logo
Municipalities, residents decry gaps in N.S. coastal protection as 'death by 1,000 cuts'

Municipalities, residents decry gaps in N.S. coastal protection as 'death by 1,000 cuts'

Yahooa day ago

When Jessica Bradford first spotted a square patch of dirt infill as she drove along the Queens County coastline in Western Head, N.S., she had one thought.
"That's not going to last very long," Bradford recalled thinking, standing last week near the section of infill as waves washed up on a rocky beach just steps away.
It's unclear whether the infill project on private property along Shore Road follows proper guidelines. But even if it does, Bradford and some municipal leaders say the situation represents a major gap in Nova Scotia's approach to coastal protection.
Bradford said she first noticed work being done on the small strip of land along the roadside beside the beach two weeks ago.
She said trees and grasses were removed to allow for heavy equipment to spread dirt over the site. The move made her concerned the loss of established root systems would speed up erosion and worsen flooding on the road, Bradford said, which often becomes submerged during storms.
"We know the importance of living shorelines," Bradford said. "It made me wonder, how was this allowed to happen?"
When Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservative government decided to not proclaim the Coastal Protection Act that would have brought in provincewide rules last February, it said municipalities could enact own bylaws on the issue.
It also released mapping tools and information, so property owners could make an "informed decision" about protecting their land and buildings from sea-level rise and erosion.
But Bradford said the Region of Queens Municipality — which has land-use bylaws that address coastal setbacks — told her it was not aware of the Shore Road project, and had not received any permit applications for the site. Provincial staff have told Bradford they are looking into whether the project followed their rules and had the correct permits.
CBC News reached out to the property owner but did not receive a response.
Scott Christian, Queens mayor, said legislation allows municipalities to regulate infill and removal of vegetative buffers on a coastline — but only when it's related to development. If a property owner doesn't plan to build anything on their land right away, infill projects fall under provincial jurisdiction.
"I think that's problematic because I think it opens up the door where people could just say, 'Well, I'm not planning on developing,'" Christian said.
"Even if a structure isn't envisioned on a property, I think we need to protect against the problematic removal of natural vegetation along our shoreline. So we need to do better."
Christian said he's had residents complain of seven current Queens County projects where vegetation was removed or infill brought in, including Western Head.
"I appreciate their advocacy, but we simply don't have a leg to stand on," Christian said.
Christian also said municipalities can only govern private property above the high-water mark. Anything happening below that, such as armoured walls reaching into the water, falls under provincial jurisdiction.
If infill stretches farther into navigable waters or fish habitat, federal regulations could also apply.
A large infill project featuring a rock wall on Little Crescent Beach in Lunenburg County brought many complaints from residents, and helped push the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg to bring in its own coastal bylaws last summer.
Recent work on the site shows two wooden buildings coming up to the edge of the wall.
The municipality's mayor, Elspeth McLean-Wile, said the new bylaw requires setbacks of 30 metres from the water's edge, but the project's development permits were issued before the new rules came in.
However, McLean-Wile said there's still nothing the municipality can do to prevent a similar armoured wall project if it falls below the high-water mark like in the Crescent Beach case.
"I think this is a misstep on the part of the provincial government," McLean-Wile said. "There are probably other issues as well, but infilling is one that really frustrates our residents.
"These are the holes that continue to exist."
Nicolas Winkler, coastal adaptation co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, said he continues to see coastal infill cases around Nova Scotia he's concerned about. But he said the full extent of the issue is difficult to know, because many are only visible from the water and are "out of sight, out of mind" for residents or government officials.
"That is death by 1,000 cuts. It's these small, consistent … changes to our coastline that, over time, will add up to a coast that we may not recognize," Winkler said.
Both McLean-Wile and Christian said they would prefer to see provincewide rules, and don't agree with the provincial government's comments that municipalities are best fit to handle the file because they know their communities best.
If the province won't bring in the Coastal Protection Act, Christian and McLean-Wile said there needs to be a fulsome conversation between both levels of government about addressing the gaps left behind.
"There's problematic infilling along our shoreline now. And so we need like pretty urgent action on this," Christian said.
If legislation is changed to allow municipalities to regulate infill projects regardless of development plans, Christian said the move must come with far more financial and staffing resources than what has been offered so far.
The province has provided template bylaws, and $1.3 million to the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities for local governments to use on consulting fees for climate change and sustainability analysts.
CBC News asked the Department of Environment and Climate Change to respond to the concerns about municipalities having no power over many infill and armoured rock projects, but they did not answer the question.
"We have moved forward to what we feel is a better approach to protecting our 13,000 [kilometres] of diverse coastline," department spokesperson Cindy Porter said in an email.
"The province is committed to continuing to support municipalities every step of the way."
MORE TOP STORIES

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

U.S. allies sanction 2 Israeli cabinet members "for inciting violence against Palestinians" in West Bank"
U.S. allies sanction 2 Israeli cabinet members "for inciting violence against Palestinians" in West Bank"

CBS News

time41 minutes ago

  • CBS News

U.S. allies sanction 2 Israeli cabinet members "for inciting violence against Palestinians" in West Bank"

Five of the United States' long-time allies — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom — announced Tuesday that they were jointly imposing sanctions on two senior Israeli officials, far-right nationalists who are members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet. In a statement posted on the U.K. government's official website, the foreign ministers of all five nations said Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich were being sanctioned "for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank." The sanctions were not laid out in detail, but could include bans on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir entering the U.S. allies' territory, and the freezing of some foreign-held assets. "Settler violence is incited by extremist rhetoric which calls for Palestinians to be driven from their homes, encourages violence and human rights abuses and fundamentally rejects the two-state solution. Settler violence has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole communities," the statement said. "Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous. These actions are not acceptable. We have engaged the Israeli Government on this issue extensively, yet violent perpetrators continue to act with encouragement and impunity. This is why we have taken this action now — to hold those responsible to account." Itamar Ben-Gvir (left), Israeli far-right lawmaker and the current Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right lawmaker who is currently the Minister of Finance, attend a rally in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, in an Oct. 26, 2022 file photo. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP/Getty The countries said that while the sanctions announced Tuesday "focus on the West Bank," Israel's actions there "cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza. We continue to be appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid." The five nations said the measures "do not deviate from our unwavering support for Israel's security and we continue to condemn the horrific terror attacks of 7 October by Hamas," adding that in their view, the rhetoric of the two Israeli cabinet members also undermines "Israel's own security and its standing in the world." The sanctions were announced as the Palestinian Red Crescent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said 80 people were injured Tuesday during Israel's ongoing military operations in the Palestinian territory, in the town of Nablus, specifically. Israel insists its military operations in the West Bank are necessary to root out terrorists who plan and launch attacks from the territory. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Tuesday that the Israeli officials had used "horrendous extremist language" and that he'd "encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language." Last month, Smotrich said Gaza "will be entirely destroyed" and that civilians "will start to leave in great numbers to third countries." He has repeatedly called for Israel to completely annex the West Bank, which has long been occupied by Israeli forces. Israeli forces aim their guns toward a man after two Palestinian brothers were killed in an Israeli raid after one of the brothers tried to take a soldier's gun and his brother intervened in Nablus, West Bank, June 10, 2025. Nedal Eshtayah/Anadolu/Getty CBS News has met Palestinian residents and Israeli activists in the West Bank who say violent attacks by Israeli settlers have increased significantly since the war in Gaza began, including attacks that have driven people from their land. The statement published Tuesday by the British Foreign Ministry said there had been more than 1,900 "attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year" in the territory. Smotrich said in a social media post that he'd heard about the sanctions as he attended the inauguration of a new settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday. Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, which are illegal under international law, have flourished over the last two years, and Smotrich said Tuesday: "We are determined to continue building." Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the sanctions "outrageous." He said he'd discussed the measures with Netanyahu, and that Israel would decide upon its response next week. Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack, who has spent years campaigning for international sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, told The Associated Press that Tuesday's move was "historic," but that it was "unbelievable that it took so long for Western governments to sanction Israeli politicians — and the fact that it's being done while Trump is president is quite amazing." "It is a message to Netanyahu himself that he could be next," Mack told the AP. All of the nations behind the new sanctions are closely allied with the U.S., and three of them are fellow members of the NATO alliance. Australia and New Zealand are not NATO members, but they work closely with the U.S. through the "Five Eyes" intelligence sharing alliance, along with the U.K. and Canada. More Palestinians reportedly killed near U.S.-backed group's aid hub While the negotiations drag on, the war raging in Gaza continues to take a steep daily toll in Palestinian lives. The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said Tuesday that more than 30 people had been killed around two of the controversial, U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution hubs in the enclave. Witnesses said the victims were shot, echoing accounts of numerous previous incidents around the GHF's four operational distribution hubs in Gaza. The Israeli military said it was aware of reports of people being injured in the area, and that the details were under review. Soldiers "fired warning shots hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site" in question before it opened on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The shots were fired "toward suspects who posed a threat to the troops," according to the IDF. Israel does not allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza, so it was difficult to determine what actually happened on Tuesday, as it has been in all of the previous reported killings near the GHF hubs. The GHF, in a daily note on its operations sent to media outlets, said: "Aid distribution at both sites proceeded without incident" on Tuesday. The U.S.-based group's aid centers, which are staffed by armed, private American contractors, are located adjacent to heavily militarized zones in the Gaza Strip, which the IDF has declared off-limits to civilians from dusk to dawn. CBS News' local team in Gaza has reported widespread confusion among families trying to seek aid at the hubs. Residents have told CBS News that it is often unclear which of the four aid hubs are open at any given time. Large crowds have gathered near the hubs in the overnight hours, with people hoping to be first in line for food distribution, which can start as early as 6 a.m. local time. Nevertheless, video has shown steady streams of people leaving the centers with sacks containing aid, including dried lentils and cooking oil. Virtually no one in Gaza has gas left to power stoves, however, so families have been burning trash, including plastic, to cook with. Many of the dry goods in the GHF aid parcels are inedible unless they're cooked. Trump says Iran involved in talks with Hamas and Israel President Trump told reporters at a White House event on Monday night that Iran is involved in negotiations between Hamas and the U.S. and Israel aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages from the Palestinian territory. "Gaza right now is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved," he said. He didn't offer any further details, but said: "We'll see what's going to happen with Gaza. We want to get the hostages back." The U.S. has long been engaged in ongoing negotiations in Qatar aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but there has been no indication of an imminent breakthrough in those talks, though Netanyahu said in a video message Tuesday that the dialogue had advanced. Iran has never been mentioned by the U.S. previously as a party to the talks, and no member of Netanyahu's government has ever acknowledged engaging in negotiations with Iran. Israeli media outlets cited anonymous officials on Tuesday as denying any discussion with Iran, but there was no on-the-record statement from Netanyahu's government about Mr. Trump's remarks, which came after a telephone call between the two leaders earlier on Tuesday. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump reportedly discussed the separate talks the U.S. has been holding with Iranian negotiators aimed at striking a new deal to impose limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the easing of crushing economic sanctions. Those talks are due to resume toward the end of this week, either in Oman or Oslo, but thus far the Iranian government has said the country will not agree to abandon entirely its domestic enrichment of uranium, something the White House continues to insist on publicly. Israel strikes Houthi-held port in Yemen Israel's navy has also stepped up its attacks on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, firing two missiles at Houthi-held port facilities in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, the IDF said Tuesday. The military said the strikes were carried out to "stop the use of the port for military purposes," including the movement of weapons. Hodeida's docks have been attacked in the past by Israel's air force, and the strikes were meant as a fresh warning to the Houthis to stop firing missiles at Israel. On average, the rebels have launched a missile at Israel every other day for several months. Almost all have disintegrated in the air or been intercepted by Israeli air defenses. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said if the attacks don't stop, Israel will impose a complete air and sea blockade on Houthi territory in Yemen, not unlike the one Israel is currently imposing on Gaza. "We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire at Israel, they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade," said Katz. The Houthis did not offer any assessment of the damage inflicted by the Israeli strike, and there was no video evidence immediately broadcast by the group's own satellite news outlet.

EU Proposes Oil Price Cap, Nord Stream Ban to Hit Russia
EU Proposes Oil Price Cap, Nord Stream Ban to Hit Russia

Bloomberg

timean hour ago

  • Bloomberg

EU Proposes Oil Price Cap, Nord Stream Ban to Hit Russia

The European Union proposed banning the Nord Stream pipelines and cutting the Group of Seven oil price cap to $45 as part of a new sanctions package that aims to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine. Lowering the oil price cap will require backing from the US. The price threshold, which bans G-7 service providers from transporting and dealing with crude sold above the cap, is currently set at $60. G-7 leaders will meet in Canada later this month.

Far-Right Israeli Ministers Sanctioned by U.K., Canada and Others
Far-Right Israeli Ministers Sanctioned by U.K., Canada and Others

Wall Street Journal

timean hour ago

  • Wall Street Journal

Far-Right Israeli Ministers Sanctioned by U.K., Canada and Others

Five Western countries, including the U.K. and Canada, imposed sanctions against two senior far-right Israeli cabinet members on Tuesday, saying they incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, a move that highlights the growing divide between Israel and some of its Western allies. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will have their assets frozen and will be banned from entering the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway, the countries said in a rare joint statement.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store