On Friday, May 27, 2016, the Brian Gallant Liberal government announced that the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing would continue indefinitely. Below are links to NBASGA’s official Press Statement on the extended moratorium, and comments from spokesperson, Jim Emberger, as well as congratulatory notes from our supporters around the world.
This is a good day for the People, the Province, the Planet…and for our Democratic Process.
In encouraging local news, The Environmental Advisory Committee, established by the Provincial Government of PEI to create a new Water Act, has recommended banning fracking in PEI. This conforms to the trend of the last few years, as the case against shale gas and fracking grows with each new study, regardless of topic – water contamination, public health, earthquakes, climate change, etc.
Recently, news on fracking has taken a decided about-face from the many stories previously singing its praises. The truth is beginning to emerge.
The New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance provides the following statement about the report issued last Friday by the New Brunswick Commission on Hydrofracturing.
The Commissioners recognized that the discussion about shale gas had to be looked at in the contexts of the immediate need to combat climate change, the lack of a coherent and forward-looking energy policy for the province, and the inadequacy of current institutions and procedures in New Brunswick to deal with either shale gas or with the new realities of a low-carbon world.
The following letter was sent to New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant and members of the Liberal Caucus on 22 February 2016.
Dear Premier Gallant:
The Commission on Hydrofracking will soon submit its report and the government will make its decision on the future of shale gas in the province. We have to ask: “After 5 years of examining the pros and cons, what evidence has accumulated to support each side?”
To answer this question we have put together a short summary of the latest news and scientific information on a few of the major issues at the heart of the discussion. We hope you will take the ten minutes necessary to read the attached document.
The executive summary follows.
JIM EMBERGER COMMENTARY
The Miramichi Leader, 19 February 2016
The Commission on Hydrofracking will soon submit its report and the government will make its decision on the future of shale gas. After five years of examining the pros and cons, what evidence has accumulated to support each side?
If a solid economic case for shale gas ever did exist, it has now evaporated. It is now common knowledge that to offset the rapid depletion of shale gas wells, producers continuously drilled more of them.
On August 19, 2015 a delegation of three NBASGA members traveled to Fredericton to present our case against UNGOD (UNconventional Gas and Oil Development) to the New Brunswick Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing.
The Opposition Energy Critic says that the discontinuation of the Energy Institute will stop the examination of the science surrounding shale gas. Energy Minister Arsenault says that New Brunswick’s shale commission could approve development. Neither of these two political smokescreens reflects the actual rigorous scientific examinations of shale gas occurring elsewhere.
Lengthy and exhaustive reviews have recently been completed in four jurisdictions. All those jurisdictions then enacted bans or moratoria.
Like those of us here in New Brunswick, Newfoundlanders have serious concerns about the industry, and public opposition to fracking has been strong and wide-spread, in particular around the endangered west coast jewel of Gros Morne National Park.
MONCTON, NB (18 March 2015) – The supporters of the shale gas industry – the industry itself, the PC-Opposition energy and various editorialists – have lately been calling for the lifting of the moratorium. Their sole, well-worn and questionable economic argument for this demonstrates a lack of understanding of the two basic reasons for a moratorium in the first place.
The primary reason for a moratorium is concern for public health. Increasingly numerous peer-reviewed studies have now associated shale gas extraction with a host of serious health problems from cancer to congenital heart defects, which is cause enough for alarm. More importantly, each study points out how much more we need to know.
by Donna McLellan
The New Brunswick government’s introduction of a moratorium on shale gas development, confirming its pre-election commitment, was a great relief to the thousands of NB residents who are opposed to the industry. People are relieved, but skeptical.
Those who are familiar with New Brunswick’s political and economic history know that the province has been, for many decades, a fierce supporter of the oil and gas industry… and that resource development – from forestry to oil and gas exploration – has never been questioned. Until now.