Fracking ban bill is badly flawed, environmental coalition says by The Canadian Press, October 6, 2014, CTV News
A coalition of environmental groups opposed to hydraulic fracturing in Nova Scotia says legislation that would ban the practice is seriously flawed.
The group had initially applauded the province’s Liberal government when it announced a renewed moratorium last month through amendments to the Petroleum Resources Act.
But the Nova Scotia Fracking Resource and Action Coalition said Monday a closer review of a bill tabled last week has revealed shortcomings when it comes to a definition for fracking, community consent and exemptions for research.
Gretchen Fitzgerald of the Sierra Club said by defining fracking in regulations rather than in the bill, the government is allowing the energy minister to make changes without public debate or a vote in the legislature. [Is everything going according to industry’s plan to frac Nova Scotians whether they like it or not? By heeding Dr. Wheeler’s frac patent, conflict of interest panel’s advice to follow the lying, bullying, abusive, Charter rights violating, no duty of care, deregulating and rights decimating “Alberta Model?”]
“The definition of hydraulic fracturing covered by the bill determines the extent of the ban,” the coalition said in a statement. “The definition should be in the bill itself.”
The coalition also said the bill does not include a requirement for community consent before fracking is permitted, which was a key recommendation from an expert panel review done for the government.
As well, the coalition is critical of the bill because it’s specifically aimed at high-volume hydraulic fracturing in shale rock formations.
Coalition member Mark Tipperman said that creates a loophole for companies hoping to frack for oil or gas in different types of sand or rock.
“Unconventional gas and oil development occurs not just in shale formations but also in tight sands and coal beds,” the coalition says. “The risks arising from fracking in these other formations are similar, if not identical [Likely much much worse. More and more reports are out of the closet about companies fracing directly into community drinking water supplies, while academics, Main Stream NGOs, water and health authorities, politicians and non-regulating “Alberta Model” regulators lie about it, deregulate to enable it, while publicly saying they are creating strict regulations], to fracking shale.” [Emphasis added]
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