The Canadian Press reports, “A Toronto-based company (Petroworth Resources Inc.) has applied (to the Nova Scotia provincial Energy Department) for an extension of an exploratory drilling permit (near Lake Ainslie) in Cape Breton. …The company’s permit to drill an oil and gas test well in the Lake Ainslie area expires July 15.”
“The Energy Department would not disclose the length of the requested extension. …(A provincial government spokesperson) could not say when a decision will be made.”
“Meanwhile, an environmental group opposed to the drilling will take its fight to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court later this month. The Margaree Environmental Association has said it will file an injunction to stop drilling if it starts before the June 27 court date.”
To read more about this legal challenge – which the Council of Canadians has contributed to – please see NEWS: Legal challenge launched to stop oil drilling near Lake Ainslie, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=11805.
The Council of Canadians opposes both the planned exploratory drilling for oil as well as the possibility of fracking by Lake Ainslie. As noted in media reports, “Petroworth’s proposed oil well would sit about 600 metres from Cape Breton’s largest freshwater lake, and only about 30 metres from a brook that is part of the Margaree River watershed.”
To also read about a community rights ordinance that we have supported in opposition to this drilling, see Atlantic organizer Angela Giles’ blog ‘Inverness calls for EIS of Lake Ainslie/Margaree Watershed; fighting for a say in own jurisdiction’ at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=12992.
To read more campaign blogs about Lake Ainslie, please go to http://canadians.org/blog/?s=lake+ainslie.
