News Release Archive
NATURAL RESOURCES--PROVINCE TO INTERVENE IN HEARING PROCESS ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Province of Nova Scotia will intervene in public hearings to examine the proposed Sable Offshore Energy Project and related pipeline proposals, Natural Resources Minister Eleanor Norrie announced today. "We have said all along, our role is to ensure that Nova Scotia comes first and that our interests are protected," said Mrs. Norrie. "Government's opportunity to state its position about the various components of the project will be during the hearing process." The deadline to register as an intervenor with the review panel is tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 9). Formal documentation must be presented to the panel by March 7, 1997. "We have formed an intervention team within government which will define the provincial position on a number of issues and present that position to the panel," said the minister. "The team will be augmented by outside expertise; people who are knowledgable in this sort of process, as well as this industry." Two Nova Scotia firms have partnered with outside experience to provide legal and technical advice to the provincial government. Gardner Pinfold Consulting will work with Ziff Energy of Calgary to provide technical assistance, while Sampson McDougall of Sydney will work with Macleod Dixon of Calgary to provide the necessary legal advice. "When we issued the tender documents for the consulting services, we required a substantial amount of local content in the work," Mrs. Norrie said. "For this reason, local firms have been able to participate in this process, which has the added bonus of ensuring expertise is developed and stays in Nova Scotia." Public hearings to examine proposals for both the offshore facilities and the onshore pipeline are expected to begin in April, and will be held in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. -30- Contact: Dianne Coish 902-424-4426 jlw Jan. 8, 1997 - 5 p.m.