Mining challenge
I was recently at an environmental meeting where a spontanious discussion broke out about the provincial government's rubber-stamping of mine proposals. The collective sense of this group of people-- people from around the province, who had not met each other before-- was that Nova Scotia has a pretty much "anything goes" approach to mines, and no one could remember even one instance of a mining permit being turned down.
So this is big news indeed. It's the most important challenge to business as usual that Enviornment minister Mark Parent has faced.
Quarry project derailed|In what is being called a historic and precedent-setting decision, an environmental review panel has asked the province to reject a controversial proposal to build a 150-hectare quarry on the Bay of Fundy shoreline near Digby.
The panel, chaired by Dalhousie University oceanographer Robert Fournier, also calls on the government to create a comprehensive management plan for coastal development.
