Industry lobby groups urge New Brunswick to lift frac moratorium. What for? To contaminate drinking water, divide and conquer communities, poison land, families and air while companies frac and go bankrupt and then demand that citizens finance their bad gambling debts?

New Brunswick government won’t lift fracking moratorium until conditions met by The Canadian Press, March 29, 2016

New Brunswick’s energy and mines minister says the province won’t lift a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until all the government’s conditions are met.

Donald Arseneault says the government is reviewing the report of a shale gas review committee that took almost a year to study the issue.

A collection of business groups is calling on the government to lift the moratorium, which was imposed in December 2014.

They say the only way to attract investment and create jobs in the natural gas industry in New Brunswick is to lift the moratorium.

The government imposed five conditions when it imposed the moratorium, including a plan for regulations, waste-water disposal, a process to consult First Nations, a royalty structure and a so-called social licence.

Arseneault says those conditions must be addressed before the moratorium can be lifted.

Business groups urge New Brunswick to lift fracking moratorium by Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press, March 28, 2016, The Globe and Mail

A collection of business groups is calling on the New Brunswick government to lift its fracking moratorium, but opponents say it’s a last-ditch effort to save a failing industry.

The business groups have called a news conference for Tuesday in Fredericton to make their case.

“When you look at the unemployment levels being as high as they are – almost 10-per-cent unemployment in New Brunswick – certainly there are a lot of families in New Brunswick who could use the jobs at a time when our economy is really in a significant slump,” said Joel Richardson, vice-president of the New Brunswick division of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

Others in the group calling for an end to the moratorium are The True Growth [???] Natural Gas Working Group, Atlantica Centre for Energy, the New Brunswick Responsible [where in the fracing world is that happening?] Energy Development Alliance and the New Brunswick Petroleum Alliance.

“We are encouraging the province to move forward so that we can attract investment and we can create jobs in New Brunswick, but the only way we’re going to be able to do that is if there is no moratorium,” Mr. Richardson said.

He said exploration companies won’t invest in the province as long as the moratorium is in place.

Energy Minister Donald Arseneault could not be reached for comment Monday.

Just two weeks ago, SWN Resources announced it was closing its office in New Brunswick amid uncertainty about the timetable for developing the shale-gas industry in the province.

New Brunswick’s Liberal government imposed the moratorium in December, 2014, to allow for time to address public concerns.

The biggest public issue is the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. …

Jim Emberger, spokesman for the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, said the latest effort to lift the moratorium is an act of desperation for an industry beset by rising environmental concerns and falling commodity prices.

“The market for this product is disappearing at the same time that its price has cratered,” he said Monday.

“Last week, Canada and the United States signed an agreement to reduce methane emissions from gas and oil production by 40 per cent, which is going to add more expenses to the industry. The reason they did this is because they found out that methane emissions have grown by leaps and bounds, much more than anyone anticipated.”

But Mr. Richardson said natural-gas development has been without incident in New Brunswick since the early 1990s.

[Reality checks:

2916 01 28: $750,000 Fine For Killing 7,500 Migratory Birds from Direct or Indirect Contact with Canaport’s LNG Burning Natural Gas Flare Stack in New Brunswick

2013: Is there enforcement of New Brunswick’s “toughest in the world” frac regulations? One month later, aquifer still broken due to SWN’s seismic testing. Energy Minister Craig Leonard blames protesters

2012: Nova Scotia accepting fracking waste from New Brunswick

2012: Shale gas, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas and water in New Brunswick

2012: Cardy calls for moratorium on Stoney Creek drilling

Recent lab tests by RPC of Fredericton found well water that was contaminated with methane, diesel and barium, according to Cardy, making it unsafe for drinking. “This report contradicts the claims made by the government of New Brunswick that there have been no incidents connected to the oil and gas industry in recent decades,” 

Fracturing Stoney Creek Field well with nitroglycerin, circa 1940 ]

“We’re hopeful that with the proper [Who defines “proper?” CAPP, Dr John Cherry and frac patent holder conflict of interest expert Dr. Maurice Dusseault and Ex PM Steve Harper?] environmental regulation and oversight in place that people will accept that it is a viable option and that the risk can be mitigated,” he said.

The government imposed five conditions when it imposed the moratorium, including a plan for regulations, waste-water disposal, a process to consult First Nations, a royalty structure and a so-called social licence.

Last month, a government-appointed commission called on the government to be more diligent in consulting aboriginal communities and set up a plan to deal with fracking wastewater.

It also called for an independent regulatory body [modeled after the No Duty of Care, legally immune even for Charter violations AER?] as a first step in rebuilding lost public trust in oversight of the industry. [Emphasis added]

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