Research & Scientific Studies

It’s time: make the fracking moratorium permanent

Date: September 30, 2024
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, LNG, Moratoria, Research & Scientific Studies

Commentary by Jim Emberger
Originally published on NB Media Co-op
September 30, 2024

This election marks the tenth anniversary of the 2014 election, when voters turfed the Progressive Conservative government of the day, primarily over the issue of fracking for shale gas. This followed years of New Brunswick’s largest protests, petitions with tens of thousands of signatures, province-wide educational tours, expert witness testimony, peaceful blockades, a citizen lawsuit, and, unfortunately, a violent police raid on peaceful Indigenous protesters.

The new government assembled a non-partisan citizen commission, which took public testimony, and reached conclusions leading the government to declare an indefinite moratorium on fracking.

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US Data Backs Fracking Moratorium

Date: March 10, 2021
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Research & Scientific Studies, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

Edited versions of this Commentary by Jim Emberger were printed in the 10 March 2021 editions of The Daily Gleaner, The Times Transcript, and in the Telegraph Journal.

In mid-March New Brunswick shale gas leases held by US corporation, ‘SWN’, will expire, and there is no word if SWN will seek a renewal or extension.

Ten years ago SWN showed up in our communities; igniting a nearly 5 year, hard-fought, citizen opposition campaign that defeated the Alward government, and brought a moratorium on hydrofracking.

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PC’s need clear energy and climate policy

Date: June 8, 2018
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Research & Scientific Studies

Commentary by Jim Emberger, Telegraph Journal, June 14, 2018

Last winter the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance asked the provincial party leaders for their views on energy, climate change, and the fracking moratorium. Everyone but the Progressive Conservatives responded. Additional requests to PC Leader Higgs for evidence to justify his plans to lift the moratorium, and to explain the process for lifting it, went unanswered.

Fortunately, Mr. Higgs was the first speaker in the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce’s series featuring party leaders, so last week I went there seeking answers.

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Latest News & Studies on Fracking

Date: April 12, 2017
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking News, Moratoria, Research & Scientific Studies, Water Issues

Fracking and Water Contamination

Many of you may remember Dr. John Cherry, the internationally recognized expert on groundwater contamination, whom NBASGA brought to New Brunswick to testify at the Commission on Hydrofracturing. His testimony was very influential, as he pointed out that no place in the world was actually monitoring what happened to methane (and other substances) that leaked from shale gas wells. Thus, regulations were meaningless, as no one knew where methane was going or what effects it was causing.

Now, Dr. Cherry and colleagues have released the first study to track methane’s voyage through an aquifer, and they conclude that:

“methane gas leaking from energy industry wells can travel great distances in groundwater and pose safety risks, contaminate water and contribute to climate change.”

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Stop chasing a fossil fuel dinosaur

Date: February 8, 2017
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies, Wastewater Disposal, Water Issues

Commentary by Jim Emberger (Fredericton Gleaner, 7 February 2017)

Donald Trump’s resurrection of the Keystone pipeline has some pundits worried that Energy East may be cancelled. This in turn has some editorialists calling for a return to shale gas as New Brunswick’s saviour.

Apparently they have forgotten that five conditions must be met before the shale gas moratorium can be lifted. New studies furnish examples why those conditions are unlikely to be met.

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Social license is not easily granted

Date: July 12, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Research & Scientific Studies, Social License, Wastewater Disposal

Jim Emberger Commentary, Telegraph Journal July 12,2016

In the government’s mandate to the Commission on Hydrofracturing were five instructions, including how to obtain ‘social license’. While there is no legal definition of that term, social license is, in essence, the citizenry’s informed decision on whether or not to proceed with an industry based on an evaluation of the risks and benefits.

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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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Dr. John Cherry honoured for contributions to water studies

Date: March 26, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Research & Scientific Studies, Water Issues

On World Water Day, Canadian hydro-geologist Dr. ‍John ‍Cherry was awarded this year’s Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize during Singapore’s World Water Week.   The prize honours outstanding contributions by individuals or organizations towards solving the world’s water challenges by applying innovative technologies, policies or programs, which benefit humanity.  

In November, Dr. ‍Cherry spoke to the NB Commission on Hydrofracturing about the risks of groundwater contamination and shale gas extraction.

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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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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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