See
http://www.gov.nf.ca/releases/2002/mines&en/0402n01.htm
Nice maps!
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Doug Murray Productions" <doug@d...>
wrote:
>
> Interesting news item about the Nova Scotia - Newfoundland offshore
boundary. Source: Globe & Mail, Wed. Apr. 3, 2002.
>
> Nfld. bests N.S. in tribunal's offshore ruling
>
>
>
> By KEVIN COX
>
>
> Wednesday, April 3, 2002 - Print Edition, Page A6
>
>
>
> HALIFAX -- Newfoundland politicians struggled to hide their
jubilation and their Nova Scotia counterparts tried harder to
disguise their dismay yesterday after a federal tribunal ruled that
about 75 per cent of one of Canada's major offshore petroleum
deposits belongs to the Rock.
>
> "We've had a very, very good past six days," Newfoundland Energy
and Mines Minister Lloyd Matthews said, adding that the awarding of
the oil- and gas-rich Laurentian sub-basin takes place only a few
days after Husky Oil announced it would proceed with the White Rose
offshore project.
>
> The decision by the federally appointed tribunal, headed by retired
Supreme Court of Canada judge Gerard LaForest, ends a bitter and
costly 37-year feud between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
>
> Over the past three years, the two economically challenged
provinces spent a combined total of about $5.2-million fighting over
where the offshore boundary should be.
>
> In the end, the federal arbitration panel drew a line in the ocean
dividing the waters between the provinces into equal parts.
>
> But the line also gives Newfoundland three-quarters of the 60,000-
square-kilometre Laurentian sub-basin.
>
> Nova Scotia gets about 16 per cent, and 9 per cent of it belongs to
France.
>
> Newfoundland's ownership means millions of dollars in potential
royalties.
>
> Canada's poorest province also gets first dibs on thousands of jobs
that could be created if a significant oil or natural-gas discovery
is made in the area.
>
> "It's a very good outcome for us," Mr. Matthews said in an
interview. "It allows us to accrue a significant amount of acreage.
We always thought we had a very strong case to be made, and that's
why we had an obligation to the people of this province to define
that line."
>
> Mr. Matthews added that Newfoundland spent $1.8-million on the
legal process to have the line defined after politicians from the two
provinces repeatedly failed to come up with an agreement.
>
> "We never characterized this as a fight for territory or for a
particular parcel. We started from the premise of wanting a line
defined on the basis of international marine law," he said.
>
> Nova Scotia, which has insisted that the boundary was established
in 1964 in agreement with Newfoundland, spent about $3.4-million in
the fight for the sub-basin.