The Cape Breton Post reports, “People living around Lake Ainslie are planning to protest outside the provincial Department of Environment office in Port Hawkesbury Monday morning. …Protesters will assemble at the provincial building at 9 am. The demonstration is expected to last an hour…”
“Rebecca Parkins, a resident of West Lake Ainslie, will be among the people voicing their displeasure over the Nova Scotia government’s decision to allow (PetroWorth) an exploratory drill well seeking oil and natural gas deposits. ‘Janet MacKinnon is the one who signed (the approval) for the Department of Environment, and she works in the Port Hawkesbury building there,’ Parkins said.”
“(Parkins) said residents’ queries on the possibility of contaminated groundwater, well water or soil and a worry about the potential for an oil spill are all valid concerns. …The province stipulates no portion of the drill pad or the facility can be located within 100 meters of a surface water course such as Lake Ainslie. The drill site must be at least 200 metres from any surface water supply.”
PetroWorth is set to start – likely on November 5 – drilling more than 1200 metres beneath the ground for oil and gas just 2,000 feet (610 metres) from the shore of Lake Ainslie.
The Council of Canadians Inverness County chapter has been actively opposing oil and gas drilling near Lake Ainslie, the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia.
