In December 2025, the Houston Government announced they were allocating $30 million in hopes of kickstarting onshore gas development in Nova Scotia. An agreement would be signed with Dalhousie University to administer a Subsurface Energy R&D Investment Program (SERDIP.) The program follows the Houston government’s decision that Nova Scotia’s economic future should be based on resource extraction including fossil fuels, and its repeal of Nova Scotia’s 2014 ban on hydraulic fracturing in March 2025.
The SERDIP program is deeply problematic in its fundamental intent, to start a fracked gas industry in Nova Scotia at a time when fracked gas is a known major contributor to climate change and a well-documented risk to human health, clean water resources, and community wellbeing. In 2026, the scientific evidence of the dangers of fracking for gas is stronger than ever. Recognized risks continue to be confirmed, not solved. The Nova Scotia Fracking Resource and Action Committee (NOFRAC) has analyzed the Agreement between the Province and Dalhousie and found that many provisions of the Agreement are also deeply problematic.
NOFRAC outlines the main issues of concern in this document, The Province of Nova Scotia- Dalhousie Agreement (SERDIP) to Develop Onshore Gas: What you Need to Know.
NOFRAC 