Fracking & Health

The other side of risk and science in shale gas

Date: March 28, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies, Social License

Jim Emberger Commentary, Telegraph Journal, 27 March 2016

Krista Ross’ [Fredericton Chamber of Commerce] recent commentary (12 March 2016) suggested that New Brunswick’s citizens are too unsophisticated to understand the science behind the risks surrounding shale gas, making them easy targets for shale gas opponents to manipulate with fear.

These condescending assertions are, fortunately, easy to dismiss. Our Alliance continues to direct the public to the hundreds of independent scientific studies that are now collected into a Compendium available at: http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/.

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NBASGA Statement on the New Brunswick Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing Report

Date: March 1, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Fracking News, Moratoria, Social License

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.

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The Case Against Shale Gas

Date: February 25, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Moratoria, Most Asked Questions, NBASGA, Research & Scientific Studies

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.

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Shale gas decision must be made in different contexts

Date: February 19, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Moratoria, NBASGA, Social License

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.

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No More Trust

Date: December 9, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies

Liberal firing of Dr. Eilish Cleary a dark day in New Brunswick history

MONCTON, NB (Dec. 8, 2015) – Members of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance are shocked and dismayed at the unprecedented action taken against Dr. Eilish Cleary.

“This has effectively put a fatal bullet into any hopes that this government had of obtaining a social license for any endeavor that impacts the health of New Brunswickers,” says spokesman Jim Emberger. “Dr. Cleary was perhaps one of the few remaining voices in government with any credibility with the citizenry.”

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NBASGA supports Dr. Eilish Cleary and calls for her return

Date: December 3, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies

OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNMENT OF NEW BRUNSWICK
from the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance

Public Health needs autonomy and New Brunswicker’s need a voice they can trust

MONCTON, NB (3 December 2015)  – The New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance is greatly disturbed with recent news reports speculating that Dr. Eilish Cleary’s leave of absence may be related to her work.

Yesterday, social media erupted with support and indignation when the story became public, and people immediately rushed to her defense, calling for her reinstatement.

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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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NBASGA presentation to New Brunswick Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing

Date: August 20, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Moratoria, NBASGA, Research & Scientific Studies, Wastewater Disposal, Water Issues

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.

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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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