Tag Archives: CNSOPB
How a small town in Nova Scotia is taking a stand against deepwater drilling in the Atlantic
Less than 100 kilometers down the coast from Halifax sits the picturesque, historic fishing town of Lunenburg. Lining the streets is a kaleidoscope of colourful buildings which lead to the town hall, a red brick building in “old town.” Inside, a quiet rebellion is brewing. Lunenburg town council has decided to take a stand after the recent government approval of British Petroleum’s deepwater drilling project 300 kilometres off the Nova Scotia coast. In April, the oil giant began drilling the first of seven planned exploratory wells, some twice the depth of the Deepwater Horizon well, l, site of the largest marine oil spill in history in 2010. The explosion and sinking of the Transocean oil rig ravaged the Gulf of Mexico, leaking about 3.19 million barrels of oil from BP’s pipes into the ocean over 87 consecutive days.>click to read<19:53
Offshore drilling on the edge of the Scotian Shelf too risky
BP’s lease sites take in the southeastern corner of the “Haddock Box” which is an important haddock spawning and nursery ground that is closed to fishing. The sites are about 50 km from our exceedingly beautiful and unique Sable Island National Park. The sites are also within a few kilometres of the Gully Marine Protected Area, which is home to rare deep-water corals and the endangered northern bottlenose whales. The Labrador current and the Nova Scotia current flow down the Scotian Shelf and the Scotian Slope to the southwest. These currents, combined with easterly prevailing winds at the lease sites, place the entire Scotian Shelf and all of our major fishing banks and lobster spawning grounds in jeopardy from any major spill.>click to read<09:08
