VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Re: “Controversial Alton natural gas project to be decommissioned” (Oct. 23 story).

Who's celebrating the Alton Gas storage cavern debacle?

Recall that the purpose of the project was to be able to store millions of cubic feet of natural gas to supply Nova Scotia consumers for heating and commercial applications. Nova Scotia's domestic supply of natural gas has been exhausted (Sable gas is gone), so now access to that resource is from the U.S. and other external sources. The cost of natural gas is subject to serious price fluctuations that the Alton Gas storage facility would have helped minimize.

The risks associated with salt-cavern storage of natural gas? Minimal to zero. The risks associated with creating salt caverns to store the gas? Minimal to zero!

The salt brine washed out of the ground in the cavern-creation process was to be spilled into the tidal estuary of the Shubenacadie River to no detrimental effect. Salt brine from the earth poured into salt tidal water and washed out to the Bay of Fundy was a simple solution with no evidence of harm.

This resource supply was hijacked by emotional pseudo-cultural excess and a skewed view of Indigenous rights that squelched the larger public good.

Nova Scotians, the losers here, who were persuaded to buy into the cleaner and then cheaper domestic natural gas heating source are faced with market pricing and iffy supply from an international market. The winners, Indigenous protesters, got nothing other than bragging rights to quashing resource access.

A sorry mess!

Ross Haynes, Halifax