Fracking not actually illegal in Nova Scotia: Younger
Posted Apr 15, 2016 06:49:09 PM.
Last Updated Apr 15, 2016 06:50:24 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Fracking isn’t technically illegal in Nova Scotia, according to the former Energy Minister.
Now an independent MLA, Andrew Younger says the bill passed as an amendment to the Petroleum Resources Act in 2014 which outlawed hydraulic fracturing in the province, and even received royal assent, but was never proclaimed.
Younger says without that proclamation, it isn’t actually law.
“If you call up the department of energy and say can we do this I’m sure they’d say no,” said Younger, “but if somebody wanted to push it I’m not sure what would happen.”
Younger said he was made aware of this oversight and called some contacts in the department, who confirmed it.
“I got pointed to a website last night that listed the status of proclaimed bills and it wasn’t proclaimed. So I called a couple of people in the energy department and then I called Legislative Council and it was like ‘no, it isn’t the law’.”
In a blog post written on Friday morning, Younger outlined some reasons this may have happened, and why those reasons may not be accurate.
