KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – Alton Gas likes to brag about the soundness of its approach and its willingness to share information with the public.

However, if it weren’t for Rachael Greenland-Smith and Dale Poulette, two stubborn citizen-researchers, we would never have seen evidence that the federal department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) point blank refused to approve the project as it is currently proposed.

Alton Gas intends to dump 1.3 million cubic metres of salt into the Shubenacadie River over a two- to three-year period. The salt would be flushed out as nearby natural gas storage caverns are being excavated.

Indigenous water protectors and their allies believe that this will harm creatures that live in and around the river and that the Mi’kmaq people who traditionally hunted and fished the area never surrendered the land and were not properly consulted.

Source: Consider an approach that doesn’t require the dumping of brine into the Shubenacadie River, feds told Alton Gas in 2017 – Nova Scotia Advocate

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The last striped bass spawning ground in Nova Scotia

Natural gas is a fossil energy source that formed deep beneath the earth’s surface. Natural gas contains many different compounds. The largest component of natural gas is methane, a compound with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH4). Natural gas also contains smaller amounts of natural gas liquids (NGL, which are also hydrocarbon gas liquids), and nonhydrocarbon gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. We use natural gas as a fuel and to make materials and chemicals.

The plan to store the gas in caverns is flawed. Despite assurances it will be absolutely safe, there aren’t any guarantees. There have been some very serious leaks causing explosions and fires and although these represent extreme failures, constant leaking occurs. In an EPA report, it said that in 2012, twenty-seven percent of the leaked emissions were from transmission and storage. Forty-five percent from production, sixteen percent from distribution and twelve percent from processing. Similar failures are reported across the globe, not just the U.S., so is it any wonder the safety of the Alton Gas project needs to be questioned?

Although the brine is a salt solution, the Nova Scotia Striped Bass Association feels these releases could have a negative impact on the fish during spawning season. It also begs the question about toxic blooms of algae that could grow with the increase salt discharge. It would absorb oxygen out of the water and leave the fish more susceptible to disease.

In an article by the Council of Canadians titled “The Unacceptable Risk of Alton Gas Storage” it says, “An independent quantitative risk analysis done in 2015 by Rob Mackenzie for a similar project in Seneca Lake looked at the risk of underground hydrocarbon storage, including salt cavern storage. His risk analysis concluded that salt cavern storage poses an unacceptable risk due to the medium likelihood and extremely serious to serious consequences.”