Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2013

Deer Lake Fracking Awareness Seminar Raises Difficult Questions for Black Spruce


From the 4 O'clock Whistle
     Thirty five people showed up to a fracking awareness seminar in Deer Lake on the 19th of June at the Hodder Memorial Stadium. Entitled “Facts on Fracking” the seminar presented a wide array of information on the history of the process and what is known about its potential effects. As those present learned, while some of the basic technology of fracking has been around for quite some time, slick water horizontal hydraulic fracturing is a relatively new phenomenon. 
       For example when companies assert that they have been conducting hydraulic fracturing since the 1940’s they are referring to vertical hydraulic fracturing. Horizontal slickwater “fracking,” by contrast, can be traced back to as early as 2002. Since much of the fracking fluid, which contains a complex mixture of chemicals (some of which are known to be carcinogenic or to have other health effects) remains underground after the process, the potential area affected by seepage into aquifers and towards the surface is greatly increased during horizontal fracturing. The fracturing could extend out as much as three kilometers, if not more, horizontally from each drill site in multiple directions, and one key problem is trying to control the fractures during the process. Several countries and states currently have moratoriums on fracking awaiting more information, as does the province of Quebec, and in many others there are growing demands for the institution of moratoriums.

Chicken Little?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

COMPANY FAILS TO EASE FRACKING CONCERNS: Important questions remain unanswered, say concerned citizens

The Port au Port /Bay St George Fracking Awareness Group April 23, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMPANY FAILS TO EASE FRACKING CONCERNS
Important questions remain unanswered, say concerned citizens

Port au Port East, NL: Black Spruce Exploration’s David Murray is failing to address local concerns about fracking even as he makes the media rounds, says the Port au Port/Bay St. George Fracking Awareness Group.

Mr. Murray is the head of the newly-formed company which plans to use horizontal slickwater hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to drill for oil/gas at Shoal Point on Port au Port Bay as soon as September or October of this year.

Mr. Murray has been in damage control for the last couple of weeks after hundreds of concerned citizens turned out for an information session in Port au Port on April 7 to ask hard questions about the effects of fracking on their communities, their health, the environment, as well as on other industries in the area such as fishing and tourism.

So far Mr. Murray’s statements to the media and to the local municipalities have been evasive, unclear, and at times, even by his own admission, exaggerated. More answers are needed, says Bill O’Gorman of West Bay, before our government decides if this is something we will allow in our province.

Here are the top questions that remain unanswered:

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Letter from MP Gerry Byrne Regarding Proposals for Hydraulic Fracturing on the West Coast of Newfoundland

Dear Dr. Simpson:

Thank you for your email regarding the process of hydrocarbon extraction
through the process of hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’. While most oil
exploration and commercial production activity in Canada occurs exclusively
under provincial management and regulation, the federal government does
regulate offshore activity and that which takes place in the Canadian North.
Toxic chemicals, however, are under federal jurisdiction and the process of
fracking is understood to involve the introduction of various chemicals
including various acids and abrasives into the targeted rock formations and
is, therefore, very much under federal oversight.

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