The Council of Canadians is commending the Municipality of Colchester Municipal Sewer Use Appeal Committee for reversing the decision that allowed Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS) to discharge fracking wastewater into the Debert sewage system.
In its decision released last night, the Committee states in part, “In the end, the Committee feels it is not the role of the Municipality to allow the Bay of Fundy to be the petri dish for fracking wastewater. Rather it is the Municipality’s role to ensure the environment is protected now and in the future, and in that role it must exercise caution to act only when the information is complete.”
Back in March, Colchester County’s Director of Public Works approved AIS’s plan to release 4.5 million litres of fracking wastewater into the Chiganois River, potentially impacting communities along the Cobequid Bay and the Bay of Fundy. There has been a strong public backlash to the decision with over forty groups and individuals submitting appeals and over 100 people attending the hearings on both May 6th and 7th. U.S.-based Food and Water Watch and Sierra Club Maine sent an open letter urging the Appeal Committee to terminate the permit earlier this week.
“The water was not tested for many chemicals common in the fracking process and so we are extremely relieved that the fracking wastewater will not be discharged into local and connecting waterways,” says Emma Lui, Water Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “This decision shows how water should be protected as a shared resource by governments. The appeal committee incorporated the community’s views into their final decision and respected the community’s right to say no.”
“We are thrilled the Appeal Committee listened to the community and stopped this risky project,” says Angela Giles, Atlantic Regional Organizer for the Council of Canadians. “This is a big victory for democracy. We hope that the provincial government also takes these concerns about fracking as strong reasons to do a lot more research and consultation before determining how to best proceed with handling the fracking waste, and implements a ban on fracking within the province.”
The Council of Canadians was an intervener in the appeals process and has been working with its members and the public to raise awareness, and has been working on fracking in Nova Scotia since we became aware of the issue. Part of this work happens though NOFRAC, the Nova Scotia Fracking Awareness and Research Coalition.
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Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs | www.canadians.org/fracking
