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Keep oil and gas activity off Sable Island For Immediate Release May 26, 1999 The Ecology Action Centre is strongly opposed to a proposal by Mobil Oil and its partners to conduct seismic work on Sable Island. Says, Mark Butler of EAC, "some areas are too sensitive, too important in which to allow oil and gas activity to take place". Mobil, Shell, and Imperial, the major partners in the Sable Offshore Energy Project, want to put a crew of 20 people on Sable Island from late June until October. The crew would slowly move across the island, continuously laying down and picking up sensor cables. Geophones attached to the cables would pick up seismic signals produced by equipment on the island and vessels offshore. The intent is to determine whether there is oil and gas under and around the island. People walking over the island, daily helicopter traffic, motorized vehicles, and sound generating equipment could adversely affect nesting birds on the island as well as the fragile vegetation. Sable Island is a breeding area for a number of seabirds, including three species of tern, one threatened, and the only nesting site in the world for the Ipswich Sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow. During the Joint Public Review Panel of the Sable Gas Projects the same companies, as part of the Sable Offshore Energy Project, solemnly stated that they did not anticipate frequent landings on the Island. (See p. 40 of the Panel's Report.) Yet, at the time of the hearings, these companies must have known that they wanted to conduct substantial seismic work on the Island in the near future. This is not the first time the oil industry has been on the island, but the growing amount of oil and gas activity in the area, plus the interest by the tourism industry in landing on the island should signal caution--lots of it. Approval of this project would be used to justify more activity on the island. The oil companies are seeking approval from the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and DFO which regulates access to the island under the Canada Shipping Act. EAC is asking that the Petroleum Board, and in particular the Federal Fisheries Minister, David Anderson, not allow the companies to do seismic work on the island. At present Sable Island is a Migratory Bird Sanctuary, but it needs better protection, perhaps as a National Park. -30- For more information contact Mark Butler, 429-2202. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- You received this because you are subscribed to "sust-mar", the Sustainable Maritimes mailing list. To unsubscribe, send email to <majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca> with "unsubscribe sust-mar" (without quotes) as the body of your message. To post a message to sust-mar subscribers, send it to <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca> Posts that are off-topic or excessive length (10K) will be rejected. For help contact <sust-mar-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
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