Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Opposition to strip mine grows
By JOCELYN BETHUNE
© Halifax Herald

BOULARDERIE - Residents of Boularderie Island say a proposed strip mine will taint their water supply and have formed a committee to try to prevent it from starting up.

"I am not in favour of strip mining in any way shape or form," Elma Mauger said Monday from her Boularderie Island home. "It destroys the land and devastates it for years afterward."

She said any strip mining will have an impact on the water supply on Boularderie Island, a 180-square-kilometre finger of land that separates St. Andrews Channel and the Great Bras d'Or.

"We all have boreholes. (Strip mining) will be detrimental to our water supply, it affects the water table," she said.

Thomas Brogan & Sons Construction Ltd. wants to extract 50,000 tonnes of coal from an area that stretches from Mill Creek on the east of the Point Aconi Generating Station to Mill Pond on the west.

The company applied to the Department of Environment for an assessment last December.

About 100 people gathered in the Point Aconi Community Hall Sunday to discuss the matter.

The Citizens Against Strip Mining group handed out questionnaires to those who attended asking how they could help by either serving on a committee, phoning politicians or attending protest gatherings.

Area MLA Gerald Sampson attended the meeting and said of the 100 people present, only three indicated they were in favour of the mine.

"These residents fear losing their water and they fear (the proposed mine's) impact on tourism," he said Monday from his Boularderie Island office.

Calls to Thomas Brogan & Son's office were unanswered Monday.

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