Elsipogtog files Aboriginal title claim with NB courts

Date: November 12, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Good News, Land and Property Rights

Commentary by Debra Hopper

Sock, Francis and McIvor answer questions IMG_4488

(l to r) Counsel Bruce McIvor, Elder Ken Francis, Chief Arren Sock

I would like to comment on a very important story that received a brief mention in the news on Nov. 9th. A press conference was held in Elsipogtog where Chief Arren Sock and Elder Kenneth Francis announced that a claim has been filed with the court that asserts the authority of the Mi’kmaq People over the land and the water in the Mi’kmaq territory in Eastern NB called Sikniktuk.

I am not Aboriginal, but I was filled with admiration and respect as I listened to the eloquence of these two men as they spoke of their ancestors, their culture, their community and their ties to the land.

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New Brunswick anti-shale gas activist wins inaugural environmental journalism award

Date: September 18, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Good News, NBASGA

We are happy to announce that NBASGA spokesperson, Jim Emberger, has won the first annual Beth McLaughlin Environmental Journalism Award for his extensive reporting on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing.

The panel of judges, selected by the Southeast Chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, cited Emberger’s extensively researched writing for focusing attention on a significant environmental issue and helping to deepen public understanding of it.

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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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New Brunswick Extends Fracking Moratorium Indefinitely

Date: May 29, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: civil disobedience, Fracking News, Good News, Moratoria, NBASGA, Press Releases

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.

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NBASGA encourages UK activists

Date: May 27, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: civil disobedience, Fracking News, NBASGA

by Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, 27 May 2016

INTERNATIONAL support is growing for Ryedale’s anti-fracking movement as Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom claims that the extraction of shale gas in North Yorkshire is “an opportunity we can’t afford to miss” if UK energy supplies are to be secured. A week after more than 850 elected civic leaders from New York State urged North Yorkshire County Council to reject Third Energy’s application for a test site at Kirby Misperton – a plea that fell on deaf ears on Monday night – opponents in the Canadian province of New Brunswick are the latest to lend their support.

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Recent news on fracking

Date: May 26, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Moratoria, Wastewater Disposal

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.

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Fracking, we hardly knew ye

Date: April 5, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking and Economics

by Alec Bruce

It was fun while it lasted, but the people have spoken. So have New Brunswick’s all-but-departed, hydraulic-fracturing development and production companies. Now, we can declare it: Dear fracking, rest in peace.

You were the bad boy of the oil and gas industry in these parts.

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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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Creating a regenerative economy in N.B.

Date: March 18, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

Commentary by Keith ‍Helmuth, Woodstock Sustainable Energy Group
Telegraph Journal, 18 March 2016

What kind of economy will New Brunswick have in the new energy future? A renewable energy platform is clearly coming and new energy platforms create new economies. The extraction and refining of hydrocarbons launched a new energy platform, which has created the modern economy and its many benefits. However, the growth of the hydrocarbon economy has now developed to such a scale that it has burst through the safe operating limits of earth’s geochemical and ecological boundaries, with increasingly negative effects. This is an unwelcome thought. We used to think that hydrocarbon energy paved the road to a better life. Up to a point, this idea made sense, but a threshold of reversal has been crossed.

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