The increasingly controversial drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing will not get a green light on Prince Edward Island without first undergoing a thorough environmental assessment and public consultation, says the province’s environment minister.
Richard Brown says his department will be extremely cautious if and when it issues any permit to allow companies to drill in P.E.I. by so-called fracking, which involves injecting large quantities of water along with secret mixes of chemicals deep underground in order to break up gas-containing rock formations.
“If there’s problems with fracking, if it has any potential to hurt our groundwater or to hurt the environment or hurt the fisheries in any ways, we’re not going to allow it to happen,’’ Brown told a group of reporters outside the legislature Thursday.
Opposition house leader Jim Bagnall urged Brown to have his department conduct environmental assessments now on the potential impact fracking may have in the province. Bagnall says he fears the process could contaminate groundwater on P.E.I., which he notes is “the only province in Canada that relies 100 per cent on ground water.’’
While the gas industry argues that the chemical-infused technique is perfectly safe and vital to reaching vast gas supplies, concerns about its potential impact on water supplies is growing.
“Look I’m extremely concerned about fracking and the potential problems it may have to our ground water,’’ said Brown.
“The honourable house leader was correct: there is a tremendous amount of concern out there. I’m concerned about it also and that’s why when the permit was issued to PetroWorth it was made clear to them no drilling will occur – no drilling will occur – unless there’s a full environmental assessment done.’’
Brown says PetroWorth has a permit for a substantial amount of land, basically the entire eastern end of the Island, which gives them the right to the resources that can be discovered on that property.
“It doesn’t give them the right to drill,’’ he stressed. “They’re basically not allowed to do any drilling or any activity on those properties unless they come back to the department for approval before they do anything.’’
Brown says PetroWorth has not requested a permit to conduct any fracking under its current permit, which expires December 2012. Fracking by a drilling company in 2007 resulted in a spill involving low levels of radioactive material near Green Gables. Corridor Resources was looking for natural gas in Cavendish.
To release the gas, a high- pressure mixture of water and sand was forced into the ground to crack the rock but the pipe holding the fluid broke. P.E.I.’s environment department had the company ship the waste off the Island.
Brown says an environmental assessment and public consultation took place before that fracking was given the go ahead. Brown is keeping a keen eye on the work environment departments in neighbouring provinces are doing in studying the potential impact of fracking.
“We will take the information from those analysis and those studies and their comments into our consideration here on Prince Edward Island and before a drilling permit would be issued all those studies would have to be tabled,’’ he said. “They would have to be looked at.’’
It is truly an uneducated comment by saying this I am originally from Charlottetown and live in Alberta now and working in the oilfield and am very familiar with fracturing there is no water issues here in alberta as a result of fracturing and what it does for the economy out here in spin offs, employment and buisness is make it prosper and as it sits PEI can use all the help it can get, yes accidents do happen but people only here about the negatives but believe me there is much more positive. So please keep an open mind and consider the benifits of what it can do for PEI.