The bill to designate Sable a national park reserve came into law last month after nearly being derailed in the House of Commons.
Environmental groups say the bill is not perfect because it allows for potential future offshore development in and around the island. Despite this, they agree giving Sable national park protection is a big step forward.
Many questions remain. Will there be oil exploration? Will people be able to visit? What exactly comes next?
THE ISLAND
Located 290 kilometres southeast of Halifax, the island is often described as being more of a sandbar. It is a narrow crescent that stretches 42 kilometres in length but is only about one kilometre wide.
Sable is famed for its wild horses but also hosts hundreds of species of plants and wild birds. It is the only breeding ground for the Ipswich sparrow and a large breeding ground for the grey seal.
It is also known as the graveyard of the Atlantic due to about 350 shipwrecks off its shores.
Sable Island has been designated a national park reserve because there is an outstanding Mi’kmaq land claim on the island. The reserve designation carries no functional difference from any other national park.
WHY MAKE SABLE A NATIONAL PARK?
Sable Island was finding itself orphaned from oversight. It was previously under the purview of the Canadian Coast Guard because it has traditionally been a hazard to ships.
But as modern GPS technology mitigated that threat, the coast guard had little role to play and little expertise in overseeing a unique ecological system. Virtually everyone agreed Parks Canada was the government body best suited to look after Sable.
The problem was that Sable is in the middle of a petroleum field, with rights controlled by private industry. When Nova Scotia and Ottawa began the process to make Sable Island a national park, both sides agreed to do so without stripping industry rights. Though this has since become a controversial decision, it carried through to the final legislation.
WILL PEOPLE BE ALLOWED TO VISIT SABLE?
Yes. It’s a little-known fact that tourists have sporadically been allowed to visit Sable. There were about 15 authorized attempts to land on Sable in the past 12 years, five of which were successful, according to Julie Tompa, the Parks Canada project manager for Sable Island.
Sable’s erratic shores make it difficult to land even in a small zodiac boat. But Mississauga, Ont., firm Adventure Canada will soon try. The company has been in talks with the government and is planning to take from 80 to 100 passengers to Sable in June 2014.
This came as a surprise to members of Parliament, who were told by Parks Canada staff that they hadn’t decided how people will experience the island. Environmental groups have called for the Sable experience to be brought to the people, not the people brought to Sable Island.
The groups want an interpretive centre set up, likely in Halifax, that will teach people about Sable’s unique characteristics. But they warn that allowing visitors could damage the island.
Tompa says because some visits were already allowed, Parks Canada is just continuing the status quo as it works on a management plan. The department has five years to develop the plan and sort out its vision for Sable. But at least as of now, Parks Canada plans to let Canadians visit what many consider to be a magical place
“It’s certainly our mandate to facilitate opportunities for Canadians to connect with these places,” she said.
National parks “are for the benefit, use and enjoyment of Canadians in ways that leave them unimpaired for future generations.”
WILL THERE BE DRILLING ON SABLE?
At today’s prices, the government estimates there is $2.4-billion worth of natural gas and oil underneath Sable Island. However, it is too expensive to extract those resources with current technology.
An existing policy that bans drilling on the surface of Sable Island has been enshrined in legislation. However, the law allows for horizontal drilling underneath the island from at least one nautical mile, or 1.85 kilometres, off the coast.
It also allows low-level seismic testing on top of the island. Though this has not been defined, in the past it has meant seismic trucks shooting sound waves into the sands of Sable and placing microphones elsewhere on the island to track how they bounce back.
ExxonMobil holds the exploration rights on and around Sable. ExxonMobil president Andrew Barry told a parliamentary committee that his company has no plans to start offshore production near Sable.
However, he also fought to retain those rights, saying “it would be shortsighted to foreclose potential future economic development with prohibitions that, in the end, add no meaningful protection to this island.”
ExxonMobil has been trying to sell off Sable exploration rights in recent years but has been unsuccessful. Any future activity would have to be approved by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.
DOES ALLOWING INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY ON A NATIONAL PARK SET A PRECEDENT?
It depends on your definition of precedent but, technically, no.
The clauses that involve petroleum activities are not contained in the Canada National Parks Act and thus have no bearing on any other parks, according to Parks Canada Officials.
Sable Island happens to be in a unique situation because it falls under the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act, which takes precedence over other legislation.
Still, Elizabeth May, leader of the Green party, fought to have Canada buy out all petroleum rights before Sable Island was declared a national park. She argued the government has bought out other industrial rights, such as logging rights, when it established previous national parks.
So while Sable Island sets no legislative precedent, May argued that it will lower the bar for creating future national parks. The government has strongly denied this. The Canada Parks and Wilderness Society and Ecology Action Centre decided the protective benefit of making Sable Island a national park outweighed the risks.
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca
Author: PAUL McLEOD
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