Fracking Canada

Ontario has a new blog:

Stop Fracking Ontario is a web project to inform and promote activism against fracking in Ontario, and in the surrounding region, and elsewhere.

This project is an all-volunteer non-partisan effort that is not tied to any one organization. We will need a broad coalition of citizens to apply ongoing pressure which could stop the fracking industry.

We also need to support a range of positive alternatives, so we can phase out natural gas.

I located a series of their posts using the Wayback Machine.

Recent protest videos

Posted on June 9, 2011 by stopfrackingontario

Rally to Fight Fracking in PA the governors door – Part 1
In Pennsylvania on June 8th

Auburn Rally: No gas drilling waste!
In New York State on June 7th

Manifestation gaz
In Quebec on June 2nd

Shaleshock in the Ithaca festival parade
In New York State on June 2nd

Shaleshock members put on a good show in the Ithaca Festival Parade on 6/2/2011.

See also: Nelson, Joyce. “Ugly Reality of Fracking.” Greenmuze, April 19, 2011.

In a telephone interview, Jessica Ernst says she’s “still getting used to” being compared to Erin Brockovich (the environmental activist made famous by Julia Robert’s film portrayal ten years ago). The comparison comes easy because the outspoken Ernst, a landowner in the town of Rosebud, Alberta, is one of the few Albertans who have publicly criticized hydraulic fracturing (called “fracking,” in the trade).

Fracking is a technology used by the oil and gas industry to access “unconventional” natural gas deposits trapped in shale, coalbed, and tight-sand formations – potentially at the expense of underground water supplies.

After her well water was contaminated by nearby fracking in 2006, Ernst decided to go public, showing visiting reporters how she could light her tap water on fire, and speaking out about Alberta land owners’ problems with the industry, especially Calgary-based EnCana. EnCana is Canada’s second biggest energy company (after Suncor) and is now also a major player in British Columbia, with hundreds of natural-gas wells in the province.

Ernst, a biologist and environmental consultant to the oil and gas industry, says EnCana “told us ‘we would never fracture near your water.’ But the company fracked into our aquifer in that same year [2004].” By 2005, she says, “My water began dramatically changing, going bad. I was getting horrible burns and rashes from taking a shower, and then my dogs refused to drink the water. That’s when I began to pay attention.” More than fifteen water-wells had gone bad in the little community.

Tests revealed high levels of ethane, methane, and benzene in Ernst’s water. “EnCana told us they use the same gelled [fracking] fluids as in the States.” Fracking has become a huge controversy in the US, with pending legislation that would impact its regulation.

Ernst says she heard from “at least fifty other landowners the first year” she went public, and she continues to get calls. Groundwater contamination from fracking “is pretty widespread” in Alberta, “but they’re trying to keep it hidden.” Canada has no national water standards and conducts little information gathering about groundwater.
Nelson, Joyce. “Ugly Reality of Fracking.” Greenmuze, April 19, 2011. Wayback Machine.