Who owns what lies within the ground beneath our feet? Who determines when and how it can be extracted, to what ends, and on what basis? Where I write, subsurface or mineral rights are currently in the news. The provincial government of Nova Scotia has recently lifted longstanding bans on uranium mining and fracking for onshore gas, citing the need to add to Canada’s supply of critical minerals and to develop natural resources in the face of economic challenges worsened by America’s trade war with its neighbours. My own university has entered into an agreement with the province to help effect its subsurface energy investment program, receiving a grant of $30 million with the expectation that it deliver the bulk of the funds to private developers as incentives for exploratory drilling … (more)
[Krista J Kesselring, Legal History Miscellany, 22 April 2026]
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