Chapter activist Ann Pohl in the Mi’kmaki Water Walk, May 21.
The Council of Canadians Kent County chapter participated in Mi’kmaki Water Walk 2016 this past weekend.
Kent County chapter activist Ann Pohl took part in the walk on May 21.
As noted on their Facebook page, “Mi’kmaki Water Walk 2016, plans to walk in 7 Mi’kmaq Districts to raise awareness and protect our Mother Earth and waters for our future generations.” The walk for the Shubenacadie River in Sipekne’katik district started on Saturday May 14 at the mouth of the Shubenacadie River in Maitland, Nova Scotia and concluded on May 21 where the Shubenacadie River flows into the Grand Lake at Oakfield Provincial Park.
The Shubenacadie River is threatened by the Alton Natural Gas Storage LP proposal.
The Council of Canadians has been helping to oppose a plan by the company to store natural gas near the rural community of Alton, which is situated about 75 kilometres north of Halifax.
The company, a subsidiary of Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd., has proposed creating storage facilities for natural gas by drilling three wells in underground salt caverns. The idea is that the wells would be used to store natural gas to hedge against higher natural gas prices in the winter. The project would also include two 12-kilometre pipelines. One would be used to pump water from the Shubenacadie River estuary to flush the salt out of the caverns (to make way for the gas to be stored) and the other for transporting the resulting salt brine mixture into storage ponds that would be built beside an estuary in Fort Ellis (and then discharged back into the river).
On May 18 (her last day with us before moving to British Columbia), Halifax-based Council of Canadians organizer Tori Ball also joined Mi’kmaki Water Walk 2016.
For one of Tori’s blogs on the Alton Gas situation (highlighting a rally on April 12 in Halifax that Pohl also attended), please click here.
