Community members gathered close to the proposed Marshdale Gas Plant site.
Photo credit: Christine Whelan Photography
Hundreds gathered for water ceremonies as resistance grows to proposed methane "peaker" plants.
Standing Shoulder to Shoulder For Our Kids in Mi'kma'ki
Standing Shoulder to Shoulder For Our Kids in Mi'kma'ki
Something powerful is happening in Pictou County, Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki). This past Saturday hundreds of community members of all ages and backgrounds came together at the edges of the rivers being threatened by methane gas “peaker” plants for Mi’kmaq ceremonies to honour the land and water. Elders made their way slowly across the fields and children played around the edges as we gathered in a circle, tobacco nestled in our left hands, to offer prayers to the four directions, to the land and to ourselves. Pictou Landing First Nation knowledge keeper, water protector, clan mother, and medicine woman Tonya Francis led the ceremonies at each of the two proposed gas plant sites at Marshdale and Salt Springs. She emphasized the importance of the participation of the children and youth in the group, and standing up for the next generations. We closed by going around the circle and sharing a word about how we were feeling. Among the words shared were community, hope, love, respect, power, resistance, resilience, and connection.
Pictou Landing First Nation Knowledge Keeper Tonya Francis led the ceremonies.
Photo credit: Christine Whelan Photography
This coming together to build and honour relationships to each other and to the land and water has come out of a growing resistance to two proposed methane gas plants meant to respond to the need for peak power (such as on cold winter nights) as Nova Scotia Power transitions off coal generation to renewables. Despite community concerns about the lack of consultation with Mi’kmaq communities and rights holders, health and environmental impacts of methane emissions, water use, disruption of sensitive salmon habitat and more, the province is trying to ram through these projects without a federal environmental assessment. It is also increasingly clear that it is opposed by those who live in the surrounding areas and will be most directly impacted. In addition to the rushed process and community concerns, the science and technology have changed since the assessments upon which the proposal is based. There is now an important opportunity for these plants to leap frog super-polluting methane generation and go right to the clean alternative: grid-forming battery storage (GFM BESS). As proposed, these methane-burning (LNG) plants would lock Nova Scotians into 25 more years of fossil-fuel dependence but clean alternatives now exist at the scale needed. The people of Pictou County and beyond are asking for the project proponents and the province to consider what is ultimately in the best interests of the community, the environment, and our children. It is not more gas plants.
Community gathered at the Salt Springs site. Photo credit: Christine Whelan Photography
There are Indigenous-rights, environmental, scientific and economic reasons why these projects need to be reconsidered, but ultimately it comes down to what Tonya Francis emphasized as we stood in the circle beside the river - what is in the best interest of our children and the next generations.
For Our Kids Co-Director Wyanne Sandler beside Six Mile Brook that flows into West River.
All photos by Christine Whelan Photography. To learn more or get involved: https://www.twinpeakers.com
