N.S. minister could override owners who don't want uranium exploration on their land
Tory Rushton says negotiations between companies, landowners would have to happen before he'd intervene
If a Nova Scotia landowner doesn't want uranium exploration to happen on their property, does no mean no?
Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton has confirmed that he could step over property owners to let companies hunt for uranium, but he said he isn't keen to do so.
"Right now we're encouraging landowners and the researchers to have the conversations, that's where it needs to start," Rushton told reporters Thursday following a cabinet meeting in Halifax.
Earlier this year, the Progressive Conservative government lifted a long-standing ban on uranium exploration and extraction. Two weeks ago, it put out a call for companies to explore in three areas with known uranium deposits.
Rushton has previously said that landowners have to agree, but he is now acknowledging that a rarely used legal clause could be applied if parties can't come to a deal.
"They would have to prove to me that they've had the negotiations … before we'd ever intervene," Rushton said.
Intervened once before
Rushton has invoked Section 26 of the Mineral Resources Act once in his four-year tenure as natural resources minister. A mining company asked the province last year to intervene to allow for lithium exploration on a property in southwest Nova Scotia, and Rushton granted the request in January.
He said in that case, the landowners and mining company were in negotiations that had reached a stalemate.
That's the only time the Houston government has used the provision. It had been used just one other time in the past two decades.
"This is not something that we're looking at to be [used] on every case," Rushton said.
He said he hopes landowners will want to know what's under their land, not just for the sake of mining but for their own health. Natural uranium deposits can leach into groundwater, including drinking water, and they can release radon into buildings.
Opposition calls for more clarity
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Rushton needs to be more clear about when he would intervene.
"There are going to be a lot of conversations where a company approaches someone and says, 'I want to use your land,' and the landowner says, 'No,'" she said.
"I don't think that's going to be an extraordinary event."
Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said if he were minister, he would never invoke Section 26, and he hopes Rushton won't either.
He said "consultation is key" for avoiding conflicts as the province pushes for more resource development, but he said the government has been lacking on that front.
Mombourquette pointed to local officials and landowners not receiving notice before the province opened bids for uranium exploration, and Mi'kmaw leaders not being consulted before fracking and uranium bans were lifted.
The province is expected to announce details of exploration permits for uranium this summer.
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