Goldboro’s looming economic restoration
A $4.5-billion LNG and petrochemicals facility is slated for the population depressed port town of Goldboro, Nova Scotia. The facility would be the first of its kind in the region. After three decades of decreasing population, things are finally looking up
When another opportunity to exploit Nova Scotia’s natural resources arises, its old fishing and mining communities – long and harshly affected by out-migration and industry depletion – are not particularly excitable. Nor are they always willing to forfeit their serene spaces for a big industrial facility.
The community of Goldboro (population roughly 450) is a prime example of this, even as the rigs of the Sable Offshore Energy Project pull in a fairly steady supply of natural gas just west of its rocky coastline. Some new project with the potential to wake rural Nova Scotians from their economic slumber seems always on the horizon.
This time it’s LNG.
On March 14, the province’s environment and labour minister put his stamp of approval on the development of what could be the largest industrial project in Nova Scotia history. If the combined liquefied natural gas, petrochemicals and power cogeneration facility slated for Goldboro Industrial Park goes ahead – and the prospects, pending federal approvals, look good – it could be a huge boon
for the people of Guysborough County along the northeastern shore.
Gordon MacDonald, special projects manager in the petroleum office of the Guysborough County Regional Development Authority, says the economic impacts of the integrated project, co-owned by Keltic Petrochemicals Inc. and Maple LNG, would be profound.
One thing holding it back, though, is undetermined feedstock supply, despite a Maple LNG spokesperson’s assertion that the facility is unique because it is not dependent on a single supplier. “Essentially what we are offering is access to those North American markets, through part of a larger international distribution system,” the spokesperson said.
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