'A total surprise': Municipalities unprepared for uranium exploration in their backyard
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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 believes have uranium deposits. The three sites include areas near Louisville in Pictou County, East Dalhousie in Annapolis County and Millet Brook in Hants County.
"It's a total surprise to us," said Robert Parker, warden of Pictou County.
Parker said he doesn't know much about uranium mining and 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.… There needs to be really good environmental guarantees," Parker said.
"But I don't totally disagree with the premier neither.… We don't know economically where the future is leading, you know, with climate change and tariffs and all the rest of it. We also have to keep an economy that will support our citizens looking ahead."
Legislation passed in March lifted a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining from 1981, and a full ban from 2009. Premier Tim Houston has said the legislative changes were needed to make the province better able to withstand economic challenges from U.S. tariffs.
Why Nova Scotia's history with uranium mining is complicated
3 months ago
Duration 3:28
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 land if a project ever moved to the stage of mine development.
Coun. Ronald Baillie, who represents the Louisville area, also said he'll be 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 the 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 exploration and lives close to the site. She said the Houston government's push since the last election 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' 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-Pinch 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.
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, 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 decision if you don't have information on it yet, and 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 Dalhousie 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.
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