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Implementing anti-fracking bylaw a “waste of time”
January 23, 2013 By The Canadian Press
Jan. 23, 2013, Nova Scotia – The Nova Scotia government says a Cape
Breton municipality is wasting its time if it approves a bylaw banning
hydraulic fracturing.
Jan. 23, 2013, Nova Scotia – The Nova Scotia government says a Cape Breton municipality is wasting its time if it approves a bylaw banning hydraulic fracturing.
Service Nova Scotia Minister John MacDonell says such a bylaw would be beyond the jurisdiction of any municipality.
Inverness County council says public hearings are underway and the bylaw is expected to receive final reading in March.
MacDonell says the council has no authority to make law in areas of provincial jurisdiction.
Inverness Warden Duart MacAulay says the county's legal staff have crafted a bylaw framed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
He says if the municipality's water supply was compromised by fracking, it would have an impact on human rights.
MacDonell says the municipality should wait until the province has completed a review of the controversial process for extracting oil and natural gas.
Until the review is finished, the province has said it won't issue any permits for fracking.
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