Officials from Quebec to visit Alberta again for more frac lies: “Alberta is a model to follow when it comes to develop hydrocarbons”

Shale gas – Officials will visit Alberta translation by Amie du Richelieu of Gaz de schiste: des intervenants visiteront l’Alberta de Sébastien Lacroix Publié le 16 juillet 2014 dans Le Courrier Sud
A dozen people from the business circle, lay persons and elected municipal officials will go to Alberta from July 21 to 23 to learn a bit more about hydrocarbon development.

The Mayor of Manseau, Guy St-Pierre, and of Sainte-Marie-de-Blandford, Louis Martel, will be part of this tour organized by the Association québécoise des fournisseurs de services pétroliers et gaziers (AFSPG – Quebec association of oil and gas service suppliers).

On the first 2 trips, mostly farmers were members of the Tour. “Even some opponents had come”, mentions Mario Lévesque, the president of the AFSPG. They could ask any question they wanted. It will be the same this time also. They will get all the answers to their questions.”

The Tour includes meetings with farmers, with companies that do fracking, businessmen, and regulatory groups that have been put in place to oversee the development of this file.

An experimental farm belonging to the University of Calgary and that has a shale gas well close by is also among the places they will visit.

The AFSPG thinks that after nearly 80 years of expertise in the oil and gas field, Alberta is a model to follow when it comes to develop hydrocarbons, unlike Pennsylvania. “There are plenty of differences between those two, be it about processes or rules that are much more soft”, explains Mario Lévesque.

The president does admit though that caution is needed for safe development. “Alberta farmers tell us so. It is not all black, nor is it all rosy, or all white”, he says. Good common sense is needed to develop the industry, but it is a lie to say that it is a free-for-all.”

“I am of those that take the side of development in Quebec. I believe that it is possible to develop this file with strict standards”, adds Mario Lévesque. Strict rules are necessary to prevent small companies that do not have the (financial) means to do it. They use short cuts and that it is when it gets dangerous.”

“You can drill with $700,000, but when you use triple casings, it can easily cost up to $10 million, says the AFSPG president. It has to be well done by serious companies that have the financial means to do it.” [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

July 2014: What’s Missing from Canada’s Academic Fracking Debate? “The Gritty Truth.” Qu’est-ce qui manque dans le débat sur la fracturation hydraulique au Canada?

March 2014: Methane contamination found in Gaspé water wells near Petrolia’s methane leaking oil well; Is the Quebec government deflecting the explosive risk to protect the oil and gas industry?

March 2014: Unanimous Decision! Municipal Council of the City of Gaspé appeals the court decision not allowing regulation to protect drinking water from the harm caused by hydraulic fracturing

March 2014: Government finds methane in drinking water wells in Gaspé, water wells are within 2 km of Pétrolia’s oil wells, one of them reported in 2012 to be leaking methane

February 2014: 71 Quebec municipalities defend their drinking water and municipal by laws from possible oil and gas industry lawsuits

February 2014: The Quebec Superior Court agrees with Petrolia, says Gaspé municipality can’t protect its drinking water supplies from the oil and gas industry

January 2014: Gaspé, Quebec passes water law to stop oil drilling near its wells and homes

November 2013: Paul Precht, Alberta energy economist speaks contrary to the data; Questerre Energy tries to reverse public opinion on hydraulic fracturing in Quebec, CEO Michael Binnion’s work may have only just begun

October 2013: lone Pine Resources, a Canadian frac company in serious financial trouble with $300 million in aggregate debt sues Canada for $250 million to lift Quebec frac ban

May 2013: Protection of water and drilling: the regulation would not apply for Gaspé

April 2013: Petrolia asks Qubec Superior Court to rule on Gaspé drilling ban put in place to protect groundwater, Do decisions of municipal councils outweigh drilling rights?

April 2013: The man who did not know Quebec, L’homme qui ne connaissait pas le Québec

Kim Cornelissen’s retort to Michael Binnion of Questerre Energy:

Every time he opens his mouth, Mike insults us. Probably without even realizing it. This time, it’s claiming that us people all have a welfare dependence when it comes to equalization. He doesn’t care that we want to preserve our environment, that we don’t want to become a petro state. Mike, let me tell you a little secret: we absolutely don’t want to become like Alberta. 

… He doesn’t care that we don’t want to drill up our countryside and lose the precious water that is getting rarer for the past few years. [Emphasis added]

March 2013: Gas in your maple syrup, Du gaz dans ton sirop

February 2013: Hydraulic Fracturing in Canada, Federal Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan Reports Concerns, List of Fracking Substances in Canada Still Secret

November 2012: NAFTA challenge by Lone Pine launched over Quebec fracking ban

American company?
To make a complaint against Canada under NAFTA, a company must have a corporate structure in the United States or Mexico. For its part, Lone Pine is headquartered in Calgary and conducts substantially all of its activities, but is officially registered in Delaware. The company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Toronto. The Receptionist ensures that the company “has no office in the United States.” “We have a mailing address there for legal reasons, but we do not take calls,” says Shane Abel, Vice President, Investor Relations at Lone Pine

September 2012: Alberta companies critical of Quebec minister’s stance on fracking

September 2012: Fracking banned by Quebec government

Quebec’s new natural-resources minister, Martine Ouellet, says she doesn’t believe the controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale, known as “fracking,” can ever be done safely. She made the remarks Thursday on her way into her first cabinet meeting, less than 24 hours after she was named to cabinet. “I don’t foresee a day when there will be technology that will allow safe exploitation (of shale gas),” [Emphasis added]

September 2012: Quebec Minister’s fracking comments worry Calgary companies

September 2012: Quebec to seek ban on shale gas fracking: Minister

July 2012: Quebec delegation gets ‘crash course’ on shale gas

The trip was sponsored in part by the Quebec association, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Questerre Energy, which has leases on about 350,000 acres in Quebec.

July 2012: Fracking tour fails to sway Quebec farmers

This week’s tour was largely dismissed as “propaganda” back in Quebec. Mr. Gauthier said he felt the same way before he was invited to join the tour and “more [so] now.”

July 2012: Why Quebeckers are sight-seeing in Alberta’s (gas) fields

The Rosemary area is not the best showcase for the safety of fracking practices, since it largely hosts older, conventionally drilled wells. … On Wednesday, the group meets with quasi-government organizations including the Energy Resources Conservation Board. Ms. Favreau said she has “never really heard any horror stories” about Alberta’s natural gas industry, but wondered if it was because there was nothing to hear or that problems are being concealed. Water is her focus. “If it is a concern, if there are any problems; and when there is an incident, how it is taken care of by the companies, by the farmers themselves, by the insurance companies or the governments?” Ms. Favreau asked. … The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the major oil and gas lobby group, also helped over the cost of the trip.

April 2012: Quebec should say no to all hydraulic fracturing: report

April 2012: No fracking, even for research, recommends Quebec committee report

December 24, 2011: Groundwater contaminated with shale gas found in Quebec

September 2011: The Council of Canadian Academies and Environment Canada to study hydraulic fracturing after group of harmed Albertans demand mortatorium

September 2011: Leaking Energy wells in Quebec keep on leaking

July 2011: Quebec ban leaves shale gas drillers staggering

March 2011: Fracking will cause ‘irreversible harm’ Shale-gas extraction in Quebec a huge risk

January 2011: Inspectors found leaks at shale wells, government repo

January 2011: Leaks found in shale gas wells: Que. Report, 31 were inspected ‘and more than half have problems,’ says envrionmental expert ]

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