2015

All the facts about fracking impact not in yet

Date: October 31, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Fracking & Health, Most Asked Questions, Research & Scientific Studies, Social License

JIM EMBERGER COMMENTARY
The Daily Gleaner, October 31, 2015 

In its letter to the New Brunswick Commission on Hydrofracturing (reference “‘Social license’ needs definition, say Tories”, by Adam Huras, Telegraph Journal, 17 October 2015, ), the Progressive Conservative party asks for an explanation on how “clear and credible information about the impacts of hydraulic fracturing on health, environment, and water can be obtained without hydraulic fracturing occurring in New Brunswick.”

It’s amazing that educated people would ask such a nonsensical question. When confronting a high-risk situation only a fool would ignore the experiences of others who have faced and studied those risks.

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EPA report shouldn’t be used to support hydro-fracking

Date: October 7, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Fracking & Health, Research & Scientific Studies, Water Issues

JIM EMBERGER COMMENTARY
The Daily Gleaner October 7, 2015 

For four years the shale gas industry dominated local media via coverage of the pro-shale Alward government. Industry and its allies frequented the business sections and held province-wide“information”sessions.

And yet, they couldn’t make their case.

Now these same groups have created a website to provide a supposedly uninformed public with information it somehow missed.

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EPA Report says lack of data is the problem

Date: June 17, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies, Wastewater Disposal, Water Issues

Commentary by Jim Emberger

Judging from editorial page content regarding the new EPA draft report on hydrofracturing, only a few writers have read beyond the single, misleading headline repeated in the media, which said that the EPA did not find“widespread or systemic impacts on drinking water.”

The report itself offers two equally plausible explanations for that finding. It said that maybe there really aren’t widespread impacts, but that it’s just as likely that the poor quality and limited quantity of data made it impossible to judge the size of impact. The following quotes from the report cite these shortcomings.

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If shale gas development is so safe, why so many bans?

Date: June 7, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Moratoria
by Jim Emberger
OP-ED – The Fredericton Gleaner June 6, 2015

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.

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Shale Gas Lobbyists ignore implications for public health, ethics and will of the people

Date: March 19, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Fracking & Health, Moratoria, Most Asked Questions, NBASGA, Press Releases

Tory MLA shamelessly urges breaking of campaign promise

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.

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Bill C-51: A Threat to Democracy

Date: February 25, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, climate change, Fracking News, NBASGA, Press Releases

Bill C-51 and the RCMP intelligence report on the “Anti-petroleum” movement in Canada

The Canadian Government’s anti-terrorism bill, C-51, and a recent intelligence report from the RCMP about the “anti-petroleum” movement in Canada come dangerously close to equating dissent with terrorism and opposition to economic policies as extremism.

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NBers should have no regrets about moratorium

Date: January 17, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: 2015, Clean Energy, climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Fracking News

by Jim Emberger

While Premier Gallant develops the government’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, shale gas supporters continue to voice their same one-theme message that we are losing out on an economic miracle. Recent events provide a good lens through which to examine that claim. As our Premiere announced our moratorium, the leaders of both Quebec and New York announced similar decisions.

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