Resolution Passed about Fracking Regulations and Enforcement by National Farmers Union [Canada], AGM November 22, 2012
Whereas the legal regulatory requirements across Canada are lacking proper protection of groundwater and surface water from hydraulic fracturing, and
Whereas the current regulatory scheme does not give the operators enough incentive to care, and
Whereas the adversely affected individuals and communities will not get appropriate restitution,
Therefore Be It Resolved that the NFU lobby the federal and /or provincial governments to implement the following recommendations:
– Eliminate the due diligence defense. At a minimum, limit the defense by creating a two-tier regulatory scheme that imposes some level of absolute liability for administrative penalties and strict liabilities for criminal prosecutions.
-Ensure that administrative penalties are set at a level that accurately reflects potential damage.
-Require fracking operators to hold sufficient insurance to be capable of cleaning up groundwater pollution and paying substantial fines or damages.
-Explicitly permit citizens to prosecute fracking operators for statutory violations where the crown is unwilling to do so.
-Provide the court with explicit authority to impose additional penalties over and above the maximum in the case of negligence.
-Require companies to include a tracer in their fracking fluids so potential groundwater contamination can be easily linked to a specific fracking operation.
-Ensure that individuals directing fracking operations are held personally liable for statutory and/or common-law violations.
[Refer also to: Fracking our Food Supply