Halifax regional council unanimously rejected a recommendation from staff and voted on Tuesday to spend $750,000 to help the Nova Scotia Nature Trust fill a big gap in the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes wilderness area. Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes is the picturesque area between Bayers Lake and Hammonds Plains. Within that area, 1,700 hectares, or...
Budget cut has environmentalists worried Halifax is forgetting about Blue Mountain–Birch Cove Lakes
Environmentalists who celebrated extra cash in last year’s municipal budget for park land protection are worried a reduced budget for next year means the city is again forgetting about Blue Mountain–Birch Cove Lakes. Halifax regional council is working on the capital and operating budgets for the year ahead, meeting weekly over the next few months....
Who’s protecting Owls Head park from development? Not the provincial government
Morning File, Wednesday, December 18, 2019
News 1. Environment Minister Gordon Wilson orders two-year environmental assessment of Northern Pulp Mill’s proposed effluent treatment system Jennifer Henderson looks at what yesterday’s decision on Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment system means for the future. Environment minister Gordon Wilson told Northern Pulp to produce more information and complete a full environmental assessment before he […]
Secrecy is a feature, not a bug
Morning File, Thursday, November 14, 2019
News 1. More fisheries mismanagement The environmental group Oceana Canada, which describes itself as “an independent charity established to restore Canadian oceans to be as rich, healthy, and abundant as they once were” is slamming the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for its management of fish stocks. Aaron Beswick reports for The Chronicle Herald on […]
Nature Trust fills in the “gap” of the Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness
Morning File, Friday, October 18, 2019
News 1. Assoun evidence Last night, I wrote about “the long and absurdly strange journey I’ve taken to access what should be readily available public records” — the evidence presented at trial in 1999 to convict Glen Assoun of the murder of Brenda Way. Court evidence is typically public. But in the case of Assoun’s […]
St. Barbara still intends to acquire Atlantic Gold
The violent arrest of John Perkins has put the critical spotlight on gold mining on the Eastern Shore, but for the mining companies, operating in low-regulation and low-royalty Nova Scotia is, well, a gold mine.
St. Barbara Limited, the Australian gold mining company that recently announced it was acquiring Atlantic Gold in a $722 million dollar deal, seems to be unfazed by the RCMP’s violent arrest of a citizen last week at a public information session Atlantic Gold was hosting in Sherbrooke (covered by the Halifax Examiner here and here). […]