Referendum planned for Alton gas project
Company continuing discussions with Sipekne’katik First Nation
Members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation will have their say about the controversial Alton natural gas project.
Chief Mike Sack said he should be able to provide an update soon on a planned referendum.
“It’s about the impacts of this project for the next generations,” band member Dorene Bernard said earlier in the summer as she stood by the Shubenacadie River estuary near Fort Ellis, Colchester County.
“The people need to know what they are giving up, their treaty rights, rights to clean water, food security and the fishing, and our cultural connection to this land and these waters. Not only for us, the people throughout this whole Shubenacadie watershed, but all the species that rely on this river to live.”
The company, Alton Natural Gas Storage, met earlier this summer with the Mi’kmaq band. At that time, the company, a subsidiary of AltaGas, presented a preliminary impact-benefits agreement.
“We are continuing our discussions with Sipekne’katik regarding environmental protections and benefits from Alton for the band,” company spokeswoman Lori MacLean said in an email Wednesday.
The Colchester County project consists of a plan by Alton Gas to flush out two giant natural gas storage caverns at a site about 14 kilometres northeast of the Highway 102 exit at Stewiacke. The project would take nearly 10,000 cubic metres of water daily from the Shubenacadie River system and pump it through a 12-kilometre pipeline to the wellbores at Brentwood Road to flush out the caverns. The residue brine will be pumped back to the estuary for release into the river system, a gradual discharge of 1.3 million cubic metres of salt over a two- to three-year period.
The company and the band need to hammer out a palatable agreement before it is presented at community engagement sessions to band members and eventually taken to the band for a vote. The impact-benefit agreement would be sent first to off-reserve members and then to the members living in Indian Brook, Hants County, near the project. There are about 2,400 band members in total.
The referendum process is expected to extend into the fall and when it is completed, the results will serve as a guide for chief and council in making a final decision about the gas storage project.