necessary to take immediate action to attempt to reduce the impact of climate change,

Where as there are alternatives available,

Where as there are additional environmental impacts from fossil fuel development,

That Council take a position against the further development of fossil fuel resources in the region and the Town therefore urges no further fossil fuel developments in Nova Scotia, based on the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report.

Wolfville sits on the shores of the Bay of Fundy and the top of the Annapolis Rivers, and is prone to flooding due to sea level rise and storm surges. It is no surprise that a community so vulnerable to changes in climate would have such a strong stance on future fossil fuel development!

Previous to these new motions six municipal governments in Nova Scotia have now supported the call for greater scrutiny in the offshore. Both the Municipality of the District of Shelburne and the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg and the Town of Shelburne  called for an inquiry.  The towns of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg called for a review of legislation and decisions making processes around offshore drilling, and the Municipality of the County of Kings is wrote a letter to federal and provincial representatives to outline their concerns about offshore drilling.

With Barrington and Wolfville that makes nine!

This has all been made possible by the hard work of the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia, a project of the South Shore chapter of the Council of Canadians!