Hi, I’m Joan Baxter, a Nova Scotian journalist and author. Some of my books are actually quite upbeat, proving that I’m not always a bearer of bad news. News 1. Abandoned tidal turbine Jennifer Henderson updates the situation of the abandoned tidal turbine in the Minas Basin in this article for the Examiner. After a […]
Ships, Conservatives, turbines, gold, and forests
Morning File, Thursday, August 23, 2018
Hello, I’m Joan Baxter, Nova Scotian journalist and author, wondering how on earth Tim does this every morning. News 1. Ships start here, but when? Jennifer Henderson investigates the six-month (and counting) delay in the completion of the first ship in the multi-billion dollar Halifax Shipyard contract in a new article for the Examiner: The […]
Fool’s Gold
Nova Scotia's Myopic Pursuit of Metals & Minerals (Part 4)
A Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator investigation. This is the fourth and final instalment in a series of articles on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. You can find Part I here. How the mining lobby is working to undermine environmental protection in Nova Scotia On a cold day in late November […]
Fool’s Gold
Nova Scotia's Myopic Pursuit of Metals & Minerals (Part 3)
A Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator investigation. This is the third in a series of articles on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. You can find Part I here. Cobequid Gold and Tatamagouche water The news broke in November 2017 on the front page of the free monthly community paper, The Tatamagouche […]
Fool’s gold
Nova Scotia's Myopic Pursuit of Metals & Minerals (Part 2)
A Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator investigation. This is the second in a series of articles on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. You can find Part I here. Going for gold The CEO and chairman of Vancouver-based Atlantic Gold Corporation, Steven Dean, a man with a history of international coal and […]
Fool’s Gold
Nova Scotia's Myopic Pursuit of Metals & Minerals
A Halifax Examiner / Cape Breton Spectator investigation. Part 1: Welcome to the Gold Rush There’s a 21st century gold rush starting in Nova Scotia, just as industrial gold mining is increasingly coming into disrepute around the world. It has been described as an “environmental disaster” which often leads to contamination of water sources on […]
Losing the forests for the trees: New figures show increase in clearcutting
Despite what the Nova Scotia government has said in response to concerns raised over clearcutting, the most recent figures released from the National Forestry Database (NFD) indicate that in 2015, both the overall harvest and the proportion of trees removed by clearcutting continued to increase. And ironically, the national body used data supplied by the […]
Testing the Limits: Critical Boreal Felt Lichen Habitat in Halifax County Slated to be Wiped Out
Last week, several new forest blocks totalling 171 hectares (422 acres) appeared on the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources’ Harvest Plans Map Viewer. The blocks, posted by the Abercrombie pulp giant Northern Pulp, are located in the Twin Lakes area of Halifax County, roughly 2.5 hours from Halifax, an hour inland from Sheet Harbour. […]
Biomass, Freedom of Information, and the Silence of the DNR Company Men
Part 5: Publicly funded information — not available to Nova Scotians — was provided to pipeline company based in Texas.
Documents show that the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources provided publicly funded forest age class data, currently being withheld from the public, to Texas-based Bear Paw Pipeline Corporation Inc., a firm set to build a natural gas pipeline in DNR Minister Lloyd Hines’ riding of Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie. In December 2016, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE) […]
Biomass, Freedom of Information and the Silence of the DNR Company Men
Part 4: The Case of the Disappearing Forest Age Class Data
This article is Part 4 in Linda Pannozzo’s series: Biomass, Freedom of Information and the Silence of the DNR Company Men. The proceeding articles are: Part 1: Reporter Linda Pannozzo discovers just how hard provincial bureaucrats worked to ignore her questions. Part 2: An Open Letter to the FOIPOP Review Officer Part 3: What Happened When This […]