ATLANTIC

N.S. government shows no support for municipal fracking bylaw

The Canadian Press Published Wednesday, January 23, 2013 10:20AM AST Last Updated Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:24PM AST

$Hydraulic fracturing$

A new study looking at whether hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can trigger earthquakes is being conducted just as a pair of independent papers were released internationally this week suggesting they do. (AP / Orlin Wagner)

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The Nova Scotia government says a Cape Breton municipality is wasting its time if it approves a bylaw banning hydraulic fracturing.

Service Nova Scotia Minister John MacDonell says such a bylaw would be beyond the jurisdiction of any municipality.

Inverness County council says public hearings are underway and the bylaw is expected to receive final reading in March.

MacDonell says the council has no authority to make law in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

Inverness Warden Duart MacAulay says the county's legal staff have crafted a bylaw framed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He says if the municipality's water supply was compromised by fracking, it would have an impact on human rights.

MacDonell says the municipality should wait until the province has completed a review of the controversial process for extracting oil and natural gas.

Until the review is finished, the province has said it won't issue any permits for fracking.