CEAA Public Hearings on the Digby Neck Quarry (June 16th -- June 30th)

The CEAA public hearings on the proposed basalt quarry for Digby Neck will be held from June 16th thru June 30th, at the Digby Pines Convention Centre in Digby, Nova Scotia. The first week of hearings will be comprised of submissions and presentations from the the quarry proponent (Bilcon of Nova Scotia) as well as the relevant provincial and federal ministries. Presentations and statements from the general public will be heard during the week of June 23rd thru June 30th. A press conference for several organizations which oppose the quarry will be held on Monday, June 18thm at 12:30PM, at the Digby Pines Convention Center. All are encouraged to attend the hearings and the press conference -- the more the merrier. If you are interested in speaking at the public hearings, all you need to do is telephone the Review Panel Secretary, Ms. Debbie Hendriksen (902) 564-2759, to schedule a date and time.

In brief, if Bilcon receives the required operating permit, other American companies will have the same legal right to mine for Nova Scotia's high-quality basalt. It is a little known fact that the North Mountain range, from Victoria Beach to Scott's Bay, is the single greatest concentration of high-grade basalt anywhere along the eastern seaboard of North America. This basalt also has the added advantage for American firms of being accessible and transportable by sea, which is much less costly than by truck or rail. As a related observation, Nova Scotia is in desperate need of a comprehensive coastal management policy that would effectively preclude the possibility of such a scenario from ocurring in the future. So, that is "the prize," so to speak, and that is why the Digby Neck quarry poses such a threat to the province. Now you know the rest of the story...

For more information on the public hearings and the quarry issue in general, please go to:
http://www.savedigbyneck.org/

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." (Sir Edmund Burke, 1729-1797)