The Mayor of Lunenburg is calling for more public consultation around offshore drilling.
Rachel Bailey was commenting after the BP Drilling rig West Aquarius spilled 136,000 litres of drilling mud over the weekend.
Bailey says potential damage from a larger spill to established industries could be devastating.
“That impacts all of us so heavily. And when it comes to the fishery and when it comes to tourism, offshore drilling maybe isn’t as important as some people might think it to be.”
Bailey says the town still hasn’t received a reply to a letter they wrote to the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board expressing their concerns.
And she wants the provincial and federal government to take another look at the legislation that empowers the un-elected petroleum board.
“It’s not the board that needs to change, it’s the legislation that empowers the board.”
Senator Wilfred Moore recently attended a CNSOPB meeting on behalf of the town.
In his report to council, he expressed concerns that several municipalities showed up to speak for their residents about offshore drilling, but the board allowed just ten minutes for them to be heard.
Moore says the board talked at the communities rather than with them, and that need needs to change.
