The Nova Scotia government has delighted the Georges Bank seafood industry and extended the moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development for a period of three years.
“We are extremely pleased with the decision by Premier Dexter, Energy Minister (Bill) Estabrooks and the entire cabinet,” said Mark Butler, NoRigs Coalition member and policy director for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre.
“Despite the enormous pressure the government must have received from oil and gas interests, they saw the need to protect Georges Bank.”
Georges Bank is one of the most prolific fishing grounds and marine habitats in the Atlantic.
Eighty percent of the bank is owned by the US and 20% by Canada.
The US portion was specifically excluded from development in a recent policy announcement by President Barak Obama about offshore oil and gas exploration.
The Canadian portion is under a 10-year moratorium agreement between the federal and Nova Scotia governments which ends in 2012.
A decision by the two governments about the future of the moratorium was due by June 1, 2010.
