June 30, 2013

Fracking Facts in BC

Fracking poisons massive amounts of water with a unknown toxic soup.
But you can always buy 'clean' (and expensive) water at the mall.


  • Natural gas is not and never has been a clean fuel. 
  • The government of British Columbia wants to export up to four trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year from BC. 
  • Natural gas has advantages over coal and diesel fuel. When combusted natural gas has fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But when the source is considered - shale rock - a broader view is required.
  • Hydraulic fracturing or fracking operations free gas trapped in rock. This uses tremendous amounts of water, sand and toxic chemicals to create cracks or fractures in the rock that allow the trapped gas to be released.
  • In northeast BC today, fracking operations at just one one shale gas pad with a dozen wells on it will toxify the equivalent of all the water in Saanich’s Elk and Beaver lakes, where Canada’s Olympic rowing teams train. 
  • The greenhouse gas emissions associated with natural gas produced from such water-intensive operations are poorly understood. Some models estimate that the emissions associated with shale gas production are only slightly higher than those for conventional gas, while others place them on par with coal.
  • The US Environmental Protection Agency, among others, underestimate actual emissions by as much as half.
  • Gas production in BC’s remote Horn River Basin near Fort Nelson produces unusually high amounts of CO2, which must be stripped away before the gas can be piped and used. Currently, the stripped CO2 is simply vented to the atmosphere rather than captured and stored.
  • Neither government nor industry appears keen to do field studies required to determine the impacts of this extraction method.
  • Recently, members of the Fort Nelson First Nation raised objections to a potentially massive giveaway of water rights in their traditional territory to pave the way for accelerated shale gas production. 
  • Responsible governments would acknowledge the obvious: We can’t in good conscience proceed with fracking in the absence of basic information - information that is obtainable given the will, and which they should be obliged to publish.
  • The BC government is proposing a quintupling of natural gas production in BC.



2 comments:

  1. Martin Noakes8/15/2013

    Hi there

    I thought I'd let you know about a very good presentation of the facts surrounding fracking (link below).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhYIdOVUrmg#t=0m0s

    If you feel it's a useful tool please feel free to use it

    I live about 5 miles away from Balcombe in the U.K. Where there is currently a big protest taking place in an attempt to stop fracking.

    Best Regards

    Martin Noakes

    P.S I have split the presentation up in the info section so that it's easy to select various sections.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin, Thank you for commenting and leaving the link. More information is always appreciated. Good luck with your fight to keep fracking out of your community. It is critical that such battles are won.

      Delete

Comments will be printed after moderation to eliminate spam. We are proudly a no buying, no selling website.

We enjoy reading all comments, and respond when time permits.

If you put a name to your comment we can all recognize you for your contribution.

Thank you for visiting and commenting.