Digby Neck Quarry Bilcon Case,
Tribunal Decision and Dissent

May 21, 2015

by Janet M Eaton, PhD.
Originally Published May 11, 2015

The announcement that a NAFTA Investor State Tribunal had overturned the decision of a Canadian Federal Provincial Environmental Joint Review Panel decision to reject a US mega-quarry proposed by Bilcon of Delaware Inc. for Whites Point, Digby Neck, Nova Scotia has sent shock waves across the
province.

The decision has caused indignation amongst the many Nova Scotians who had been involved in the lengthy and hard fought struggle to preserve the small scale scenic, rural fishing community and economy on the ecologically sensitive and unique Bay of Fundy with its endangered right whales.

At the same time the Bilcon decision has been making waves internationally, sparking a new level of long standing debate about the failures of NAFTA Chapter 11 to safeguard laws put in place by democratic nations.

In this regard it has been providing ammunition for the tireless crusade of activist lawyers, researchers and NGOs fighting to have this mechanism removed from the upcoming mega-trade agreements under negotiation: the Trans-Pacific Trade and Investment Agreement (TPPA), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Canada – EU Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA).

Read an analysis of the decision by Janet Eaton, PhD. (PDF 41kb)

Janet M Eaton, PhD [Marine Biology] Dalhousie University, is an independent researcher, and part-time academic who has taught courses in Critical perspectives on Globalization, Community Political Power and Environment and Sustainable Society. She has been a volunteer with Sierra Club Canada for over a decade, was one of four SCC researchers who contributed to the Terms of Reference for the proponent’s Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] and to Sierra Club Canada’s lengthy response to Bilcon’s EIS. She also testified twice before the Joint Review Panel.