The Victory of the Stop Alton Gas Campaign

This article was written by Mia Pang, and is the product of a collaboration between the HUB Librarian (Anglophone) and students in Professor Bonnie McElhinny's fall 2025 course "ANT364: Advocating Climate and Environmental Justice" at the University of Toronto. Many thanks to Mia and Bonnie for their collaboration on this project.

Introduction

The Stop Alton Gas Campaign was a Mi’kmaq led, community-supported environmental and social justice movement that happened in Nova Scotia between 2014 to 2021. The campaign came to life in order to fight back against the Alton Natural Gas Storage Project, which would not only have inevitably raised the salt level in the Shubenacadie River to a harmful level, but would also have devastated the Mi’kmaq, whose lives are embodied in the water of the river.

The movement ultimately led to the suspension of the Alton Gas project – a battle won after eight years of blockades, treaty truckhouses, and a mix of legal and political action taken by the protesters. While many community members were infuriated with Alton Gas’ plan, the Mi’kmaq stepped into action and became the main actors in the campaign.

Background to the Campaign

The Alton Gas Project

Although the Stop Alton Gas Campaign began in the fall of 2014, Alton Gas had been developing its plans since 2007, when it registered an underground hydrocarbon storage facility for environmental assessment under Part IV of Nova Scotia's Environment Act. On December 18, 2007, the Nova Scotia government granted environmental approval to the project — subject to conditions including monitoring programs, a Community Liaison Committee, and the development of a brine storage pond.

The project involved the creation of up to 18 massive underground caverns within naturally occurring salt deposits located approximately 1,000 metres below the surface near the Shubenacadie River in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. The caverns were designed to store up to 10 billion cubic feet of pressurized methane gas — each roughly the size of an office building — as a high-capacity facility for natural gas, intended to hedge against seasonal energy price swings and to supply stable gas volumes to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the northeastern United States.

Why it was controversial

The project generated significant controversy because of the proposed process for creating the underground caverns, which involved dissolving and discharging vast underground salt deposits. This process posed two distinct but interrelated threats:

1. Ecological Risk:
   1. Creating the caverns required pumping an initially estimated 10,000 cubic metres of water per day from the Shubenacadie River to a site 12 kilometres inland, in order to dissolve the subterranean salt.
   2. The resulting waste brine — carrying a salt concentration of 260 parts per thousand (more than seven times the salinity of healthy seawater) — would then be discharged back into the Shubenacadie River estuary.
   3. The Shubenacadie River is a crucial spawning ground for the endangered striped bass and Atlantic salmon. While Alton Gas proposed diluting the brine to 28 parts per thousand before discharge, studies showed that striped bass eggs and larvae survive best at concentrations between 0 and 20 parts per thousand.
   4. Once salinity exceeds this threshold, the survival rate of these species drops by approximately 23% — placing the local fishery at significant risk.

Once salinity exceeds this threshold, the survival rate of these species drops by approximately 23% — placing the local fishery at significant risk.

1. Infrastructure Risk:
   1. Activists and organizations such as the Council of Canadians pointed to a 65% failure rate for underground salt cavern storage facilities in the United States, and a 40% failure rate globally.
   2. Such failures can result in uncontrollable methane leaks, contamination of local water tables, and possible explosions.

Key actors

The campaign and its supporters

The Stop Alton Gas campaign was a loose network of Mi'kmaq rights holders, settler allies, and environmental organizations, rather than a single formal coalition. The name “Stop Alton Gas” functioned as a campaign banner used by the key actors.

Grassroots Grandmothers	A group of Mi'kmaq women — including leaders Dorene Bernard and Michelle Paul — who provided spiritual and moral leadership for the campaign. They viewed protection of the Shubenacadie River as a sacred duty, leading direct actions such as water walks and maintaining a permanent protest camp. They were primary targets of legal injunctions and remained on the land until the project's end.
Sipekne’katik First Nation	As the second-largest Mi'kmaw community in Nova Scotia, they led the legal and political fight against the project. Leaders including Cheryl Maloney and District War Chief Jim Maloney challenged the Crown's failure to consult on a nation-to-nation basis. They launched multiple successful legal challenges in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia that proved decisive in stalling the project.
Millbrook First Nation	Along with Sipekne'katik, this nation was distinct from the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative (KMKNO) regarding the project. They asserted they did not receive adequate consultation and were not represented by the government's claimed consultation process.
Local Community Supporters	Included non-Indigenous residents from Alton and Brentwood, as well as white fishers concerned about river health. Working in collaboration with Mi'kmaq leaders, they helped frame the campaign as a Nova Scotian water-rights issue rather than solely an Indigenous one.
Non-Governmental Organizations	The Council of Canadians provided advocacy, organizational support, and framing of the project as a threat to climate goals. The Ecology Action Centre stood in solidarity with Mi'kmaq rights holders and filed legal appeals against the project's permits. Solidarity with Alton Gas Resistance focused on fundraising and educating settler allies on how to support the resistance while respecting Mi'kmaq sovereignty.

Alton Gas and the Government

Alton Natural Gas Storage LP	A subsidiary of AltaGas Ltd., the company proposed developing an underground natural gas storage facility.
Nova Scotia Provincial Government	The Nova Scotia provincial government was responsible for granting critical environmental and industrial permits and ensuring the constitutional duty to consult with Mi’kmaq communities was fulfilled. Key political figures involved included former Premier Stephen McNeil and former Environment Minister Margaret Miller. The provincial government was generally supportive of Alton Gas’ project, seeing it as a way to stabilize natural gas prices and encourage industry.
Canadian Federal Government	The federal government’s primary responsibilities included protecting fish habitat through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and regulating the discharge of deleterious substances under the Fisheries Act via Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The most prominent federal figure was then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who faced public suspicion from activists that he was attempting to alter regulations to benefit Alton Gas rather than protect the water. Initially, the federal position was seen as a regulatory breakdown providing tacit approval for brine disposal, but this shifted in 2019 when the government proposed a regulatory fix within the Fisheries.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)	The physical manifestation of Alton Gas’ and the government's will to accomplish the project.
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia	Served as the primary arena for the campaign's legal victories.

Campaign Timeline

2007	July 6: Alton Gas registers an underground hydrocarbon storage facility project for environmental assessment under Part IV of Nova Scotia's Environment Act. November 23: Alton Gas submitted supplemental information addressing concerns related to fish and fish habitat, as well as information demonstrating how First Nation concerns had been considered in the development and operation of their proposed project. December 18: The Nova Scotia government granted environmental approval to Alton Gas to start their project – a proposed $130 million undertaking to create up to 18 massive underground caverns within naturally occurring salt deposits located 1,000 meters beneath the surface near the Shubenacadie River. Several conditions followed this approval: obtaining all necessary permits, development of a brine storage pond, a Community Liaison Committee, and specific monitoring programs. Alton Gas expected to start work for the salt caverns in the years 2014/2015.
2014	Fall: Development of a brine discharge pipeline started next to the Shubenacadie River. The project would have required pumping 10,000 cubic metres of water per day from the river to dissolve underground salt deposits, discharging the resulting brine – at a salt concentration more than seven times that of seawater – back into the estuary. Local resistance, primarily led by Mi’kmaq community members, and formal First Nation title claims managed to halt the project for about a year. A sacred fire was lit on the highway in October, signalling the rooting of the resistance in Indigenous duties to the land and to the ancestors buried along the riverbanks.
2016	January: The Nova Scotia government gave approval and permits to Alton Gas to continue with the halted project. Seeing that the issue lay not only with the corporation but with the government, the campaign shifted strategy to include legal fights against the provincial government. February: The Ecology Action Centre, Sipekne’katik, and Millbrook First Nations submitted appeals against the Nova Scotia province’s decision to approve the operational permits. April: Sipekne’katik also launched a legal challenge at the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia based on the Crown’s failure to consult. A government lawyer’s argument in court that the Mi’kmaq were not an “unconquered people” sparked public outrage and led to a personal apology from Premier Stephen McNeil – reinforcing the campaign’s moral case against a colonial government. Summer: The Treaty Truckhouse was erected by Mi’kmaq near the Shubenacadie River, invoking Clause 4 of the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752, which granted the Mi’kmaq the right to build a truckhouse structure along the river for purposes of trade and fishing. The structure established a legalized form of physical access and blockade to Alton Gas’ project site. While Alton Gas attempted to serve trespassing notices in cooperation with the RCMP, the treaty legally supported the structure’s presence, and the Mi’kmaq were able to counter these notices using their constitutional treaty right. Because the treaty permits a truckhouse to be situated wherever considered needful, neither the company nor the government had authority to remove it.
2017	January: The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ruled in favour of the Sipekne’katik First Nation, requiring the province to resume consultations. This was a major turning point in the public perception of the project and in the campaign’s legal standing. May: Protest camps for the campaign grew to include the straw-bale house, adorned with the motto “We Are All Treaty People.” The structure became a physical manifestation of the collaboration between Indigenous and settler movements and a foundation for shared treaty obligations and protection.
2019	February 22: Alton Gas applied to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to have protesters removed from the grounds. February 25: Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a notice of intent to create new regulations under the Fisheries Act, targeting “deleterious substances” related to brine waste. Activists including Rachael Greenland-Smith and Dale Poulette had used freedom of information requests to prove that Alton Gas had submitted unreliable salinity data to regulators, paving the way for this federal action. Prior to this change, the Fisheries Act could not be used to support the protest, and Alton Gas had been successfully applying to have protesters removed from the grounds. March 12: Alton Gas called for an injunction hearing in an attempt to remove Mi’kmaq rights holders from the project work site. April 10: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police enforced the injunction at the project site, leading to the arrest of protesters including Grandmother Kukuwis Wowkis. Alton Gas subsequently bulldozed and destroyed the straw-bale house. Despite the setback, the movement remained undeterred.
2020	March: The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ruled that Environment Minister Margaret Miller had been wrong to conclude that adequate consultation had occurred. The court ordered the province to resume consultations with the Sipekne’katik Nation, and Alton Gas was subsequently forced to pause the project due to the suspension of its industrial approval.
2021	May 22–30: The Mi’kmaki Water Walk 2021 took place, a 114 km walk spanning from Dartmouth to Maitland – travelling along the Shubenacadie Canal system, Shubenacadie Grand Lake, and the Shubenacadie River system. The walk was held to pray for the healing of the water and to honour the responsibility to protect Mother Earth and carry the footsteps of Indigenous ancestors. June: Grassroots Grandmothers were preparing for a court date regarding the Alton Gas injunction for trespass, continuing their unwavering presence at the heart of the campaign. October 22: Official cancellation of the Alton Gas project. While AltaGas and the Nova Scotia government officially framed the decommissioning as a business decision based on challenging project economics, it is evident that the Stop Alton Gas Campaign created those failing economics – years of delays, regulatory uncertainty, and a damaged public image forced the company’s hand. Discussions with federal and provincial regulators, the Mi’kmaq, and other interested parties began regarding the next steps for decommissioning the project site. The Treaty Truckhouse remains standing as a sacred place of education and a permanent reminder of the resistance.
2024	January: ECCC discontinues development of the proposed Fisheries Act regulations, likely because the Alton Gas project had been decommissioned.