Nova Scotia’s omnibus Bill 6, An Act Respecting Agriculture, Energy and Natural Resources, makes two major changes to resource extraction in the province: lifting long standing legislative moratoriums on uranium mining and onshore fracking of fossil gas. Effective March 26, 2025, Premier Tim Houston’s Bill 6 amends chapters of the existing Uranium Exploration and Mining Prohibition Act which has long prevented the extraction of this radioactive mineral used in nuclear energy and warfare. Likewise, it alters the province’s Petroleum Resources Act to allow for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and gas injection, an important avenue for fossil gas firms looking to exploit onshore reserves.
After a 45-year moratorium and 15 years of total prohibition on uranium mining thanks to anti-mining efforts by Indigenous and settler residents, the province has decided to reopen prospecting and exploration. The original ban came as a product of organized pressure from groups and citizens in the province attending dozens of meetings to voice opposition in the early 1980s, including the Ecology Action Centre. This was due both to the extent of regional exploration and to the hazards associated with mining.
More than 8,000 square kilometres of the province had been licensed to mining firms prior to the moratorium and concerns over environmental health impacts from the mineral’s radioactivity were an evergreen issue. Namely, the tailings waste generated from mining and processing the uranium stays radioactive for millennia and the industry has only recently improved technology to reduce tailings and keep workers safe.
The radioactivity of the waste poses a threat to people and local ecologies as radioactive dust can be blown into surface water or leach into surrounding groundwater reserves. Similarly, fears over the mismanagement of industry waste from fracked fossil gas have been repeated by residents during public comment. Large volumes of produced water contaminated with hydrocarbons and potentially toxic drilling additives are an unavoidable byproduct of wells employing the multi-stage fracturing technique used to withdraw fracked fossil gas. The waste may sit deserted in tailings ponds for decades, threatening surface water and groundwater with contamination.
According to the Dirt Gang, the province’s Public Bills Committee received 99 submissions against the Bill and only one in favour, from the Mining Association of Nova Scotia. Uranium mining is not just unpopular in the province but also across the country, with British Columbia and Quebec having their own bans in place. This is not surprising, given that there are no nuclear power plants in Nova Scotia and many residents see the risks of mining as too high.
However, the Canadian federal government has dedicated itself to becoming a “clean energy superpower” and they deem nuclear power as one such source. Canada once ranked first on the globe in uranium extraction and export, due to extensive deposits in northern Saskatchewan, which are still being mined today.
The province of Nova Scotia, on the other hand, claims that the royalties from extraction will be a worthwhile reward for the people and the province’s coffers. Unfortunately, according to a report by the Ecology Action Centre, “uranium is not currently in the list of minerals and substances for which a royalty must be paid to the Province.” This means that there is no existing royalty regime and there are no guarantees of how much money the province might generate from mining, despite the province updating its critical mineral list to include uranium. The only presenter to the legislature’s committee on public bills to speak in favour of lifting the ban was the executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Sean Kirby. MANS has been advocating that “restructuring permitting” is the best way to stay independent amid threats from the Trump administration.
As has been the habit of provincial governments rushing through these bills, little to no consultation with impacted Indigenous nations was made prior to its passage. The Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi’kmaw Chiefs’ Tamara Young said, “we should not hear about important developments that Nova Scotia is making from the evening news… This includes when policy or legislative changes are being proposed in the mining sector.”
The Assembly sent a letter to Premier Houston on March 4, 2025 concerning his government’s failure to consult with Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia, but it fell on deaf ears. According to a senior Mi’kmaq energy and mines adviser, Patrick Butler, the chiefs were not consulted on lifting either of the bans. The province’s Progressive Conservatives never campaigned on expanding these extractive industries in their previous election. Now they are attempting to hastily shore up their extractive economies and failing to meet their constitutional obligation to consult Indigenous nations around the region, and with no mandate from the people they were elected to govern.
