XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: bc.politics   
   From: {~_~}@nyet.ca   
      
   I would like you dummies - those included in BC, as well as Alberta - to   
   note that your past denials that fracking was not used for extraction of   
   oil, but only for gas, are destroyed by this article.  And your water,   
   as well as water that flows from any waterways or ground waters near   
   fracking areas, is affecting other provinces.   
   ______________________________________________________   
      
   April 30, 2014 -  Globe and Mail   
      
      
   Go slow on fracking, scientists warn   
      
      
   As use of technique rises in Western Canada, sweeping new study to be   
   released today outlines a number of potential risks and gaps in   
   monitoring and oversight   
      
   Canadians face a Pandora's box of potential environmental and health   
   risks as the oil industry charges forward with hydraulic fracturing   
   techniques that are needed to unlock vast natural gas and oil deposits   
   across the country, says a new report1 for the federal government.   
      
   In a 260-page study to be released Thursday, the expert panel concluded   
   that there simply isn't enough known about the impacts of hydraulic   
   fracturing – or fracking – to declare it safe, and that key elements of   
   the provinces' regulatory systems "are not based on strong science and   
   remain untested" while there is virtually no federal regulation.   
      
   The report was prepared by the Council of Canadian Academies, an   
   independent organization that pulls together scientists and other   
   experts to provide independent policy-related assessments, but stops   
   short of explicit advice.   
      
   In September of 2011, former environment minister Peter Kent asked the   
   council to review the impacts of shale gas development in Canada. But   
   the same drilling techniques used to extract natural gas from shale rock   
   are now being employed to produce crude oil in Alberta, Saskatchewan and   
   Manitoba, and its findings relate to the broader issue of the safety of   
   modern drilling techniques.   
      
   "I think the conclusion is that the development needs to go slow enough   
   so that the science can happen," said John Cherry, associate director of   
   Guelph University's G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research and   
   chair of the expert panel that produced the report.   
      
   In the United States, the shale gas and tight oil boom has transformed   
   the American economy and its sense of energy security, and many in   
   Canada are eager to replicate that success.   
      
   The industry is already deploying fracking methods to drill for oil and   
   gas in Western Canada. Most of the 11,150 wells forecast to be drilled   
   this year in Western Canada will employ hydraulic fracturing, in which   
   companies use chemically laced water to blast open non-porous rock to   
   extract gas and oil.   
      
   The controversial technology is key to British Columbia's ambitions to   
   become a major exporter of liquefied natural gas to Asia, shipping gas   
   from the rich Montney and Horn River fields in northeastern B.C. Premier   
   Christy Clark is a enthusiastic booster of the LNG strategy, and is   
   gearing her province up for an anticipated economic boom.   
      
   In such provinces as Quebec and New Brunswick, the industry is eager to   
   determine whether gas deposits can be profitably developed, but there is   
   staunch opposition among local residents. Quebec has had a moratorium   
   while it studies the issue, while New Brunswick has faced angry and   
   sometimes violent demonstrations as opponents try to stop the fledgling   
   industry there from drilling.   
      
   A spokesman for federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the   
   assessment identifies areas of research that need to be pursued and that   
   effort is under way.   
      
   "We believe that shale gas deposits can be developed safely,   
   responsibly, and in compliance with the strict environmental policies   
   and regulations in place," Ted Laking, Ms. Aglukkaq's director of   
   communications, said in an e-mail.   
      
   New Brunswick Energy Minister Craig Leonard said he's "very comfortable"   
   that the province can manage the risks associated with shale gas   
   development, saying it has adopted the best regulatory practices from   
   other North American jurisdictions.   
      
   In B.C., Saskatchewan and Alberta, where most drilling activity occurs,   
   provincial regulators have imposed rules on well construction, water use   
   and treatment of waste water, which must be re-injected under ground. As   
   well, industry associations have adopted their own standards for safe   
   practices and require companies to reveal what chemicals they use in   
   fracking.   
      
   "I think there is a high degree of confidence on industry's part that we   
   have the technology and we have the regulatory regime – particularly in   
   the mature jurisdictions – to manage for this," said David Pryce,   
   vice-president at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. He   
   added that regulations can be improved in some areas and Alberta is now   
   assessing how to manage the cumulative impacts of intensive drilling,   
   rather than simply looking on a well-by-well basis.   
      
   Environmentalists have little confidence in the provincial regulators.   
   In B.C., the environmental group, EcoJustice, is awaiting a decision on   
   a lawsuit it launched against the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission, claiming   
   the regulator had allowed the industry to evade water-use rules.   
      
   "The entire regulatory regime in B.C. has been crafted to facilitate gas   
   development," EcoJustice lawyer Karen Campbell said in an interview.   
      
   The council concludes that public trust can only be achieved when   
   additional, independent research provides answers to nagging questions –   
   before intensive drilling occurs.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)