Environmental groups question stability of mining moratorium

BY WENDY ELLIOTT AND NADINE ARMSTRONG

NovaNewsNow.com

While Natural Resources minister Kings South MLA David Morse claims steadfastly that Nova Scotia’s 1982 moratorium on uranium mining is holding, wildlife and environmental groups are concerned the ban is being eroded.

The Wildlife Habitat Advocates passed a motion recently in support of the moratorium on uranium exploration and extraction in Nova Scotia.

“We believe the government of Nova Scotia has to do more to ensure that mining companies doing exploratory drilling in our province are held in strict measure to uphold regulations,” said president Keith DaRocha.

The group also called for testing and monitoring to ensure areas explored are safe and free of any uranium contamination.

“There is no safe way to mine uranium,” DaRocha said. Uranium tailings (what’s left behind) contain over a dozen radioactive materials, all of which are extremely harmful to living things.

If this radioactive sand is left on the surface and allowed to dry out, it can blow in the wind and be deposited on vegetation at great distances entering into the food chain, DaRocha added. It can also wash into rivers and lakes and contaminate them.

“This presents an incredible risk for future generations. The production of this material simply has to stop. There is no economic benefit worth the safety of our communities and our children,” he said.

Aggressive program: CAPE

The Hants County environmental group Citizen Action to Protect the Environment (CAPE) has also called on Morse to halt exploration work by Capella/Tripple Uranium Resources pending their release of results from drilling in uranium-bearing areas.

Speaking for the mining committee, CAPE’s Gillian Thomas said, “it’s clear the present government is failing to honour the intention of the uranium moratorium and is joining with Capella/Tripple Uranium in giving the general public the impression that restrictions are in place despite the fact that an aggressive uranium exploration program is actually underway.”

Among the groups that previously opposed uranium exploitation in Nova Scotia were: the Valley Medical Society, Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Nature Federation, Recreation Association of Nova Scotia and the Ecology Action Centre.

According to a summary of uranium claims currently staked in Nova Scotia, based on the Department of Natural Resource’s open file map, Capella/Tripple Uranium has claims in New Ross, Sunken Lake, Black River Lake, Gaspereau, Melanson and south of Greenwood.

Tripple president and Capella vice-president and operations manager Rob Krienke says the company isn’t looking for uranium in the province. Tripple does mine uranium, he said, but not in Nova Scotia. “Millet Brook is not a uranium target,” he said. “Why would we look for uranium when there's a moratorium? It doesn't make sense.”

Kreinke said if they do come across uranium, they would abide by the regulations. “We’re a public company responsible to our shareholders, and comply with all regulations.”

The company announced in November that Capella “will make every effort to expedite the release of the assay results to the public as soon as the company receives such information from the testing facility.”

Their most recent prospecting mission in Wentworth was for IOCG-Iron, ore, copper and gold, which Krienke says the Nova Scotia government has encouraged them to explore. However, with the price of uranium skyrocketing, any discussion between governments and Tripple Uranium leads some like Thomas to wonder if the ban is secure.

‘It’s a different day’: Morse

Morse doesn’t deny there have been discussions around lifting the ban, but so far that’s all they are - discussions. “We've been getting a lot of communication from people on both sides of the moratorium,” he said, adding that because over 25 years has passed since the ban was put in place, it's now being looked at from a different angle.

“Science suggests it's a different day and society is looking for new ways of powering our economy. If we get swamped with interest and they can back it up with science, we’re obligated to listen,” he said.

Morse said that in 2006 Nova Scotia took home $8 million from exploration, which he said is a tidy sum, but on the other hand Newfoundland and Labrador was looking at a figure in and around $65 million in uranium exploration alone. “We’re the anomaly,” Morse said. “It may be time to step back and see if Nova Scotians are sill comfortable with the moratorium.”

He said France is considered one of the 'greenest' nations, “yet they depend heavily on nuclear energy; energy that comes from uranium.”

No one has stated that Capella is the instigator of these discussions and although they claim to have no interest in the element locally, should large deposits be found, will Capella put the moratorium to the test?

Krienke called the moratorium, “ludicrous. We're not actively for or against the moratorium,” he said, “But it isn't the way to go; all it does is stop a whole lot of other things that are good. The government would be better off imposing stronger sanctions that would allow uranium to be explored safely.”

Morse said what it will boil down to is the democratic process. “The moratorium was put in on the whim of the government and it can be taken out on a whim. It comes down to what the people of Nova Scotia want.”