Hydraulic fracturing, a well-stimulation technique that has raised ire for its reported safety and environmental risks, will continue to be banned in New Brunswick indefinitely, the provincial Ministry of Energy and Mines announced on May 27.
Also known as “fracking”, the technique involves injecting chemicals into drilled wells under high pressure to fracture rock and release oil. But the method is also notorious for reportedly exposing oil and gas workers to unsafe chemicals, as well as the amount of water and sand it often employs and its effect on infrastructure.
The Ministry based its recent decision on findings from the Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing, which it had assembled last year to study the technique’s safety implications (COHSN, March 31, 2015). The provincial government had declared a moratorium on fracking in Dec. 2014, but offered to lift the ban if the oil and gas sector met certain requirements.
“We have been clear that we would not allow this activity to go forward unless our five conditions were met,” Energy and Mines Minister Donald Arseneault said in a press statement. “Creating jobs is our number one priority, but not at any cost. It is clear that our conditions cannot be satisfied in the foreseeable future.”
The conditions to which Arsenault referred were the following: a social licence for fracking; availability of information on the technique’s effects on health and water; a plan to mitigate fracking’s effects on infrastructure and water-waste disposal; a process for consulting with First Nations; and a mechanism to maximize benefits for the public, including a royalty structure.
“The industry has not met the conditions. Additionally, the global market for natural gas has seen a precipitous drop in prices, which makes it further unlikely that industry will invest the necessary efforts to address the conditions in the short or medium term,” said Arseneault.
He added that the Ministry’s decision to continue the ban would both create jobs for New Brunswick citizens and help to protect the environment.
“We will continue to support other resource projects, such as the Energy East pipeline and the Sisson mine,” said Arseneault.
The original moratorium resulted from a lack of a clear energy policy and of a plan to deal with wastewater disposal from fracking, the Minister pointed out, deeming industry proposals to dispose of wastewater into the Moncton and Saint John municipal systems to be unacceptable.
New Brunswick was the fourth Canadian province to ban hydraulic fracturing, following the leads of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.