Reportedly, the BC government received Intrinsik’s Frac Health Report in March 2014 

MUST WATCH: Huntington asks Health Minister Terry Lake on health impacts of fracking in BC 4:41 Min by Vicki Huntington, February 19, 2015

Names the ministries involved in keeping the report from the public. [Is the oil and gas industry “editing” Intrinsik’s report before allowing the government to make it public?]

VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE

In the Paris Guardian

Report on fracking health effects not disclosed by Health Minister, The Provincial Health Ministry has been accused of withholding results of the latest scientific research on how oil and gas industry exploration and development here in the northeast impacts human health, according to the Globe and Mail by Adam Steinberg, February 20, 2015, energeticcity
Independent MLA Vicki Huntington told the Globe that the suppression of data looks like a cover-up from a government which wants nothing to stand in the way of its ambitions to secure a new liquefied natural gas industry. “Northern British Columbians want to know whether the current regulation of the oil and gas industry does or does not protect their health,” MLA Huntington said. “The government has the information and has so far refused to release it.” However, Health Minister Terry Lake says the report, which has been on his desk since last fall, is still being studied by several government departments, but he hopes to release the results “soon.”

The government released a report in 2012, which compiled the concerns of northeast residents who believe health problems like asthma, bronchitis, and cancer are linked to the oil and gas activity in the area. This follow-up report is meant to assess if there is a scientific basis for those concerns, and the government has also promised to review whether its current regulations around the industry could be improved to better manage human health risks. MLA Huntington, who represents the Lower Mainland riding of Delta South, has been pushing for an investigation since she first met with concerned residents in the Peace region back in 2011. She says her office filed a freedom of information application, and after waiting 86 days was told she could not have even the raw data of the new report, much less its conclusions, because the information could be harmful to the financial interest of a public body. [Emphasis added]

B.C. Health Minister mum on report of fracking health effects by Justine Hunter, February 19, 2015, The Globe and Mail
B.C.’s Ministry of Health is withholding the results of scientific research on how oil and gas operations in the province’s northeast communities are affecting human health.

Health Minister Terry Lake said Thursday that a report, which has been on his desk since last fall [reportedly the report was given to the government in March 2014!], is still being studied by several departments in government and he hopes to release the results “soon.”

But Independent MLA Vicki Huntington says the suppression of data looks like a cover-up from a government that wants nothing to stand in the way of its ambitions to secure a new liquefied natural gas sector.

“Northern British Columbians want to know whether the current regulation of the oil and gas industry does or does not protect their health. The government has the information and has so far refused to release it,” she told the legislature.

Ms. Huntington has been pushing for an investigation since she first met with concerned residents in the Peace River region in 2011. The government has maintained that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is safe, but the large number of new wells being drilled in the region has created additional pressure to answer questions about the potential health impacts.

She said her office filed a freedom of information application that produced no results. After 86 days of waiting, she was told she could not have even the raw data, much less the conclusions, because the information could be harmful to the financial interest of a public body. [Department of Energy?]

The government released a report in 2012 that compiled the concerns of residents who believe their health problems, including asthma, bronchitis and cancer, are linked to the oil and gas activity around them. The follow-up report is meant to assess if there is a scientific basis for those concerns, and the government also promised to review whether its current regulations around the industry could be improved to better manage human health risks.

“I want to see whether the data show if the public concern is justified,” Ms. Huntington said.

The Health Minister would not promise to release the raw data. However, he said he will make the summary of the report public once all the relevant ministries have had a chance to respond internally. There are at least five ministries involved.

“We have applied scientific principles to analyze the possible health, operational and regulatory issues with oil and gas development,” he told the House. “The recommendations are being reviewed, and the different ministries are being briefed. We hope to be able to release that report in the very near future.”

In an interview, Ms. Huntington said she is disturbed that the province has allowed a huge increase in development in the region without any cumulative impact assessment.

“It’s a backward way of doing business and an unprofessional approach to the major resource demands of our time,” she said. [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

2015 02 23 advertisement in PA Observer-Reporter

2015: Cumulative frac harms: Who’s looking? Canada Water Network? Synergy group extraordinaire with Alberta Government Bev Yee on the Board who helped cover-up Encana fracing Rosebud’s drinking water aquifers?

More information on above photo of Howard Hawkwood, Lochend, Alberta: FrackingCanada Into the Mouths of Babes

Slides from Diana Daunheimer presentations. Slide above shows tumour in her daughter.

Mommy, farmer, scientist, researcher, very limited to this scope of hydraulic fracturing right now, but it has been a very, very steep learning curve – but one that I feel has been necessary.

~Diana Daunheimer

2015: How regulators “regulate” to make fracing safe: Let industry inject toxic frac waste into federally protected drinking water aquifers; “Levels of benzene up to 700 times federal standard have been found in waste water from fracking”

2015: British lawmakers demand freeze on fracing, Environmental Audit Committee releases frac report summarizing significant environmental risks to Public Health

2014: New York State to ban fracking because of red flags to public health. Health Commissioner Howard Zucker: “Would I let my child play in a school field nearby? After looking at the plethora of reports, my answer would be no.”

2014: Quebec’s Premier Declares Province-wide Shale Gas Ban after Environmental Review Board (BAPE) says Fracking Not Worth The Risk, “Too many negative consequences to the environment and society…risks to air and water quality…noise and light pollution”

2014: State of Science on Harms by Fracking to Public Health and Water: Health Professionals, Scientists Release Analysis of 400 Peer-Reviewed Studies on Fracking along with Major Scientific Compendium Update

Among the key findings:

• 96% of all studies published on health impacts indicate potential risks or adverse health outcomes.
• 87% of original research studies published on health outcomes indicate potential risks or adverse health outcomes.
• 95% of all original research studies on air quality indicate elevated concentrations of air pollutants.
• 72% of original research studies on water quality indicate potential, positive association, or actual incidence of water contamination.
• There is an ongoing explosion in the number of peer-reviewed publications on the impacts of shale or tight gas developments: approximately 73% of all available scientific peer-reviewed papers have been published in the past 24 months, with a current average of one paper published each day.

Anthony Ingraffea, PhD, Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering, Cornell University, said, “In 2008, when New York State first declared a moratorium on fracking, only six peer-reviewed papers on the health and environmental impacts had been published. Now there are more than 400, and the vast majority show a clear and present danger. What’s more, many problems are unfixable by regulations of any kind. It was a wise governor who said ‘wait’ in 2008.”

2014: Council of Canadian Ministers of the Environment removes their important 2002 report on unconventional oil and gas impacts. It was uploaded to the Ernst vs Encana website in February 2015.

2014: Alberta Energy and Environment Regulators Play Catch 22: Fracking and ill health, Albertans take fracking head on

…

Bob Willard, Senior advisor at the Alberta Energy Regulator, agreed to speak about current regulations.

David Kattenburg: Why aren’t these things being monitored for in the gases that are coming out from flaring and incineration stacks?

Bob: The long list that you’ve identified would be the responsibility for monitoring of not only the Alberta Energy Regulator, but the Environment department themselves, and I would direct you once again to ESRD for them to identify what their plans are relative to updating those guidelines.

David: I have actually, I’ve tried valiantly I’d say to try to get them to explain to me why they have these guidelines that say all industry MUST conform to these guidelines, and then I said well why does directive 60 of the Alberta Energy Regulator only establish monitoring requirements for sulfur dioxide and he said: “speak to the Alberta Energy Regulator.” 

Bob: Um, it is important, and this is something the Energy Regulator does lead, is capturing the metrics of the volumes of material, so we do have good metrics as to the volumetrics.

David: But essentially nothing about the composition of those gases, other than sulfur dioxide.

Bob: A totally accurate composition, I would certainly volunteer that no, we do not have a totally accurate comprehensive information on the flare composition rather, we have it for the uh volumes, but not necessarily for the compositions. 

2014: The Parrs’ $2.9 Million jury verdict on frac harm stands: “Dallas County court last week denied Aruba Petroleum Inc.’s request for a new trial,” Aruba plans to appeal

2014: Jessica Ernst legal battle: Alberta will not appeal ruling: “After seven arduous years a stunning victory stands. The truth will have its day in court.”

2014: How Petro Giants and Regulators Fend Off Lawsuits: The Nightmare of Alberta Landowner Ann Craft: Fracked, then Poisoned, then Legal Advice

Recording of Glenn Solomon, lawyer representing the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER, previously ERCB) in the Ernst vs Encana lawsuit, giving legal advice to Ann Craft’s son Brent O’Neil, about hydraulic fracturing contaminating Ann’s well water and damaging her farm buildings and home.

2014: Oil and Gas Industry “Regulation” on the International Stage: “The [Alberta energy] regulator needs to step up and tell the world what the rules are.” Like this?

2014: A Government Frac Report Named Redact: UK government heavily censors state-sanctioned report on fracking

Harper and his dog Redact

2014: CAPP Talks out of Both Sides of Their Mouth: One Day Frac Operations “Occasionally Contaminate Water,” Next Day it’s “Quite impossible”

2014: Fracking might be as damaging as thalidomide, tobacco and asbestos, UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser warns in new report: “In all these and many other cases, delayed recognition of adverse effects incurred not only serious environmental or health impacts, but massive expense”

2014: UK Public Health Report Admits Harm for Residents Living Near Fracing: “lack of public trust and confidence, stress and anxiety from the uncertainty which could lead to poor mental wellbeing, noise related health effects, issues related to capacity for flowback waste water treatment and disposal”

2014: Alberta Health Services tells residents within 5 km of South Rosevear Gas Plant not to use water from their wells because of “possible” solvent contamination; Says nothing to residents living in danger from known explosive levels of methane contaminating well water and homes!

2014: Santos CBM in NSW Australia contaminates aquifer with uranium at 20 times the safe drinking water levels; Regulator does not test for thorium, radon and radium! Thorium and radon are known to cause lung cancer

2014: Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory [NPRI] Oil and Gas Sector Review; Chemicals injected and fugitive or venting emissions (e.g. H2S) by oil and gas industry exempt from reporting

2014: Salon interviews researchers Bamberger and Oswald: Fracking’s untold health threat: How toxic contamination is destroying lives, America’s natural gas boom has real consequences for children, animals, food and water

2014: EPA Investigation report details toxic chemicals at Statoil Frac Site Explosion; Chemicals spilled into Opossum Creek – 70,000 fish killed; Ohio Regulator says safe to drink the water

2014: Anadarko Petroleum settles U.S.-wide clean-up and health harm lawsuit for $5.15 billion, US Bankruptcy judge ruled the company should pay 19.35 billion and legal fees

2014: Terry Greenwood, 66, died after 3 months fighting cancerous brain tumors, years of fighting fracing and for appropriate, accountable regulator response to frac contamination on his farm

MUST WATCH:

…

“Now it’s the cattle, soon it will be the people.”

…

…

“The tumours are inoperable, I am fighting as hard as I can.”

…

“No one gives a damn about the people. … The liability is on you and the community. And they lie about everything…. This was all planned strategy, from day one.”

…

“It’s lie after lie after lie.”

…

“Your air is compromised, your water is compromised, your soil is compromised.

The cattle, any animal coming out of a drilling field, its blood should be tested at the auctions, the markets. They’re not doing that.”

“I’ve got dairy farmers up in Bradford county…their water turned white. The DEP would not come up there and test. Guess what, that milk is being shipped.”

…

Rashes

Puss blisters

…

“They lost cattle…chickens…dogs…horse. They had calves abort. … They had high levels of arsenic in their water. DEP said, “Well, that’s from past farming practices.”

…

“You don’t know what it’s like until you live it.”

…

“There’s a keyword that industry uses, everything’s ‘anecdotal.'”

…

2014: Fracking Beyond the Law: Despite Industry Denials, Investigation Reveals Continued Use of Diesel in Hydraulic Fracturing

2014: Colorado Investigates a Spike in Fetal Abnormalities Near Natural Gas Drilling Site, A prevalence of anomalies such as low birth weight and congenital heart defects are found within a 10 mile radius of a concentration of gas wells

2014: New study links fracking to birth defects in heavily drilled Colorado, Risks of some birth defects increased as much as 30 percent in mothers who lived near oil and gas wells

2014: Third Report in Three Days Shows Scale Of Fracking Perils; PSE Study: ‘We can conclude that this process has not been shown to be safe’

2014: Scientists Find ‘Alarming’ Amount Of Arsenic In Groundwater Near Texas Fracking Sites; New perspectives on the effects of natural gas extraction on groundwater quality

2014: Baytex Finally Successful, Gags & Settles Poisoned Alberta Families: Does a lawyer-touted “positive outcome” of displacing and gagging poisoned families, stop the poisoning? “Our house is contaminated…there’s a smell now…Part of the torture of all this is not only abandoning our farm, but the health experts…told us we shouldn’t bring anything (with us).”

2014: New Study: The more natural gas wells in an area, the more residents end up in hospital

2014: Harper Cuts: Environment Canada to develop world-class regulations on pollutants and “improve industry requirements for prevention, preparation, response and recovery efforts” on hazardous substances despite 42.2 per cent cuts to pollution and mitigation programs

2014 10: Why was a 2012 Health Canada Report, admitting significant health hazards and risks to groundwater and air from hydraulic fracturing, kept from the public?

2014: New York State consultant, John Adgate, hired by health department to assist in review of health effects, slams fracking

2014: And the lies continue: Energy Minister Rich Coleman says tough B.C. rules make fracking extremely safe and fracing has never contaminated groundwater in BC

2014: ANOTHER COVER UP? Alberta Government had report of sulfolane leak and excedance since 2009, no fines or punishments against company levied, watchdog did not tell residents

2014: Heavily frac’d Hudson’s Hope, BC, issues water advisory: “A resident…observed a substance surfacing into the Brenot Creek.” Do not “use the water from Lynx Creek and Brenot Creek” for drinking water, livestock watering, irrigation … “At this time we cannot comment on the water quality of water wells that are within the proximity of the contaminated site.”

2014:“Rates of childhood leukemia and lymphoma in Flower Mound are significantly higher than expected,” University of Texas gas-drilling study re-examines link between fracking and Flower Mound’s ‘cancer cluster’

2014: The Road to Hell Part 2: As expected, Nova Scotia Frac ban bill follows “Alberta Model,” Is badly flawed, filled with loopholes to enable fracing free-for-all

2014: The Road to Hell: Nova Scotia’s “proposed law also includes an exemption that would allow fracking for testing and research purposes”

2014: Fracking in wintry areas linked to high ozone pollution; The high levels were “clearly related” to oil and gas emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

2014: Encana’s noise keeping Weld County’s Mike Lozinski up at night: “When it happens at night, it’s ‘unreal’”

2014: B.C. horse breeder recounts fracking sour gas leak scare caused by Encana

2014: U.S.Centers for Disease Control Preliminary Study: Finds dangerous levels of benzene in frac workers’ urine; Imagine the urine of children living beside frac’ing

2014: Frac’ing could threaten air quality, workers’ and public health, University of Maryland report says

2014: Toxic pollution, odors caused by Baytex heavy oil operations in the Peace River area need to be eliminated says AER; Two-tiered AER? What about the AER saying nothing about Encana fracturing Rosebud’s drinking water aquifers? What about the AER violating Ernst’s Charter Rights trying to cover up Encana’s unlawfulness?

2014: BIG SECRET: LOTS OF TAP WATER CONTAMINATION CASES CAUSED BY FRACING, HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC! Legal brief filed with court in Harrisburg, PA, regulator “practice” not to issue violation notice, fines, formal contamination determinations where shale gas/frac companies reach private (“gagged”) settlements with water well owners

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?

Slides from Ernst presentations

2014: Alberta Moves to Strike Down Ernst’s Fracking Lawsuit, Landmark case could spark a flood of litigation against the province, lawyer argues

2014: Leak in 100 year old shallow natural gas well caused serious methane migration into Waynesburg Medical Center; Methane build-up rendered the center uninhabitable!

2014: Federally commissioned report, California Council on Science and Technology: Fracking is at shallower depths than previously realized, “It turns out that they’re fracking right around the water table”

2014: With law violations, hazards, waste dumping, air noise land water pollution, permanent water loss, community division, adverse health impacts, lies, fatalities, enabling regulators politicians courts, massive subsidies, PR Panel urges industry to change frac ‘conversation’

2014: Lethbridge’s Urban Drilling Problem Just Got Worse; Goldenkey Oil Inc. licensed 23 sq km within city limits where more than 10,000 people live

 Slide from Ernst presentations

2014: What happens when oil drilling and frac’ing, with 400 ppm deadly H2S, is too close to homes and schools?

List of the Harmed

2014: Fracing near Ponoka Alberta contaminates another drinking water supply: Ann Craft, business woman and landowner goes public after getting nowhere with 2.5 year old water contamination case and delivery to her home of toxic sour crude produced water as replacement drinking water

2014: Germany EPA Frac Report Released: Risks Associated with Fracing are Too High; “So far, no company has been able to present a sustainable waste management concept”

2014: Another concern arises over groundwater contamination from fracking waste leaked, spilled or deliberately applied to land

2014: “Who wants to be a lab rat?” More Guinea Pig recommendations by Canadian frac “experts,” Potential Socioeconomic Effects of Unconventional Oil and Gas in Nova Scotia Communities

2014: Massive Legal Victory in New York State: Towns can ban fracking; New York’s highest court ruled in 27 days

2014: Industry Fuming because Study Finds Newer and Unconventional Gas Wells Leak Methane More than Older and Conventional Wells; Problem Could be Nation-wide Putting Aquifers and Families at Risk

The researchers admitted they are not sure exactly where the leaking methane goes — into the water or the air, but neither alternative is a positive prospect in light of a number of incidences thought to involve the escaping gas. “These results, particularly in light of numerous contamination complaints and explosions nationally in areas with high concentrations of unconventional oil and gas development…should be cause for concern,” said the researchers in the paper.

2014: The Big Lie Continues – in Parliament, Even after release of frac report by Council of Canadian Academies

2014 Fracking Data Woefully Lacking in Canada, Reports Council of Canadian Academies, So also reported the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment 12 years ago

2014 04 30: Council of Canadian Academies Frac Panel releases their report: Provides more questions than answers, Science to be determined after the fracs

References CAPP and AER propaganda, while excluding the most damning water contamination, health harm peer-reviewed studies and the 2012 Health Canada frac health hazard report! 

Recommend proper hydrogeological testing/monitoring to track oil and gas industry contaminants. As of February 20, 2015, still not happening anywhere in Canada.

2014: Synergy and blanket approval to give industry free-for all fracking in Alberta! Watch out Fox Creek and the rest of Canada, Synergy is brainwashing controlled by industry, incredibly evil and works well

2014: Oil Company blamed for benzene contamination and panic after Chinese city of Lanzhou declares tap water toxic, Residents flock to stores to stock up on bottled water

2014: Worldwide cancer cases expected to soar by 70% over next 20 years; The mysterious decline in female life expectancy

2014: Only a frac ban will protect health, livability in Denton Texas; Frac regulations poison us, “There is no escaping the harmful chemicals. … We feel like prisoners in our own home.”

2014: Big Oil, Bad Air: Where has the College been all these years? Why not SUPPORT ALL ALBERTA DOCTORS treating citizens and workers poisoned by oil and gas? Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons tells Peace River doctors it will support them in face of intimidation

2014: Alberta Government, regulators, health agency and company silent for years as groundwater contamination spreads and families poisoned

2014: Sulfolane (used to sweeten sour gas) leak at Bonavita Energy’s South Rosevear Gas Plant, Edson Alberta, contaminated drinking water, severe health harm experienced by Mersadese Royale, her husband and children; Family evicted after raising concerns publicly

2014: British medical journal, The Lancet, writes story on plight of Peace River-area families dealing with bitumen pollution

2014: CHILDREN PLAYED IN THE FRAC SAND! Go Back in Time with Alberta Health: Officials Issue Advisory More than one Month after 580 Tonnes of Frac Sand Spilled in Bashaw

2014: Four Fatalities Linked to Used Fracking Fluid Exposure During ‘Flowback,’ NIOSH Reports

2014: Harper government enabling the frac harm cover up? Environment Canada criticized for leaving fracking chemicals off pollutant list saying not enough frac chemicals used – 362,000 litres of diesel invert lost underground near Alberta family home

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

2014: Hocus Pocus! Decades too late: Canadian regulator, the National Energy Board, asks for fracking fluid info, but not drilling additives which can be more toxic than frac chemicals

Complete WorkSafeBC presentation

2014: New Study: Emissions may be two to three times higher, some pose cancer risk; Environmental health risks of Alberta tarsands probably underestimated

2014: The Mannings in Franklin Forks, PA: Toxic water, vomiting children living near fracking operation

2014: Florida: Collier County Goes To Court Over ‘Acid Fracking’ Near Everglades, charges that state regulators lax in oversight, jeopardizing public health and environment

2014: Nikiforuk: 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?

2014: Texas: Flash fire burns four people, including 4 year girl; methane contamination in well water source possible cause

2014: Wyoming Draft Report funded by Encana, says Encana not to blame, suggests nature and water well owners are; frac chemicals not disclosed by Encana to the state – What kind of a review is that?

2014: What took so long for this to be reported? Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research shows

2014 07 10: First release Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking (unconventional gas and oil extraction) by Concerned Health Professionals of New York

2014: Companies Illegally Dumping Toxic Fracking Chemicals in Dawson Creek Water Treatment Systems, City to pay $4 Million and more for monitoring to try to stop illegal frac waste dumping

2014: There are proven cases of frac’ing contamination

2014: How does one meet “half way” an energy regulator that covers up industry’s non-compliance and claims in court it owes Albertans harmed by fracing “no duty of care?”

2014: Judge denies Range Resources’ testing request because company still hasn’t complied with court order to disclose frac chemicals, including those proprietary

2014: AER, Alberta’s new energy regulator seeks the world’s trust, as Alberta’s caprock is frac’d “to Hell”

2014: Governments across Canada failing to protect drinking water; Government betrays Ristigouche and 70 other Quebec municipalities that put bylaws into place to protect drinking water; Gastem attacks Ristigouche with $1.5 Million Lawsuit

2014: Diana Daunheimer: Alberta Energy Regulator should be ashamed, AER Directive 60 Deregulation as the frac poisons ramp up

2014: Sounds like Alberta! Pennsylvania health officials ordered to ignore fracking-related health complaints, Former Department of Health employees say they were forbidden to talk about drilling

2014: Chief NSW scientist Prof Mary O’Kane recommends ‘ban on fracking’ in Sydney Water catchment area if health risks can’t be known for certain

2014: Federal judge excuses Shell’s pollution of Illinois town’s groundwater with carcinogen benzene 26,000 times greater than allowed by state law

2014: 1,000+ Health Professionals Call on President Obama to Stop Fracking

2014: Alberta workplace fatalities close to record numbers in 2013, led by a near doubling of fatalities caused by occupational disease

2014: Harper government dismissed more than 2,000 scientists in past 5 years

2014: Hydraulic fracturing letter by Robert Griebel, Alberta MD: Reckless pollution of our environment

2014: Broken trust: Alberta family without answers about Baytex’s health impacts, When an Alberta mom met with an ear-throat-and-nose specialist in Grande Prairie about oil-sands emissions pollution, his advice stunned her

2014: Karla Labrecque’s doctor refused to do a blood test until he consults with a local politician; Mike Labrecque gets sick working for Baytex, Baytex lets him go: “You’re done.”

2014: Health report: some Alberta doctors refused to treat families exposed to toxic emissions by Baytex in Peace Country, one lab refused to process a test

2014: Experts Margaret Sears and Donald Davies at Baytex hearings differ widely on the health effects of emissions

Donald Davies, a Calgary-based expert, said levels of the toxic chemicals in emissions from Baytex operations are too low to cause the health problems reported by area residents. ….Davies, who was hired by the Alberta Energy Regulator for an expert opinion. “These people are not being poisoned,” Davies told the hearing….

Mr. Davies/Intrinsik, previously retained by Encana, the frac industry and the “No Duty of Care” AER to downplay industry’s toxic harms, was retained by the BC government to do the health report currently being withheld:

Intrinsik was hired by EnCana Corporation after a sour gas leak in 2009 and spoke with residents about how sour gas was affecting their health. “We felt during their presentation that they down-played the dangers of [sour gas] extremely well,”

…

The Peace Environment and Safety Trustees Society environmental group says they are concerned [Instrinsik] hired by the B.C. government to study oil and gas health risks in the Peace Region may be biased because of its previous work for the industry.

2014: Court date set in Baytex fumes case for families that were forced to vacate their homes in the Peace River area of Alberta

2013: B.C. school kids in danger, can suffer DNA damage illness from leaking sour gas several km away, yet B.C. allows wells within 100 m (~330 feet) of schools while Dallas City Council votes in 1,500 foot setback from homes and wells!

Yellow dots are wells; red dots are schools in the Dawson Creek/Fort St. John area.

More than 1,900 children at nine schools in British Columbia’s northeast are at risk from toxic sour gas tapped by wells either already drilled or planned for the province’s liquefied natural gas strategy, warns the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre.

2014: University of Calgary researchers testing their own homes in search of radon, Results will be used to spur larger look at cancer-causing gas

2013: Researchers find 7,300-sq-mile (19,000 sq km) area of increasing mercury around Alberta tarsands, Mercury levels rising, more toxic form methyl mercury found in snow

2013: Chemical Company Elementis Chromium Inc. Failed to Disclose Public Health Risks from exposure to hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, Judge Rules in Favor of EPA

2013: Where are the regulators in Alberta? Fed up with toxic fumes: families suffering ill health ask Peace River court for 8 month injunction to shut down 46 wells and 86 venting tanks owned by Baytex Energy

2013: It’s hypocritical to sue tobacco firms but allow drilling

2013: Known mafia tactics used by drilling and fracking industry, Lifelong ‘frack gag’: Two Pennsylvania children banned from discussing fracking

2013: Appeals Court Agrees with Newspapers in the Hollowich v. Range Resources Sealed Fracking Case

2013: Hormone-disrupting chemicals found in ground and surface water at fracking sites, Peer reviewed study of fracking sites in Garfield County Colorado finds chemicals linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer

2013: ConocoPhillips chemical data falls short, releases same report as previously, keeps some frac chemicals secret and does not list drilling, servicing, perforating chemicals which can be more harmful

2013: Fort Chipewyan rare cancer cases cry out for study; Fort Chipewyan councillor latest resident diagnosed with rare cancer, ‘How can this keep happening?’

2013: Air Pollution and Cancer Spikes linked in Alberta; Alberta’s Oil Legacy: Bad Air and Rare Cancers, Sickening carcinogens now saturate Industrial Heartland, study finds

2013: Extreme Levels of Benzene Floating Around Gas Wells and Compressor Stations; Fracking effects: A long-term study of drilling’s impact shows harmful health effects

2013: Big oil, big fracing, big problems? The Hawkwoods frac’d in the Lochend: health problems, dead cattle and earthquakes causing property damage

2013: Radon — #9 In “Top 10 Toxic Ingredients Used By The Fossil Fuel Industries”; Cochrane Alberta home tests high for radon

2013: Buyout packages allegedly silence Albertans struck with oil and gas industry-related cancer

2013: Several families taking Baytex (Alberta oilsands company) to court over toxic emissions; Buyout packages allegedly silence Albertans struck with industry-related cancer

 Hold your breath, all night long. Night frac in Rocky View County, Alberta. FrackingCanada Fracking Rocky View County

2013: Alberta Environment needs to stop lying about water contamination: One billion litres of waste water contaminated Athabasca River with mercury levels 9 times more than normal, PAHs 4 times more than allowed

2013: Fracking produces annual toxic waste water enough to flood Washington DC, Growing concerns over radiation risks as report finds widespread environmental damage on an unimaginable scale in the US

2013: Lobby group PSAC and 11 fracking companies try, with dishonesty, to calm public fears with new voluntary code of conduct, that isn’t really new

2013: Fracking Chemicals May Be Unknown, Even To Gas Drillers, Lawsuit against Range Resources Documents Suggest

2013: Synergy Strikes Again: Pa landowners harmed by fracking get synergized, change tone, get bought, and work towards indoctrinating others into thinking being poisoned by fracking is good

2013: Fracking industry shouldn’t decide whether it is safe

2013: Lack of adequate procedures cause of Suncor rig blowout near Hudson’s Hope

2013: B.C. Oil and Gas Commission lacks ‘transparency’ on fracking violations

2013: Study shows high pollution at Lac-Mégantic: one carcinogen 394,444 times above limit; Fracking chemicals in spotlight regulators investigate rail car corrosion & flammability North Dakota crude

2013: Toll in Quebec frac’d oil train derailment sure to rise, Traumatized survivors braced for more bad news inspectors finally cleared to enter charred site

2013: 285 homes in Carson, California contaminated by Shell, experts fear dangerously high levels of methane could cause a massive fireball

2013: Kaiser kills Calgary Royal Oak drill and frac for oil 400 metres from homes, Residents in Calgary community celebrate after Kaiser Energy scrapped urban frac plans but worry 2,300 metres is not far enough

2013: Pollutants detected in water wells in Sublette County’s gas fields, many in Encana’s Jonah Field

2013: Alberta Health Services to pay executive bonuses, says work ‘already done’ but refused to address concerns about serious negative health impacts caused by oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing

2013: Dr. Eilish Cleary, New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health, uncomfortable with shale gas blueprint, Health officer surprised policy document doesn’t include health as a key objective

2013: Crossfield steer killed by Taqa North sour gas release

2013: Crews Still Trying to Contain Sour Gas Leak by Questerre Energy Corporation South of Grand Prairie (near recent groundwater contamination case caused by fracing) & north of Grand Cache, Alberta

2013: Hydraulic Fracturing [“Fracking”] Worldwide, Answers Not Forthcoming, Questions Not Allowed. You drank your water, don’t frack mine

2013: Less than 1-percent of Tar Sands Environmental Infractions Penalized by Alberta’s “Best in the World,” “World-Class,” “No Duty of Care,” spying, lying and law violating ERCB (now AER)

2013: Fracking company Encana suspected of contaminating ground water at Pavillion Wyoming, takes control of investigation, EPA refuses to finalize study blaming fracking for water pollution

2013: Environment Canada asks industry to come clean on hydraulic fracking As of February 2015, it hasn’t happened yet.

2013: Will Fracking Become the Next Mass Tort?

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

2013: 3 tobacco companies in $27B lawsuit begin their defence, Defence’s witness argues dangers of smoking have been common knowledge for decades

2012: Hydraulic fracturing with gelled propane by Gasfrac/Crew Energy Inc./Caltex Energy Inc. contaminated groundwater near Grande Prairie: ERCB Investigative Report and groundwater monitoring by Alberta Environment

2012: Testimony by DEP lab chief reveals possibility of intentionally undisclosed public health risks from Marcellus Shale gas drilling

2012: First Study of Its Kind Detects 44 Hazardous Air Pollutants at Gas Drilling Sites, With gas wells in some states being drilled near schools and homes, scientists see a need for better chemical disclosure laws and follow-up research

2012: Fracking Loophole “Big Enough To Drive A Mack Truck Through”, Fracking Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells

2012: An exploratory study of air quality near natural gas operations

2012: Alberta Health responds to Ernst’s query to Health Canada, the Council of Canadian Academies and Alberta Health about health harm caused by fracing:

2012: Fracking debate called complex, Researcher looks at social impact

“The issue has become embedded in the beliefs, attitudes and perceptions around the local and notion of a culture, of what a place means and what health means.”

… What is new about the shale gas boom, and what has most affected residents of the communities it touches, Perry said, has been the enormous scale and rapid pace of development, its close proximity to private homes, workplaces, churches, schools and other social centers…. “Individuals that are living in the midst of this type of development … are being asked to sacrifice, everything in some cases, for some greater good,”Perry said. … “I think the next step is to stop debating and to solve these problems,”

2012: B.C. gas-well health study by Intrinsik Environmental Sciences Inc. called into question [Intrinsik was retained by the BC government to conduct the health report currently being withheld]

Source: Slide 5 A Screening-Level Assessment Tool for Classifying Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids, A presentation to the PTAC 2012 Spring Water Forum PRESENTATION NO LONGER AVAILABLE AT PTAC by Donald B. Davies, Ph.D., DABT, Intrinsik Environmental Sciences Inc., May 28, 2012

2012: Identifying Health Concerns relating to oil & gas development in northeastern BC, human health risk assessment – phase 1 compendium of submissions, A report of the Fraser Basin Council to the BC Ministry of Health

Source:  CorpWatch Holding Corporations Accountable

2012: Silencing Communities: How the Fracking Industry Keeps Its Secrets

2012: Health Canada completes their report on potential frac health hazards (drinking water and ambient air) but withholds it from the public.

Another concern with hydraulic fracturing is cumulative impact.

…

The hydraulic fracturing process can open up pathways upward to drinking water resources as faults and fractures naturally exist in the rocks. Moreover, the hydraulic fracturing process is not fully controlled and the time for fluid to migrate through the fractures is poorly understood.

…

In addition to these sources of air contamination, indoor air quality may also be affected by the use of contaminated drinking water (through volatilisation into the building).

2012: Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health

The findings illustrate which aspects of the drilling process may lead to health problems and suggest modifications that would lessen but not eliminate impacts. Complete evidence regarding health impacts of gas drilling cannot be obtained due to incomplete testing and disclosure of chemicals, and nondisclosure agreements. Without rigorous scientific studies, the gas drilling boom sweeping the world will remain an uncontrolled health experiment on an enormous scale. [Emphasis added]

2012: Researchers: Gas industry secrecy obstructs public health

2012: Alberta Bill 2: More deregulation for the oil and gas industry and hydraulic fracturing

2012: Doctors demand access to all health data on oilsands and other natural resource extraction projects, including shale gas Did they get any of this vital health data yet?

2012: Canada Federal clean-up won’t get it all, Need another $40 billion to remove contamination

2012: Potential health risks cited in New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health report on shale gas industry

2012: The reports of Dr. LaPierre and Dr. Cleary concur: GNB’s work on the shale gas dossier is seriously deficient

2012: Kaiser Oil Well to be frac’d in Calgary near sour gas, letter to Premier Alison Redford

2011 09 21: The Council of Canadian Academies and Environment Canada to study hydraulic fracturing after harmed Albertans demand mortatorium More than a decade too late. The “studies” never materialized, they become incomplete literature reviews instead.

2011 09 10: POWERSAlberta Frack Workshop

2011 08: Numerous ads taken out in local papers by harmed Albertans: “What Fresh Hell is This?” Citizens being frac’d, experimented on and suffering serious health harms, NW of Calgary, Alberta, demand frac moratorium

2011 06: Ottawa maintains right to intervene in shale “Indeed, the federal government has an interest and can involve itself when a threat is…reported,” Kent told the House of Commons

2011: DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIE POLICY DEPARTMENT A: ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC POLICY Impacts of shale gas and shale oil extraction on the environment and on human health

The technology for shale gas development has characteristics which partly show unavoidable environmental impacts, partly have a high risk if the technology is not used adequately and partly have a possible high risk for environmental damages and hazards to human health even when applied properly.

Slides above: November 18, 2011, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute,  Dr. Simona Perry Presentation (33 Min) “It’s Like We’re Losing Our Love“

2010: EnCana Corporation facing criminal charges for deadly sour gas leak bought off with an insulting pittance: $250,000 in community safety projects

2010: Natural Gas Operations from a Public Health Perspective

2010: Chevron’s Ecuador Cancer Problem: 10,000 People at Risk of Contracting Disease in Coming Decades, Says Expert, Oil Giant Faces Up to $69 Billion in Liability for Potential Cancer Deaths

2010: Benzene Exposure Near the US Permissible Limit Is Associated With Sperm Aneuploidy

Yes, indeed, to massive, year after year deregulation

Click on slides to get complete presentation by Theresa Watson

Image from Catalize This

2009: Deadly Sour Gas: Battle over wells wages in pristine Alberta valley

2009: Cupid’s arrow pierces energy regulator Alberta ERCB

2007 05 08: Ernst testifies in Ottawa to Parliamentary Committee and beseeches the government to implement CEPA (1999) and enforce chemical disclosure of all toxic oil and gas industry drilling, fracing and servicing fluids. As of February 20, 2015, the Harper government still has not yet implemented CEPA or enforced the disclosure of toxic chemicals used in oil and gas wells and associated facilities.

2006 09 20: Ernst asks Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Nicolas Bayliss, to help her and the Rosebud community deal with drinking water contamination after Encana frac’d their aquifers. Ernst received none. As of February 2015, no federal or provincial health agency in Canada has provided any help.

2002: Council of Canadian Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and Dr. John Cherry (in 2012 appointed Chair of the Council Canadian Academies frac panel) release their report warning about unconventional oil and gas industry impacts and recommending baseline hydrogeological investigations to track oil and gas industry contaminants.

Thirteen years later, this is still not happening anywhere in Canada. In 2014, the CCME removed this important report from their website.

2000: RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] in cahoots with Encana bombed Encana oil site in ‘dirty tricks’ campaign