Fracking the truth by Bill Bocock, Sturgeon County, February 7, 2014, Edmonton Journal
Re: “Fracking in province ‘out of control,’” Feb. 5.
I thank NDP Leader Brian Mason and the Journal for revealing what was “out of sight.”
Environment Minister Robin Campbell says energy development accounts for 10 per cent of water use in Alberta. That’s an alarming revelation because that water is lost to the hydrological cycle or becomes a toxic substance.
Campbell also says, “To date, there has not been a documented case of hydraulic fracturing fluids contaminating a domestic water well in Alberta.”
The key word is “documented.” I know at least three landowners whose water wells were contaminated by fracking. The powers that be have used every trick to prevent documentation. Court cases are ongoing.
In the U.S., multimillion-dollar lawsuits over fracked well water get publicity. In Pennsylvania, Cabot Oil and Gas was ordered to supply fresh water to more than a dozen homes near contaminated fracked wells. In Alberta, confidentiality clauses protect oil companies.
For first-hand information on “out of control,” learn about the court case of Rosebud landowner Jessica Ernst.
[Refer also to:
The Science is Deafening: Industry’s Gas Migration