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Opposition to Canso spaceport grows

“The government of Nova Scotia and the government of Canada are partnering with a dubious, nearly-bankrupt Ukrainian company using Cold-war technology," says Michael Byers, an expert in space law.

August 5, 2019 By Joan Baxter 5 Comments

I hadn’t even made it into Canso when I happened upon the first person willing and eager to speak her mind on the proposed spaceport that Maritime Launch Services wants to construct in the picturesque community at the very end of Highway 16, an area that boasts spectacular coastline, one ocean-side provincial park and another […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Action Against Canso Spaceport (AACS), Alicia Rhynold, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Canso Area Development Association (CADA), Canso spaceport, Chris Surette, Chrystia Freeland, Divya Shah, Don Bowser, Geraint Breeze, Harold Roberts, hydrazine, Jan-Sebastian La Pierre, Jean-Frédéric Lafaille, Jim Geddes, John Hearn, John Isella, June Jarvis, Karen McKendry, Katherine O'Halloran, Marie Lumsden, Maritime Launch Services (MLS), Michael Byers, Minister Catherine McKenna, Minister Gordon Wilson, Minister Lloyd Hines, Minister Margaret Miller, MP Alaina Lockhart, MP Darren Fisher, MP Roger Cuzner, MP Sean Fraser, Ray White, spaceport lobbying, Steve Matier, Sussex Strategy Group, United Paradyne, Yuzhmash, Yuzhnoye

Northern Pulp Mill’s missing environmental data

The mill says its effluent comfortably meets federal regulations, but a new study published by Dalhousie researchers suggests there is no way to know.

July 8, 2019 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Cover photo courtesy Gerard James Halfyard. If Premier Stephen McNeil is wavering on the Northern Pulp / Paper Excellence file, entertaining notions on amending the Boat Harbour Act so that effluent from the Pictou County pulp mill can continue to flow into the lagoon after January 31, 2020, he would do well to put off […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Alison Reilander, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canso Chemicals, Chief Andrea Paul, chlorine, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, dioxins and furans, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), environmental studies, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, Gerard James Halfyard, Jessica Romo, Matt Dort, Meenakshi Chaudhary, mercury, Minister Margaret Miller, Northern Pulp Mill, Northumberland Strait, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil, Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER), Terri Fraser, Tony R. Walker

Water, water everywhere

Morning File, Thursday, April 11, 2019

April 11, 2019 By Philip Moscovitch 12 Comments

News 1. Feds announce environmental assessment for Boat Harbour plan Jennifer Henderson has the latest on the Boat Harbour cleanup plan. Yesterday, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced it would be undertaking an environmental assessment. Henderson explains the lagoons are where tens of million of litres of daily effluent from the kraft pulp mill at […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alton Gas, Alton Gas protest, Andrea Gunn, Andrew Smith, Atlantic mackerel, Boat Harbour, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), cannabis, Clara Dennis, Julia-Simone Rutgers, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Archives, Paul Withers, Ryan Ross, SaltWire, StatsCannabis, Stephen Archibald and crenellations, Transcontinental, weed prices

Boat Harbour cleanup to be subjected to environmental review

April 11, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced yesterday it was launching an environmental assessment of the proposed cleanup of the Boat Harbour lagoons where tens of million of litres of daily effluent from the kraft pulp mill at Abercrombie Point have been stored, aerated, and released into the Northumberland Strait for 50 years. Tonnes of watery […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Boat Harbour, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Caribou Harbour, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, John Hamm government, Minister Margaret Miller, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Department of Environment, Nova Scotia Lands Department, Pictou, Pictou Landing First Nation

Spill at Moose River gold mine raises environmental concerns

Atlantic Gold springs an effluent leak, plugs a new mine, and sells itself to investors 

March 15, 2019 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

Cover photo: the tailings facility at the Touquoy gold mine. Photo: Saint Mary’s River Association Atlantic Gold’s manager of environment and permitting, James Millard, calls it a “spill” or a “loss of control” caused by a “gasket failure.” By whatever name, the event happened on the night of January 3, 2019, at the company’s open […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Adele Poirier, arsenic, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Barbara Markovits, Barry Clattenburg, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Charles Clattenburg, Cochrane Hill, Craig Hudson, cyanide, D.D.V. Gold, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore Forest Watch, Eastern Shore Wildlife Association, Eastern Shore Wildlife Centre, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Friends of the St. Mary’s River, James Millard, Jim Turner, Maryse Belanger, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Mount Polley, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Salmon Association, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), Scraggy Lake, Sean Thompson, Sheet Harbour, Torquoy Gold Mine, Wayne Oakley, West River

Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions

March 5, 2019 By Joan Baxter 9 Comments

Cover photo: “Point D,” where treated Northern Pulp wastewater currently flows from Boat Harbour into the Northumberland Strait, just a few hundred metres from Pictou Landing First Nation. There is much to wade through in the documents Northern Pulp submitted to Nova Scotia Environment on February 7, 2019, when it registered its “Replacement Effluent Treatment […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Bell Bay Tasmania, Boat Harbour, Bruce Chapman, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Canso Chemicals, Chief Andrea Paul, Clean the Mill Group, Dave Gunning, Dillon Consulting, dioxins and furans, Dr. John Krawczyk, Environment Minister Iain Rankin, Environment Minister Margaret Miller, Gary Porter, Greg Egilsson, Gulf NS Herring Federation, Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA), Jamie Simpson, Kathy Cloutier, KSH Consulting, mercury, Mi’kmaq Conservation Group, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp effluent, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Nova Scotia Environment, oxygen delignification system, Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Point D, Rachel Boomer, Terri Fraser, Toxikos

Friends of St. Mary’s River say “NOPE” to Atlantic Gold

January 25, 2019 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

For many years, when the St. Mary’s River Association (or SMRA) held meetings in Sherbrooke on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, the group members’ purpose was primarily to report on the headway they were making in their efforts to achieve their vision of “Health for our river, the Atlantic salmon and our community.” Members would gather […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: 15-Mile Stream, Archibald Lake, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Beaver Dam Cross Road, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Cochrane Hill, Dustin O’Leary, Gilbert van Ryckevorsel, Glenelg Lake, Gwen Boutilier, Kris Hunter, Lewis Hinks, McKeens Brook, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Mooseland Road, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Nova Scotia Salmon Association, salmon fishing, Scott Beaver, Sherbrooke, Southern Upland Atlantic Salmon, St. Mary’s Education and Interpretive Centre, St. Mary’s River Association (SMRA), Steven Dean, Touquoy mine, toxic tailings, West River Sheet Harbour project

The world’s top expert on deep sea drilling disasters worries about “the relatively high likelihoods” of a blowout at BP’s Scotian Shelf operation

Morning File, Thursday, May 10, 2018

May 10, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 6 Comments

News 1. Blowout Antonia Juhasz, who is an energy analyst, author, and investigative journalist specializing in oil, has taken an interest in Nova Scotia’s offshore, and so asked Robert Bea to have a look at the regulatory approval for BP’s drilling on the Scotian Shelf. Bea was the right person for Juhasz to ask. Bea […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andrew Laughlin, Antonia Juhasz, BP drilling on Scotian Shelf, Bridge Commission, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), cannabis sales, Coastal Cannapy, emergency alert on phones, Gregory and Cynthia Arab, Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB), Inglis Street fire, licence plate readers, Mark Crawford, Philip Croucher, Robert Bea, Seadrill West Aquarius, uncontrolled blowout risk

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • I wanted to help Public Health assuage people’s concerns about the pace of the vaccine rollout, but they declined to speak with me January 15, 2021
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  • Free food and the failure of neo-liberalism January 14, 2021

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