Fracking Nova Scotia - protect our lakes & waterways

Protect Lake Ainsley, Nova Scotia from fracking

PetroWorth Resources, an Ontario-based company, has approval to drill an exploratory oil/gas well at MacIsaac Point, West Lake Ainslie, Cape Breton, 600 metres from the shoreline and 75 metres from a dwelling.

If this well is allowed, we feel it will set a precedent. Nowhere in Nova Scotia will be safe from oil/gas exploration.

Some of the risks associated with oil and natural gas drilling at Lake Ainslie:

• Noise & light pollution:
  Rigs and trucks run 24 hours/day, seven days a week.
• Water contamination:
  Potential use of millions of gallons of fresh local water which gets contaminated and stored on site until disposal.
• Toxic chemicals and waste:
  Storage of toxic chemicals and waste on site, among them cancer-causing agents as well as nerve and hormone disruptors which are harmful to human, animal and plant life.
• Potential drinking waster contamination:
  There are documented cases of water aquifers and water wells being contaminated by this industry's poor drilling practices, faulty well shaft casings or fracking.
• Accidents & spills:
  The proposed rig would be less than 2,000 feet from the lakeshore and about 400 feet from a stream that empties into a lake. This could be catastrophic to the lake and greater Margaree River system. The recreational fishery would also be at risk.
• Air pollution:
  Methane flares and truck exhaust will introduce a higher level of air pollution to the area. Truck traffic associated with this development will cause significant damage to the West Lake Ainslie Road. There are currently no plans to repair the expected damage to roads and bridges.

British Columbia's pursuit of shale gas

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a new report by Ben Parfitt of the BC office on November 9, 2011: Fracking Up Our Water, Hydro Power and Climate: BC's reckless pursuit of shale gas.

Download the 55-page report.

Industry and government promote natural gas as a "green" alternative to conventional fossil fuels that will bring much-needed jobs and revenue to BC. but this study reaches the opposite conclusion. Green resources in high volume - water and hydroelectricity - will be required to produce more and more dirty energy, in the form of a greenhouse gas emitting fuel. Consider the following excerpted from the executive summary:

• Greenhouse gases associated with the production of bc shale gas are poised to double by 2020, meaning that every other sector in the provincial economy would have to cut their emissions by half for BC to meet its gHg emissions reduction targets.
• A recent BC Hydro assessment concluded that accommodating the projected power needs of BC's shale gas sector would require two to three times the power produced at the proposed site C dam on the Peace River.
• Shale gas industry records are being set for water usage and fracking at individual well pads in northeast BC, with up to 600 Olympic swimming pools worth of water used at some sites. Thousands of such sites could be developed in the decades ahead, in regions of the province where little meaningful data on water resources exists.
• Members of the general public and First Nations in whose territories shale gas projects occur are effectively out of the loop when it comes to being meaningfully consulted.
• BC is encouraging shale gas industry expansion through subsidies which accelerate environmental degradation while simultaneously failing to capture maximum economic value from the resource - due to a glut of gas in North America and prevailing low prices.
• Regulation of industry activities, including controversial water withdrawals, is now largely in the hands of BC's oil and gas commission, whose primary mandate is to facilitate energy industry expansion, not to protect the environment.

Dedicated to maintaining the balance of nature
for the mutual benefit of people and their plant & animal friends.