Big economy means smell, noise - and money

The eastern Valley appears to be on the cusp of new energy alternatives, including a step close to long-awaited tidal power.

Three companies – Minas Basin Pulp and Power, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Clean Current, out of British Columbia – have offered test generators for the new tidal power centre on the Cumberland shore.

There are environmental and other concerns with the new emphasis on tidal generation, just as there are real and perceived problems with wind farms.

The three generators to be tested – generations beyond the chunky items available decades ago – appear to be more mobile and less intrusive. Still, there are also traditional industries – such as fishing – that could be affected. That’s fair. The demonstration centre’s work will include working out solutions.

Something more disturbing happens when something new is announced or attempted.

Take the rumour someone may be looking to rescind the provincial moratorium on uranium prospecting: it brought forth considerable knee-jerk opposition.

No one – not even the company with “uranium” in its name - said it was fixing to prospect for uranium in the eastern Valley.

Given commodity prices of late - and what they have done for our dollar and our economy in comparison with others we could name - I suspect that anything is possible, and soon.

Activists appear to want a replay of the 1980s – when, I might add, things appeared to be much more stable than they have subsequently proved.

What I’d like to see and hear from is a group that is for safe operation of things like mines and industry - not just groups that want to stop anything that remotely looks like it uses heavy machinery.

There has to be dedicated inspection of all facets of an operation, enforcement of regulations and proper mitigation. In all this, employment and economic buzz will increase: more jobs.

We can’t ask our young people not to leave for more lucrative workplaces if we don’t allow workplaces to be created here. Most real wealth-creating workplaces aren’t that nice to look at, or even be in.

We’re now seeing the gloomy downside of having no industry: Canard being one community with its closed poultry processing plant, Trenton, with grass growing in railyards where hundreds of brand new rail cars once parked; and the shut down Dartmouth Moirs plant.

Small businesses are important, but so are big enterprises – even when they move soil about, make noises and smells.