Some municipal leaders are feeling unprepared and uninformed after learning their regions could become home to the first uranium exploration in Nova Scotia in almost 45 years.
On Wednesday, the Nova Scotia government issued a request for exploration proposals at three sites it believesΒ have uranium deposits. The three sites include areas near Louisville in Pictou County,Β East Dalhousie in Annapolis County and Millet Brook in Hants County.
“It’s a total surprise to us,” saidΒ Robert Parker, warden of Pictou County.
ParkerΒ said he doesn’t know much about uranium mining andΒ will need to start gathering information and perspectives about the issue.
He said right now, he can see both sides of it.
“We want to protect our environment and we want to know that people’s properties are protected.β¦ There needs to be really good environmental guarantees,” Parker said.
“But I don’t totally disagree with the premier neither.β¦ We don’t know economically where the future is leading, you know, with climate change and tariffs and all the rest of it. WeΒ also have to keepΒ an economy that will support ourΒ citizens looking ahead.”
In March, Tim Houston’s government passed legislation that will permit uranium exploration for the first time since a moratorium was introduced in 1981 and a full ban was implemented in 2009. The government has pushed for more exploitationΒ of natural resources to shore up the provincial economy, especially when faced with challenges from U.S. tariffs.
The Nova Scotia government has announced it will lift blanket bans for future natural resource development, allowing for future uranium research. The decision is a big change in course for a province that hotly debated developing a uranium industry 40 years ago and again in 2008.
Parker said so far, he hasn’t heard any discussion among residents about uranium, but ultimately, council will follow what the majority of constituents want.
But municipalities may have limited control over any potential exploration or mining, as mining is a provincial jurisdiction and the province could expropriate landΒ if a project ever moved to the stage of mine development.
Coun. Ronald Baillie, who represents the Louisville area, also said he’ll beΒ starting from scratch to learn about uranium mining and exploration.
“It’s all new to me, I’ll put it that way,” Baillie said.
If the activity can be done safely and doesn’t affect the environment or present a risk to residents, “then I guess we’d have to look at it,” he said.
Hants County
Over in Hants County, municipal officials have heard plenty from their constituents about uranium.
The area of Millet Brook, near Lower Vaughan, N.S., was the primary site of uranium exploration in the years leading up to the moratorium in 1981. The province’s request for exploration proposals for theΒ site notes that it is the only known deposit in the province that is of significant size.
Kayla Leary-Pinch is the councillor for the area that has been earmarked for possible explorationΒ and lives close to the site. She said the Houston government’s push since the last electionΒ to lift the ban has revived residents’ memories of the debate over uranium in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and raised concerns among newer residents.
One of her constituents’Β primary concerns is the potential for water contamination, especially as most use well water.
“I do share some of the concerns of my residents about water quality because I am a resident of the area,” Leary-PinchΒ said. “I want to make sure that my well water is safe for my family.”
She said after the province wrote to all 49 municipalities in February asking them to signal their support for more resource development, West Hants Regional Municipality wrote back to Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr requesting more information.Β
Leary-Pinch said the provincial government has yet to respond, and that both council and residents need more information.
“It’s difficult to advocate for residents when we don’t have the full information to have informed discussions and make decisions.”
Abraham Zebian, the mayor of West Hants Regional Municipality,Β said he feels there hasn’t been an opportunity for residents or municipalities to ask questions of the province.
“You can’t make a great decisionΒ if you don’t haveΒ information on it yet, andΒ we just have no information. So until that happens, I think we’re going to continue expressing our concerns and standing with our residents.”
Annapolis County
Diane LeBlanc, the warden of the County of Annapolis, said both council and constituents only learned about the selected site through a provincial news release, and she expects the province to provide more information about its plans.
East DalhousieΒ falls within Coun. Brian Connell’s district.
“I don’t know enough about it to say anything right or wrong,” he said. “For now, I’d have to stay neutral until I talk to the people that live in the area and get more info on it.”
Next steps
Proposals for exploration must be made to the Department of Natural Resources by June 11. If there is a successful applicant, that will be announced by July 7 and a licence will be issued by July 11.