STRAIT AREA - Three local municipalities are excited about the potential for wind-energy development and green hydrogen production in their area, according to elected councillors from each municipal unit that participated in the latest Municipal Government Panel for Telile's weekly series Roundtable. 

In October, Nova Scotia's Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton announced amendments to several pieces of legislation designed to accelerate the progress of green hydrogen initiatives around the province. At the same time, Environment and Climate Change Minister Tim Halman unveiled the province's new wind energy strategy, making several mentions of the Strait Area as a key production site for wind energy in the present and the future. 

In the meantime, EverWind Fuels is currently seeking provincial and federal environmental-assessment approvals to set up a major green-hydrogen site at the former NuStar Terminals operation in Point Tupper, while the federal government recently held an announcement in Port Hawkesbury to confirm $1.8 million in funds to spur on green-hydrogen development in the coming weeks and months. 

For Port Hawkesbury town councillor Jason Aucoin, who recently participated in a Strait Area delegation to a major renewable energy conference in Halifax, it all adds up to a potential economic bonanza for the region. 

"I was speaking to somebody who is internationally recognized in the wind-energy sector, and I said, 'Wouldn't it be really nice if the Strait Area could be the Fort McMurray of green energy? And he shook his head at me and he said, 'You're thinking too small. The Strait Area is the Saudi Arabia of green energy."

Richmond County councillor Melanie Sampson, whose District Three includes the Point Tupper Industrial Park that is poised to see such growth, declared that the green energy sector is a far cry from the failed industries that have come and gone from the region over the past 50 years. 

"This is not a 'maybe' - this is going to happen," said Sampson, who has just accepted an invitation from Warden Amanda Mombourquette to serve on the newly-formed Point Tupper Clean Energy Community Liason Committee. 

Meanwhile, Mulgrave councillor Krista Luddington - who, like Sampson and Aucoin, was first elected to her post in 2022 - is pleased with the municipal outreach that companies like EverWind Fuels have shown to Strait Area municipal councils, including meetings between company officials and every single member of Mulgrave Town Council. 

This week's edition of Roundtable also includes a new edition of "The Front Porch," which features an interview with Nova Scotia Health senior director Tara Sampali about the progress of a program introduced in August to accelerate the licensing process for Ukrainian healthcare professionals hoping to set up shop within Nova Scotia's medical community. While a Ukrainian community navigator has been installed in the Sydney area of the Nova Scotia Health Authority's Eastern Zone, Sampali noted that the arrival of a similar navigator for the Cape Breton South: Recruiting For Health committee will not likely occur until after the project makes its way to the Western Zone in mainland Nova Scotia in 2023.