Campaigns, Media, & Actions
- Posted by Terry Wishart
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Public Release
NEW BRUNSWICK PEOPLES’ DECLARATION ON SHALE GAS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
November 27, 2012
WHEREAS
Licences have been granted by the New Brunswick Government on 1.5 million hectares of New Brunswick enabling exploration for shale gas without public consultation or free, prior and informed consent of First Nations as informed by the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and
With a well casing failure rate of between 2 and 8 percent, and as high as 50 percent over two decades, shale gas extraction using hydro-fracking poses an unacceptable risk to drinking water wells, groundwater aquifers, lakes and streams, as well as consumes millions of gallons of fresh water, rending it a waste product requiring treatment; and
The shale gas industry will introduce substances such as benzene, diesel fuel, kerosene, naphthalene and antifreeze into our water through spills/leakage of toxic fracking flow-back fluids, and into our air, through fugitive emissions and venting, placing local residents, livestock, wildlife, and critical agriculture and watershed areas at risk; and
Communities where hydro-fracking has occurred have experienced explosions, fires, spills, stream contamination and well pollution, which have placed volunteer fire departments, EMS units and healthcare providers at risk; and
Extensive shale gas extraction, and its required infrastructure of roads, drill pads, pipelines, compressor stations, heavy truck traffic, and impacts of noise, emissions and dust will undermine property values and increase tax burdens on New Brunswickers who have not given their consent to this industry;
AND WHEREAS
Approximately 20,000 New Brunswickers in 2011 signed a petition calling for a ban on shale gas licensing and extraction in New Brunswick; and
In November, 2011 a CBC survey of 1,800 New Brunswickers indicated that 80 percent thought environmental concerns outweigh the desire for revenue from hydro-fracking; 74 percent thought hydro-fracking should not continue, and 61 percent called for a total ban on hydro-fracking; and
The October 2012 report by Dr. Louis LaPierre (The Path Forward) did not reflect the will of the people as expressed at public meetings held in 2012, and Dr. LaPierre did not gather evidence over the course of the public meetings to support his opinion finding that a moratorium on shale gas development was or was not warranted; and
The September 2012 report of Dr. Eilish Cleary (Chief Medical Officer’s Recommendations Concerning the Development of Shale Gas in New Brunswick) establishes the extensive and costly parameters required to be put in place to assess basic human health impacts before any exploratory hydro-fracking takes place; and
New Brunswick does not have an Environmental Bill of Rights guaranteeing its citizens and First Nations a clean environment including air, water and land and recognizing water as a fundamental Human Right; and
Employment claims of the industry have been largely overstated elsewhere, for example, in Texas. Furthermore, the work requires skills not generally held by New Brunswickers, rendering them ineligible for all but unskilled employment on shale gas sites;
AND RECOGNIZING
That, responding to objections from people, especially from those most directly affected, hydro-fracking has been forbidden or banned in many jurisdictions in the world primarily due to concerns over water; and
That industry infrastructure development will require clear-cutting of trees, 24-hour noise and light pollution, increases in truck traffic and permanent alterations of the landscape which are incompatible with forestry, fishing, guiding, agriculture, tourism, recreation and other pursuits which contribute to the New Brunswick economy; and
That resources which otherwise could be directed towards clean, renewable energy alternatives such as solar, wind, geothermal, micro-hydro and other non-consumptive energy resources are currently going into the pursuit of natural gas in shale, an un-sustainable fossil fuel that contributes to global climate change; and
That the private interaction of government and industry groups as occurred in Fredericton from November 4-6, 2012 at the taxpayer-supported 2012 Exploration, Mining and Petroleum New Brunswick Conference has the effect of inhibiting New Brunswickers’ expression against fossil fuel development and prevents alternative energy propositions from gaining recognition or reaching fruition;
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, RESPECTFULLY DEMAND THAT
The New Brunswick Government begin, TODAY, an energy transition program based on reducing overall energy consumption, energy efficiency and giving priority to renewable energy over sources that are finite, while transferring all subsidies from carbon to renewables/sustainables and increasing them in scale; and
That the production and delivery of energy be re-oriented to satisfy the needs of the people of New Brunswick, and not for export or to be managed by transnational interests or driven by industrial consumption; and
That local, alternative and sustainable solutions be prioritized, decentralizing generation. This transition requires an immediate ban on drilling for shale and in general prohibiting unconventional hydrocarbon extraction using methods too dangerous for the environment and health; and
That Government invite meaningful, constructive dialogue with social and environmental movements to determine all the economic possibilities and opportunities for New Brunswick that will address our debt and deficit and eliminate shale gas from consideration in this regard; and
That Government accept that the people reserve the right to enact civil disobedience to confront destruction of the New Brunswick environment, methods of subsistence, of quality of life and of health; and
That Government prioritize the adoption of a New Brunswick Environmental Bill of Rights, entrenching every citizen’s right to clean air, land and water in legislation, for the benefit of current and future generations.
Signed this day, the 27th of November, by
Please sign the electronic petition here
- Posted by Terry Wishart
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Q. Why this protest?
A. Over the last year, the NB government has not given any indication that it is willing to ban or impose a moratorium on hydrofracking, despite mounting evidence on the threats it poses. We want to remind our government in the opening of the Legislature that the people of NB have not given their consent to go ahead with this industry, and that we still demand an immediate stop to any further exploration or development.
Q. What is the big deal about hydro-fracking?
A. Fracking is an inherently contaminating industrial process that injects trillions of liters of water laced with toxic chemicals at enormous pressure to break apart rock and release hydrocarbons from underground formations such as shale and sandstone. Part of this toxic water, which may afterwards contain heavy metals and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) from the rock it opened, flows back to the well head and has to be tracked out and treated for safe disposal. NB lacks any such treatment facility, and even if it existed, there is no way to treat NORMs.
Q. Are there other concerns?
A. Yes. We are talking about unconventional gas (and possibly oil) reserves than can only be exploited through a massive network of wellpads spaced every mile or so and that will require clear-cutting, 24-hour noise and light pollution, huge amounts of truck traffic (and thus accidents and road damage) and permanent alterations of the landscape of rural NB. Furthermore, many of these wells are statistically bound to fail and leak methane and other compounds through the well casing, thus contaminating groundwater. The air quality of the entire area is also bound to decrease through toxic emissions from the well operations, which include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause cancer.
Q. How can you tell that the people have not given their consent?
A. In the first place, there is no explicit mention of shale gas in the PC 2010 electoral platform. There is a just a call for ’responsible‘ development of NB Natural Gas reserves. Given the available evidence, ‘responsible’ would be to apply the precautionary principle and call for a moratorium as the government of Quebec has done. So they are not even honouring the call in their platform.
Second: In November last year a petition for a ban on shale gas that nearly 20,000 people signed was tabled at the Legislature, which, by the way, were completely ignored. This is the largest collection of signatures that has ever taken place in NB on an environmental issue.
And third, a year ago, a CBC poll of 1,800 New Brunswickers indicated that 80 percent thought environmental concerns outweigh the desire for revenue from hydro-fracking; 74 percent thought hydro-fracking should not continue, and 61 percent called for a total ban on fracking. So it is clear they cannot get the people’s consent, that’s probably why they haven’t asked for it yet.
Q. But Dr. Louis LaPierre ruled out a moratorium in his report and calls for a phased approach, what do you have to say about this?
A. Dr. LaPierre based his recommendation on a false assumption, namely that evidence from other jurisdictions cannot be extrapolated to New Brunswick and therefore we need to allow the industry to experiment here. What we see through the facts is that different shale plays behave very similarly both in the economics, which are systematically hyped, and in the environment, where problems are continuously surfacing. It is absurd to think that the NB case will not follow this pattern.
Q. But couldn’t this pattern be reversed by the tough regulations the Government has promised?
A. Unfortunately, regulations have no effect on human error or the laws of physics and chemistry. In other words, no regulations can prevent a blowout, a spill or a truck crash, or, accidents apart, the cement casing of a well to deteriorate with time and leak, or the VOCs emitted from a wellsite to travel for tens of kilometers around. In any case, rather than strengthening existing regulations, the government is dismantling them through the introduction of loopholes in environmental legislation that in fact make way for the shale gas industry.
Q. This gutting of legislation is a serious accusation, can you please elaborate?
A. On March 16, 2011, then Environment Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney introduced a Natural Resources wetland map that does not show more than 60% of the wetlands in NB, breaking the province's own regulations on wetlands protection and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
On July 13, 2011, Minister Blaney notified a network of 19 watershed groups that their 10-year project work to develop a Water Classification Program was dropped because the regulations would be too difficult to enforce. This would have provided the regulatory framework for watershed protection. On November 13, 2012, Minister Bruce Fitch received final public input on their plans to exempt shale gas operations from the provincial Clean Air Act.
Q. Finance Minister Blaine Higgs has recently pointed to the shale gas industry as an area the province could tap into for additional revenue to tackle the debt. Also, Premier Alward said on November 7th at the Minerals and Petroleum Conference in Fredericton that "Shale gas is our only path to prosperity". Do you agree with them?
Absolutely not. Government bases these prospects on hyped industry estimates. Data from the US now show that the frenzy of drilling for shale gas in many states has not been the economic boom that industry claimed. In a study that Deborah Rogers, a renowned financial analyst, showed in her recent talk in Fredericton on the 40 counties that have been heavily drilled in the three major shale gas plays in the US, almost all of these counties had a median income, retail sales and employment rates below their State average.
She also showed that shale plays are not as consistent and uniform as assumed. Only 2 out of 10 wells are profitable in the average shale play, and the rate of production decline is much steeper than what industry claims (on average, 60 to 80% of the total production of a well occurs in the 1st year, and by the 5th year, most wells are unproductive). Can this really be a stable source of jobs and revenues?
Q. But don’t you think some readers may question whether your information is also biased, against industry?
A. There is already a wealth of scientific information and journalistic investigations that support our claim that fracking is neither safe nor economic. Interested readers can weigh by themselves for example the thousands of pages of documents gathered by the New York Times under the heading 'federal officials quietly question shale gas'. What is incredible is that we are still fighting this, given the appalling evidence against the practice that is already available.
Q. How many people do you expect will join the protest?
Hundreds have already committed to attend through social media, and the list is growing by the day. In addition, we have over 20 community groups, 4 student groups, 6 NGOs such as the NB Lung Association and the Council of Canadians, 3 unions (CUPE, national farmers union, and Distric Labour Council), and two political parties (NDP and Greens) that are joining. These represent tens of thousands of New Brunswickers and are a real cross-section of both rural and urban NB.
Q. What would you say to someone considering joining the walk?
A. If you are considering joining, then you probably already understand that the shale gas industry threatens our future. Our government has been co-opted by this industry and trumpets that it can be made safe with tough regulations, while in fact gutting existing ones and that it will bring jobs and prosperity.
To top it off, they are not listening to New Brunswickers by ignoring our petitions and calls. This is a slap in the face to Democracy that we have to make loudly visible in the streets, so that others may become aware of it.
And if they already are, then there are hundreds of fellow citizens that feel the same way. Knowing that someone else has the same views you do and is experiencing the same outrage as you is an extremely empowering experience. Come and walk with us!
- Posted by Terry Wishart
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IMPORTANT: Please E-mail Your MLA To Release Dr. Cleary's Health Study On Shale Gas
It has been learned that the NB Chief Medical Officer's health report on shale gas has been ready for about a week. The government appears to be delaying its release.
Please find below the draft text of an e-mail YOU can send to your MLA!
MLA email addresses at this link: http://www1.gnb.ca/legis/bios1/index-e.asp
Members of the 57th Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
(listed by riding in numerical order and e-mail address)
Please forward wide and far to your friends.
Thank you for your action!
Contacts
Mark D'Arcy Email markandcaroline@gmail.com
******************************************************************************************
E-MAIL ADDRESSES OF YOUR MLA CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://www1.gnb.ca/legis/bios1/index-e.asp
Members of the 57th Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
(listed by riding in numerical order + e-mail address)
Dear _______________, MLA
RE: An Open Letter to MLAs for the Immediate Release of the Complete Health Study on Shale Gas Sector
I just learned that the Health Study on Shale Gas has been completed by Dr. Eilish Cleary, the chief medical officer of health in New Brunswick. It is my understanding that Dr. Cleary submitted her report to the Alward government about one week ago, and that the report was scheduled to be released in September 2012.
The health implications of introducing shale gas development in this province is one of the most important issues facing New Brunswickers today. I respectfully request the following:
1. The Alward government should take care to release the report immediately and to neither delay nor censor it.
2. The MLAs hold meaningful public consultation on whether to allow or disallow shale gas development in New Brunswick. This consultation should start with legislative hearings, and later include public meetings on the government's final recommendations.
It will be very troubling to our democracy if either of these two steps is not forthcoming.
All discussion and decisions on shale gas regulations are premature.
It is my understanding that the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eilish Cleary, has developed recommendations on the shale gas industry "at preventing or mitigating potential adverse public health effects associated with the industry".
In the CBC interview with Dr. Cleary (see reference below), she explained that the health study would document how the industry could impact human health, how to mitigate or prevent the risks, as well as how to measure the actual impact of the industry on the health of New Brunswickers if the shale gas industry was to proceed in this province.
Dr. Cleary said she would make recommendations in each of the following 4 areas: (1) Physical risks; (2) Risks to the community and mental health; (3) Risks from exposure to environmental sources; and (4) Risks to the long-term health of the population.
Furthermore, the public has not yet been consulted on whether or not the province should move forward with shale gas exploration and fracking. Dr. Louis LaPierre publicly admitted, at the shale gas regulations meeting in Norton, NB on July 04, 2012, that the mandate given to him by your government did not include the ability to recommend a moratorium or ban on shale gas development.
Lastly, during a speech delivered in Moncton last October, Premier David Alward advised that Members of the Legislative Assembly would be organizing town hall and information meetings later that month “to hear directly from their constituents on this important issue."
We have a right to know and to be properly consulted.
I look forward to an honest and open discussion of all the health, environmental, and economic implications of shale gas development in New Brunswick.
Sincerely yours,
[YOUR NAME OR ORGANIZATION HERE]
Minister Responsible for Citizen Engagement
Province of New Brunswick
References:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/05/21/nb-shale-gas-health-study-445.html
Health study may examine impact of shale gas sector
Chief medical officer will issue recommendations in the summer - CBC News May 22, 2012
Premier David Alward, October 3, 2011 - Speech to Moncton Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Greater Moncton
- Hits: 5251
Learn about the legal action some community groups are coordinating together at www.noshalegasnb.ca
Learn a bit about the groups and people organizing Know Shale Gas NB - About Us:
We are New Brunswick citizens who want to protect our province and the people who live here from the detrimental effects of shale gas development that have occurred in other jurisdictions with extensive shale gas development using slickwater hydraulic fracturing.
Residents of Pavilion, Wyoming; Dimock, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth and Dish, Texas; and Rosebud, Alberta are all too familiar with the effects of shale gas development – water contamination, poor air quality, decreased property values, increased noise, and overall poorer quality of life.
Know Shale Gas NB members include:
- Hampton Water First
- Darlings Island Nauwigewauk
- Quality of Life Initiative
- Council of Canadians, Saint John Chapter
- Penniac Anti-Shale Gas Organization (PASGO)
- Friends of UNB Woodlot
- Saint John and Area KAIROS
- Posted by Terry Wishart
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POUR PUBLICATION IMMÉDIATE COMMUNIQUÉ 3 avril 2012
La parade des gaz de schiste lance la campagne municipale des Rubans bleus
Fredericton, N.B., Canada – Le mouvement contre les gaz de schiste se déplace vers les municipalités. Les citoyens de Fredericton demandent aux candidats aux postes de conseillers et de maires de prendre position pour la protection de l’air et de l’eau dans leur municipalité. Pour lancer cette initiative électorale, une parade de voitures et de camions, suivie par des bicyclettes et des piétons, va se rendre au centre de Fredericton ce jeudi 5 avril à midi.
Le point de rencontre sera le stationnement à côté du vieux cimetière au 51, chemin Woodstock. Le départ sera à midi. La parade suivra la rue King, contournera la législature et puis prendra la rue Queen jusqu’à l’hôtel de ville de Fredericton. Les véhicules et leurs passagers seront décorés de ballons bleus, de rubans bleus, de banderoles bleues, de bidons d’eau bleus et de beaucoup de pancartes. Cette parade lancera officiellement la Campagne des rubans bleus ici à Fredericton.
La campagne des rubans bleus est une action populaire qui va s’étendre dans les villages et les villes du Nouveau-Brunswick. Avec l’enthousiasme soulevé par cette campagne, les organisateurs prévoient, à l’approche des élections municipales, des manifestations semblables dans tout le Nouveau-Brunswick. La couleur bleue symbolise que les citoyennes et les citoyens vont voter pour les maires et les conseillers qui incluent dans leur plateforme l’interdiction ou un moratoire de l’exploration et de l’extraction des gaz de schiste. Le 14 mai, la population va voter pour le changement. Les représentants élus et les candidats seront invités à se joindre à cette parade pour démontrer publiquement qu’ils sont prêts à prendre position pour protéger l’air et l’eau de leur municipalité.
« Les couts pour notre santé, pour l’air et l’eau, notre climat et notre économie locale sont simplement trop élevés pour que nous restions silencieux. Les règlements sont incapables de nous protéger de la pollution atmosphérique inévitable de la vallée de Fredericton. Et les nappes aquifères où l’on puise nos eaux potables s’étendent loin à l’extérieur de Fredericton où l’on explore pour trouver des gaz de schiste, » ajoute une résidente de Fredericton, Sarah Boucher. « Il est temps pour les organisations de la santé ainsi que les entreprises, les églises et les politiciens de s’exprimer et de se joindre au plus grand mouvement populaire que le Nouveau-Brunswick n’a jamais connu jusqu’ici.
« La politicaillerie n’a pas sa place en santé humaine ni en matière de sécurité. Presque toutes les municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick ne se sont pas encore prononcées concernant les gaz de schiste. Les pressions des citoyens ont forcé les conseils municipaux de Minto, Hampton, Sackville et Sussex Corner à voter et ces quatre municipalités sont maintenant protégées par un moratoire ou bien une interdiction. Il est temps que Fredericton fasse la même chose, » selon une autre résidente de Fredericton, Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy.
Le faible taux de participation aux élections municipales signifie que les sièges peuvent être gagnés ou perdus par seulement quelques centaines de votes et souvent moins. Plusieurs sièges sont gagnés par acclamation. Durant les dernières élections municipales le 12 mai 2008, le taux moyen de participation a été de quarante-huit pour cent dans les élections municipales contestées et dans les élections des collectivités rurales (le taux le moins élevé était de vingt-huit pour cent et le plus élevé soixante-dix-sept pour cent). Cent-soixante-dix candidats se sont présentés pour les cent-quatre postes de maire; et huit-cent-quatre-vingt-neuf candidats se sont présentés aux cinq-cent-trente-sept postes de candidats; cinquante-trois maires et cent-dix conseillers ont été élus par acclamation.
« Faisons savoir à nos conseillers qu’ils ont besoin de se prononcer et qu’ils doivent protéger notre air et notre eau, » propose l’organisateur de la marche bleu, Mark D’Arcy. « Les élections municipales auront lieu de 14 mai prochain. »
Personnes-ressources pour les médias :
Mark D’Arcy
Tel. 506 454 5119
Terry Wishart
Tel. 506 238 4001
- Posted by Terry Wishart
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE APRIL 3, 2012
FREDERICTON SHALE GAS PARADE LAUNCHES MUNICIPAL BLUE RIBBON CAMPAIGN
Fredericton, N.B., Canada - The movement against shale gas development is moving into the municipalities. Citizens in Fredericton are asking their municipal candidates for Mayor and Councilors to take a stand on protecting the city’s air and water. To launch this election initiative, a parade of cars and trucks, followed by bicycles and pedestrians, will travel through downtown Fredericton this Thursday, April 5th at 12 noon.
People will gather at the parking lot beside the Old Burial Grounds at 51 Woodstock Road. The action will begin at 12 noon. The route will proceed down King Street, around the New Brunswick Legislature, and then up Queen Street to Fredericton City Hall. Vehicles and people will be decked out in blue balloons, blue ribbons, blue streamers, blue water jugs, and lots of signs. This parade will be the official launch of the Blue Ribbon Campaign here in Fredericton.
The Blue Ribbon Campaign is a grassroots action that is spreading to villages, towns, and cities across New Brunswick. With the growing enthusiasm of this campaign, organizers foresee similar actions throughout New Brunswick during the lead-up to municipal elections. The colour blue symbolizes that citizens will be voting for the Mayor and Councilor candidates who include in their platform a Ban or Moratorium on shale gas development. On May 14th we will be voting for change. Elected representatives and candidates will be invited to join the parade and publicly demonstrate that they will stand up to protect our air and water.
“The cost to human health, our air and water, our global climate, and our local economy are simply too great to remain quiet. Regulations are unable to protect us from the certainty of air pollution in the low-lying valley of Fredericton. And the aquifer from which we draw our drinking water extends far outside the Fredericton city limits into large tracts of shale gas exploration areas”, says Fredericton resident Sarah Boucher. “It is time for health and business organizations, churches, and politicians to speak up and join the largest grassroots movement that New Brunswick has ever seen.”
“Politics has no place in human health and safety. Almost all municipalities in New Brunswick have not taken an official stand on shale gas. Pressure from citizens has caused Minto, Hampton, Sackville, and Sussex Corner to hold Council votes and all four now have a moratorium or ban in place. It is time for Fredericton to do the same”, says Fredericton resident Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy.
Low turnout in most municipal elections means that seats can be won or lost by only a few hundred votes or less. Many seats are won by acclamation. In the last Quadrennial Municipal Elections on May 12, 2008, the average voter turnout was forty-eight percent for contested municipal and rural community elections (a low of twenty-eight percent and a high of seventy-seven percent). One hundred and seventy candidates (170) ran for one hundred and four mayoral (104) positions; Eight hundred and eighty-nine (889) candidates ran for five hundred and thirty-seven (537) council positions; Fifty-three (53) mayors and one hundred and ten (110) councilors were elected by acclamation.
“Let's put our local councilors on notice that they need to speak up and protect our air and water,” says organizer Mark D’Arcy. “Election date is May 14, 2012.”
Media Contacts:
Mark D’Arcy
Tel. 506 454 5119
markandcaroline@gmail.com
Terry Wishart
Tel. 506 238 4001
t.wishart@banfrackingnb.ca
- Posted by Terry Wishart
- Hits: 15223
New Brunswick’s opposition to shale gas alliance consisting of twenty-eight community organizations is using social media to enable New Brunswickers to send a text message to our fifty-five MLAs denouncing shale gas mining and exploration in our province. Organizers say that with this Text Message Action Campaign, additional public scrutiny will be focused on the Alward Government’s push for oil and gas corporations to explore and extract shale gas using hydraulic fracturing.
The texting initiative was planned and conceived in partnership with the Council of Canadians. With its ease of use and quick result, text messaging will allow New Brunswickers to express their opinion directly to our elected members from the comfort of their own homes.
The letter contained in the text message sent to New Brunswick legislators includes arguments championed by economists, geologists, engineers and former industry insiders which contradict industry and government speaking points centred around job creation, royalty revenues and public benefits. They include the following:
• The need for industry to import skilled workers from outside New Brunswick as has been happening in the US and western Canada
• Inflated royalty payments which do not take into consideration increased health care costs due to the migration of carcinogenic materials into our air, water and the land on which we live
• Reduced tax revenues from decreased property assessments and reductions in new home construction in areas ear-marked for shale gas development
• Reduced tax revenues as a result of citizens and visitors to the province seeking to escape an ever-increasing level of industrialization and the resulting pollution
• Increased road and bridge repair expenditures in counties where existing infrastructure was not engineered to withstand tens of thousands of truckloads of water, waste water, and methane gas
The Text Message Action Campaign is scheduled to go on indefinitely. Organizers invite New Brunswickers to take this opportunity to make their voice heard, especially in light of the Alward Government’s decision to not engage in consultations with the public and its intention to continue on a path towards shale gas production.
Media Contacts:
Jean Louis Deveau
506 442 1413
jlpdev@nbnet.nb.ca
Terry Wishart
506 238 4001
t.wishart@banfrackingnb.ca
*********************
L’Alliance contre les gaz de schiste du Nouveau-Brunswick est formée de vingt-huit organisations de collectivités qui utilisent les médias sociaux afin de permettre aux NéoBrunswickois de faire parvenir des textos à nos cinquante-cinq députés provinciaux pour dénoncer l’exploration et l’exploitation des gaz de schiste dans notre province. Les organisateurs sont d’avis qu’avec cette Campagne Action Texto, un examen public plus minutieux portera sur les tentatives de l’administration Alward d’accélérer l’exploration et l’exploitation des gaz de schiste par fracturation hydraulique de nos sous-sols par les sociétés à capital des pétrolières et des gazières.
Cette initiative texto a été planifiée et conçue en collaboration avec le Conseil des Canadiens. Avec sa facilité et ses résultats rapides, les textos vont permettre aux Néobrunswickois d’exprimer directement du confort de leur maison aux députés qu’ils ont élus leur opinion sur les gaz de schiste.
La lettre contenue avec le texto envoyé aux députés du Nouveau-Brunswick inclut les arguments avancés par les économistes, les géologues et d’anciens initiés de cette industrie qui contredisent les points de vue de l’industrie et du gouvernement qui se bornent à la création d’emploi, aux revenus des redevances et aux bénéfices pour la population. Ces arguments soulignent que :
• L’industrie aura besoin de faire venir ses travailleurs spécialisés de l’extérieur du Nouveau-Brunswick tout comme c’est arrivé aux États-Unis et à l'ouest du Canada;
• Les paiements de redevances gonflés ne prennent pas en considération l’augmentation des couts de soin de santé causés par la migration de matériaux carcinogènes dans l’air, l’eau et la terre où nous vivons;
• La réduction des revenus de taxation provenant de la diminution de la valeur des propriétés et de la réduction de la construction de nouvelles résidences dans les régions réquisitionnées pour l’exploitation des gaz de schiste;
• La réduction des revenus de taxation suite à la fuite des citoyens et des visiteurs pour échapper aux niveaux toujours croissant de pollution causée par l’industrialisation;
L’accroissement des dépenses de réparation des routes et des ponts dans les régions où les infrastructures en place n’ont pas été prévues pour supporter des dizaines de milliers de camions chargés d’eau, d’eau usée et de méthane.
On prévoit que la Campagne Action Texto continuera pour une durée indéterminée. Les organisateurs invitent tous les NéoBrunswickois de saisir cette occasion pour faire entendre leur voix, spécialement que l’administration Alward a décidé de ne pas consulter la population et de persister à favoriser l’exploitation des gaz de schiste.
Personnes-ressources pour les médias :
Jean Louis Deveau
506 442 1413
jlpdev@nbnet.nb.ca
Terry Wishart
506 238 4001
t.wishart@banfrackingnb.ca
- Posted by Terry Wishart
- Hits: 16189
The following includes an excerpt from the Nov. 2011 issue of Scientific American, in The Truth About Fracking.
Dr. Anthony Ingraffea will be presenting in Moncton, November 30th at the Capitol Theatre and at Hampton High School on Thursday, Dec. 1st at 7:00 p.m.. He will explore myths and realities of large-scale development of unconventional natural gas resources.
On a local scale, these concern geological aspects and the resulting use of directional drilling, high-volume, slickwater,hydraulic fracturing, multi-well pad arrangements and the impacts of these technologies on waste production and disposal. On a global scale, he will explore the cumulative impact on greenhouse gas loading of the atmosphere. Dr. Ingraffea is known for his clear and straight-forward explanations of these rather complex processes using visual displays and down to earth language.
Dr. Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University. He participated in research and development for the oil and gas industry for 25 years, specializing in hydraulic fracture simulation and pipeline safety and twice won the National Research Council/U.S. National Committee for Rock Mechanics Award for Research in Rock Mechanics.
Dr. Ingraffea became a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1991; he became Co-Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Fracture Mechanics in 2005; he won ASTM’s George Irwin Award for outstanding research in fracture mechanics in 2006; and in 2009, he was named a Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture. Recently, he has been deeply engaged in informal education regarding the topic of this lecture with over 50 public presentations over the last year.
This event is part of the Shale Gas Speaker Series and is sponsored by CCNB Action and New Brunswick Shale Gas Alliance Member Groups throughout the Province.
This is a unique opportunity to become well informed about the most controversial issue facing New Brunswickers today.
Contact info:
Carl Wolpin: crwolpin@xplornet.com 832-7827
Chris Rendell: appsolca@yahoo.ca 832-4660
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Yesterday at the Rally, we began our Text Message Action. Now we all have the chance to do the same, wherever we are.
With a very simple text-message procedure, a 'No Shale Gas" message is sent to all 55 MLAs and the Premier. This was setup in partnership with the Council of Canadians.
Each cell phone can send the text message twice, once in English and again once in French.
The procedure takes about 10-15 seconds, and is stated below in Blue (first in French, then in English). You simply dial 123411, then type in either "ngs" (French) or "nsg" (English). It's not case sensitive. You will then receive a text-message in reply, at which point you simply type your "firstname lastname".
It's as easy as breathing deep. You will receive a final reply that states the message to the MLAs (it is a short text basically asking for a ban on shale gas in NB).
We need to spread the word around, so that this goes viral. Stephanie Merrill is presenting over 12,000 signatures on the CCNB petition in a session of the Legislature next Tuesday Nov 29 in the morning. Imagine if we could get 12,000 + people using this text message action! Post it on your Facebook, Twitter, whatever.
Here are the instructions -- have fun!
For French,
1. Vous allez écrire une texte au « 123411 »
2. Dans le message, écrivez tout simplement « NGS » (G in French sounds like the English J) pour Non au Gaz de Schiste, et envoyez-le.
3. Vous allez recevoir une réponse presquimmédiatement; répondez avec votre nom
4. (Puis le réponse que vous allez recevoir à ça : L'industrie du gaz de schiste doit cesser au N.-B. Signez ce msg pour l'envoyer à tous les députés du N.-B. Taux en vigueur s'appliquent) You dont really need to say this one; you could just say #6. I was just thinking in case you get a question about the text on this one, as some words are blurred together in the actual response.
5. Votre lettre à été envoyer à tous les 55 (cinquante-cinq) membres de lAssemblée législative! Vous pouvez seulement le faire une fois en chaque langue par téléphone cellulaire.
For English,
1. Were going to send a text to 123411
2. In the body of the message, type NSG for No Shale Gas, and click on send.
3. Youll get a response almost immediately; respond to that with your first and last name
4. Youll get a thank-you note, indicating your letter has been sent to all 55 MLAs. This action can only be performed once in each language, per cell phone.
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- Posted by Terry Wishart
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Shale Gas Protest Rally in Fredericton November 23rd
FREDERICTON NB ---- A rally at the Provincial Legislature will take place on November 23rd to protest unconventional shale gas development in New Brunswick.
Citizens and community groups from throughout New Brunswick will converge on Fredericton on Wednesday, November 23rd at the opening session of the New Brunswick Legislature with their message to the Alward Government that the exploration and extraction of natural gas from shale using horizontal drilling in combination with slick water hydraulic fracturing will not be tolerated.
Members of CUPE locals from throughout the province will be joining industry opponents in solidarity on Wednesday. At their November 3rd 2011 National Convention, CUPE adopted Resolution No.96, which expressly states that all levels of government must put an end to shale gas development because the industry, “has failed to demonstrate that such development would not have serious consequences for the environment and the health of citizens”; and governments being “clearly unprepared for this issue, and have done a poor job of responding to public concerns”.
New Brunswickers from all over the province denounce the development of an unconventional shale gas industry. The process used to extract unconventional shale gas is less than 20 years old. It is the undisputed cause of ecological damage and long-term economic net debt, earthquakes, air and noise pollution, infrastructure degradation and the profligate use and irreversible poisoning of trillions of litres of fresh water. It leaves deleterious impacts on the lives and health of humans and other animals in its wake.
“The civic duty of New Brunswick residents does not require that they be guinea pigs in anyone's science experiments”, states Jim Emberger, spokesperson for the Taymouth Community Association.
The promise of large-scale job creation appears over-exaggerated. In a recent presentation at the University of New Brunswick on October 22, 2011, Mr. Calvin Tillman, former mayor of Dish, Texas mentioned that since this industry requires highly skilled workers, most will be imported from outside the province to enable the industry to be more competitive at a time when stock market prices for natural gas are low.
Sixty residents in Penobsquis have lost their well water and have experienced ground subsidence allegedly from potash mining and the added burden of shale gas drilling in their rural community. Some who want to move away have been unable to sell their homes. We ask, where is justice for the people of Penobsquis? Will regulations serve anyone when more things go wrong? A point made clear in the recent documentary by Rob Turgeon, ‘Be… Without Water’. (www.youtube.com/user/robfturgeon#p/a/u/1/aK0NMTMXHSw)
Events on Wednesday, November 23rd are scheduled to begin with a gathering at the Provincial Legislature at 12:00 noon. A program with music and speakers will begin at 12:45 pm.
Media Contacts:
Jean Louis Deveau 506 442 1413 jlpdev@nbnet.nb.ca
Julia Linke 506 367 0987 linkejul@gmail.com
Terry Wishart 506 238 4001 t.wishart@banfrackingnb.ca
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Pour publication immédiate COMMUNIQUÉ 22 novembre 2011
Rassemblement contre les gaz de schiste à Fredericton le 23 novembre
FREDERICTON NB − Un rassemblement aura lieu à l’Assemblée législative demain le 23 novembre afin de protester contre l’exploitation des gaz de schiste au Nouveau-Brunswick.
Des citoyennes et des citoyens ainsi que des groupes communautaires de l’ensemble du Nouveau-Brunswick convergeront vers Fredericton à l’ouverture de la Législature du Nouveau-Brunswick demain mercredi le 23 novembre pour signifier à l’administration Alward que l’exploration et l’extraction des gaz naturels en utilisant le forage horizontal avec des fluides de fracturation sous pression ne seront pas tolérées.
Les membres des sections locales de toute la province du SCFP se joindront en solidarité à ceux qui s’opposent à l’exploitation des gaz de schiste. Lors de leur Convention nationale le 3 novembre dernier, ils ont adopté la résolution 96, qui déclare expressément à tous les niveaux de gouvernement que l’on doit mettre fin à l’exploitation des gaz de schiste parce que cette industrie « a failli de démontrer que de telles entreprises n’auraient pas de conséquences graves sur l’environnement et sur la santé de la population, » et que les gouvernements « sont manifestement mal préparés devant cet enjeu et qu’ils n’ont pas réussi à répondre aux préoccupations de la population. »
Les NéoBrunswickois de toute la province dénoncent le développement non conventionnel de l’industrie des gaz de schiste. Le processus utilisé pour extraire les gaz de schiste non conventionnels a moins de 20 ans. Et il est la cause non contestée de dégâts écologiques, de tremblements de terre, de pollution atmosphérique, de pollution par le bruit, de dégradation des infrastructures et de l’utilisation immodérée et de l’empoisonnement irréversible de trillions de litres d’eau douce. Elle laisse dans son sillage des impacts nuisibles pour la vie des humains et des autres animaux.
« Le devoir civique des résidents du Nouveau-Brunswick n’exige pas qu’ils servent de cobaye pour les expériences scientifiques de qui que ce soit, » affirme Jim Emberger, porte-parole de l’Association communautaire de Taymouth.
Les promesses de créations d’emplois à grande échelle semblent très exagérées. Dans sa récente présentation à l’université du Nouveau-Brunswick le 22 octobre dernier, monsieur Calvin Tillman, ancien maire de Dish au Texas a mentionné qu’étant donné que cette industrie a besoin de travailleurs hautement qualifiés, la plupart d’entre eux proviendront de l’extérieur de la province afin de permettre aux opérations d’être plus compétitives au moment où les prix en bourse du gaz naturel sont bas.
En effet, la collectivité de Penobsquis a perdu (60) puits et sources depuis plusieurs années. Les plateformes de forage pour les gaz de schiste qui contribuent au fonctionnement des processus de la mine de potasse sont dispersées dans les pâturages et les coteaux à l’amont de la Kennebecasis. Nous demandons, où se trouve la justice pour les habitants de Penobsquis? Est-ce que des règlementations vont servir qui que ce soit lorsque d’autres choses tournent mal? Un récent documentaire par Rob Turgeon donne une réponse très claire : « Vivez…sans eau » (www.youtube.com/user/robfturgeon#p/a/u/1/aK0NMTMXHSw)
Les évènements de demain mercredi 23 novembre débuteront à midi lors du rassemblement devant l’Assemblée législative provinciale. Un programme de musique et de conférenciers suivra à midi et 45.
Contacts pour les médias:
Jean Louis Deveau 506 442 1413 jlpdev@nbnet.nb.ca
Julia Linke 506 367 0987 linkejul@gmail.com
Terry Wishart 506 238 4001 t.wishart@banfrackingnb.ca