Yes, the title is a spin-off of the old 1960 movie, Village of the Damned. The first time I saw it, those glowing eyes gave me nightmares for weeks! Hopefully it’s a long time before our children and grandchildren have glowing eyes from radioactivity, but the day is fast approaching which is the day Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS) could have the municipality of the councillors of Colchester’s approval to dump treated fracking water through the Debert sewer system, and from there it will make its way out into the Bay of Fundy.
The council formed the “Sewer Use Appeals Committee” and from a phone call with Mayor Bob Taylor, it was learned that the council has complete faith that the right decision will be made by the committee and the council would follow their recommendation. It was also noted that the since it was the council that formed the committee, they could also over-ride any decision…. but they won’t.
There is the The Sewer Use Appeals Committee public hearing coming up in May where appellants wishing to make a presentation can do so. However, each person who speaks will be limited to 5 minutes, which will make it hard for people trying to make their argument in such a restrictive time frame.
This is the Day of the Damned. If the committee rejects these 5 minute appeals and approves the AIS application, Nova Scotia could soon be spiralling downward into becoming a dumping ground for toxic fracking wastewater. Once it starts, officials will run a few test claiming everything was in order and well under standard requirements, but they haven’t tested for all of the chemicals, or Radon created when Radium-226 decays or the long term consequences on the ecosystem and the health of the residents in the communities around the bay that will be affected. If they disregard the applicants appeals, it could very well open the doors to having the wastewater, held in East Hants County, being processed through the upgraded sewer system in Windsor and the moratorium on fracking in Nova Scotia being lifted.
It’s also Day of the Damned for the councillors of the municipality of Colchester. Their names will be written into the history books as the people responsible for allowing this to happen. One of them can be quoted as saying “it was the council who saved your asses last time,” but that’s small comfort, considering this is the second time we’ve faced this issue. How many times do we have to say “no”?
Who Are the Damned?
Mayor Bob Taylor
Mayor Taylor was first elected to County Council in October 1997 in District 1, representing Bible Hill and Valley. He was re-elected in October 2000 in the new District 1 representing the western section of Bible Hill and re-elected in 2004 for District 1. He was elected Mayor of the County on October 18, 2008 and re-elected as Mayor on October 20, 2012. [read more]
Christine Blair
Christine Blair is serving her third term as Councillor. She held this position from 1997-2000 and 2008-2012, a period of seven years. Currently, she is Chair, Police Advisory Board; Chair, Dangerous and Unsightly Premises Committee; Member, County Flood Advisory Committee; Member, Sewer Use Appeals Committee; Member, Joint Taxi By-law Committee; Member, Community Adivisory Committee for the new hospital. [read more]
Bill Masters
Bill Masters was first elected to Council in October 2000 and is currently serving his fourth term representing District 2. Having completed the four-year Municipal Administration Program from Dalhousie, working seven years in municipal government and 39 years in business in the community is an asset Deputy Mayor Masters brings to the Council table. [read more]
Geoff Stewart
Geoff Stewart is serving his first term on Council representing District 3. Married for 29 years to his wife Joanne, they have two children and two grandchildren. Geoff is now a small business owner, after working with Lafarge Canada for 30 years. While with Lafarge, he served with Local D454 Boilermakers Executive and five years as Local President. [read more]
Mike Cooper
Mike Cooper is serving his third term as Councillor. Councillor Cooper has been involved in many capacities in his community, District 4, and South Colchester in general. He is the Chair of the Stewiacke Valley School Advisory Council, on the Board of the Upper Stewiacke Coop and the M & P Committee of the Upper Stewiacke United Church. He is also Past Treasurer and Board Member of the South Colchester Minor Hockey Association. [read more]
Lloyd Gibbs
Lloyd has a Bachelor of Science Degree, with honours, majoring in geology, from Acadia University. Now retired, in his early career, he was a small contracting business owner and went on to more recent employment in the oil and gas industry with Petro Canada Inc. as an Exploration Geologist. Lloyd served as an elected official with the Chignecto Central Regional School Board for two terms from October 1992 to 0ctober 2000. [read more]
Karen MacKenzie
Ms. MacKenzie is a healthcare worker and has been employed in the Diagnostic Imaging (x-ray) Department at Colchester Regional Hospital for 21 years. She is also the President of CUPE Local 2525 which represents 1400 healthcare workers in 14 hospitals from Amherst through to Port Hawkesbury. [read more]
Mike Gregory
Mike Gregory is serving his first term as Councillor. Prior to being elected to County Council, he was Chairman of the Tatamagouche Village Commission. He is presently on the Board of Directors of the Tatamagouche Food Bank and is Chairman of the AGAPE Therapeutic Dog Society, dedicated to helping Military Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). [read more]
Ron Cavanaugh
Ron Cavanaugh is serving his third consecutive term as a Councillor. Mr. Cavanaugh was first elected to Council in 1988 and served to 1994. He was then re-elected in 1997. Councillor Cavanaugh is serving as a member of the Citizen’s Monitoring Committee. [read more]
Doug MacInnes
On Council Doug serves on the Planning and Advisory committee, Dangerous and Unsightly committee, Chair of CoRDA Interim board, Sewer Use Appeals Committee, Business and Economic Development Advisory committee and is Chair of the Debert Source Water Protection committee. [read more]
Tom Taggart
Tom is serving on Council’s Planning Advisory Committee and Flood Advisory Committee. Also, Tom is representing Council on the Truro and District Chamber of Commerce, which he was a past member for a number of years before being elected to Council. Community involvement includes Bass River Volunteer Fire Brigade, past coach Jr. High School girl’s basketball and minor hockey coach, past School Advisory Council member, Executive member of Nova Scotia Secondary Wood Products Association. [read more]
Wade Parker
Wade graduated from Cobequid Educational Centre and is a Red Seal Technician in the Auto Body Trade. He previously worked as a Correctional Officer for 20 years at the Colchester County Correctional Centre. He then became self-employed, running two businesses. Currently, he still owns and operates Parker’s Bailiff Services, and is the Manager of Pye’s Collision Center. [read more]
Devastating Legacy
Next year, 2016 will be the election for the councillors of the municipality. If they were to allow the Sewer Use Appeals Committee to approve Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS) proposal to flush treated fracking wastewater through the Debert Sewer system and out into the Bay, without nixing the approval, it will have a negative impact on the residents and ecosystem for the next sixty generations. Living along the coast will mostly be a memory, similar to how some seniors recall the old homesteads in Pleasant Hills and Castlereigh. Nothing left but sad memories…
While this scenario could be perceived as an over-dramatic visualization, the Radium/Radon threat is very real and so is the fact that there is already rapidly declining salmon, bass and shellfish populations. Would a little more poison hurt? A reminder that National Toxins Network said in one of their newsletters:
“The optimism of industry and regulatory agencies in regards to Reverse Osmosis membrane filtration technology to adequately treat contaminated produce water is not justified.”
A lot of people are watching to see what happens in Colchester County, and it isn’t only East Hants, who is waiting to see what is decided. There are citizens from the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand and more, watching this website to see how things proceed. As previously stated — once the door has been opened. it may be impossible to close.
What could turn into the Day of the Damned for Nova Scotians’ could also be the Day of the Damned for the unfortunate councillors that allow the Sewer committee to approve it. Their descendants will read about this day in history books, and feel the shame.