In less than 60 days, using a process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, an oil and gas company will inject hundreds of tanker truckloads of freshwater laced with thousands of kilograms of toxic chemicals and sand beneath the ground. Their goal is to extract natural gas embedded in a shale rock formation near Elgin in southern New Brunswick.
At risk are the groundwater, surface water, human and non-human health.
A typical frack job requires between 11,400,000 to 15,200,000 litres of water, which returns to the surface highly toxic
Squeezing gas from a rock below ground involves unconventional drilling practices. A vertical well is dug vertically into the ground and then vertically across the shale formation (see attached figure). The fracking fluid is then injected into the well bore — under enough pressure to peel paint from a car — so that it causes the shale to fracture and release the gas from the billions of pockets found throughout this rock. The gas comes up the well, along with most of the fracking fluids.
Ultimately, the company sells the gas for a profit, and the province collects royalty payments. Private landowners may also lease their land to the gas company to supplement their income.
Controversy is growing, in Canada and the US, over the nature of the chemicals used in the fracking process, the sheer volume of water needed for the process, as well as the wastewater produced after the fracking fluid spews out of the well.
Scientists in the US report that 65 of the 300-odd compounds used in fracking are hazardous to both humans and non-humans. Some cause cancer. These chemicals are mixed with the water which comes from different sources: municipal water systems, rivers, ponds, and lakes.
A typical frack job requires between 11,400,000 to 15,200,000 litres of water — or enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool five to seven times over. Most of the water that is pressurized into the well, spews out once the pressure is released. Each well can be fracked multiple times. Safe disposal is an issue, because the water returns laced with toxic chemicals.
In just one year, 2000, the world's oil and gas exploration industry produced 77 billion barrels of wastewater, according to an article by Z Khatib and P Verbeek, published in the Journal of Petroleum Technology. Based on current rates of water consumption, that amount is equivalent to the volume of water needed by the City of Fredericton for the next 20 years.(my emphasis)
According to the United Nations, the world, including Canada, is heading towards a major water shortage crisis — due, in part, to water being used for industrial purposes like fracking.
Laying aside for a moment the moral and ethical questions concerning the industrial use of water in a world facing diminishing sources of good clean drinking water, the question remains as to what to do with the sheer magnitude of the wastewater produced in the fracking process. According to ProPublica, an independent newsroom that does investigative journalism for the public's benefit, it is still unclear as to whether or not we have the technology at our disposal to handle such vast quantities of wastewater.
In some jurisdictions, the wastewater is left in open pits. In other areas, it is emptied into sewage treatment plants, many of which are ill-equipped to handle this type of industrial waste. There are conflicting reports on how and where the fracking fluids are being disposed of here in New Brunswick.
There is no question these fracking fluids are highly toxic. ProPublica reported in 2008 that after treating a worker who got splashed with fracking fluid, an emergency nurse in Colorado ended up with multiple organ failure and nearly died.
Dr Theo Colborn, an independent scientist in Colorado who specializes in low-dosage effects of chemicals on human health, argues that even in very low doses, these chemicals can damage kidneys and immune systems and negatively impact reproduction. Among farm animals raised in close proximity to where the fracking wastewater was being misted in the air for evaporation in Garfield County, CO, a bull went sterile; sheep bred on an organic farm experienced a slew of inexplicable still births; and pigs as well as a herd of beef cows stopped going into heat.
The oil and gas industry, however, appears unmoved and undeterred by these concerns. In fact, a local newspaper published a story June 10th, 2010 in which a representative of the oil and gas industry was quoted in saying that fracking in New Brunswick "won't harm well water".
The fact is that nobody has done any research to see how the process actually works underground. No one knows for sure to what extent the fissures reach underground or whether cracks made in the rock create a passageway for these dangerous chemicals to contaminate the groundwater.
"What is needed now most," wrote ProPublica reporter Abraham Lustgarten in 2009, "according to scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere, is a rigorous scientific study that tracks the fracturing process and attempts to measure its reach into underground water supplies." The price tag for such a study would be around USD10 million.
In 2008, ProPublica reported that there were over 1000 cases documented by courts and local governments in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, where fracking is a suspected cause of drinking water contamination.
Filmmaker Josh Fox visited regular Americans across 24 US states to produce a documentary challenging and disproving the industry's contention that fracking is harmless. He found and filmed a shocking trail of people and their animals in rural communities getting sick. In one scene in his documentary film, Gasland, (which will air on HBO Canada August 1st, 2010), a local resident uses a cigaret lighter to light the gas that escapes when he tries to draw water from the kitchen sink tap.
Because of the controversies surrounding this process, fracking has been banned in New York State until proven safe. It is disappointing that New Brunswick has not introduced its own ban on this process in order to protect its citizens and our environment from such unnecessary risks.
For its part, in June 2010, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick hosted two public sessions to raise awareness on this issue. The first one happened on June 17th in Penobsquis, the second in Elgin on June 18th.
In Penobsquis, sauna-like temperatures in the meeting room did little to dampen the spirits of concerned citizens, packed like sardines, who came to hear Natural Resources Defence Council Attorney Kate Sinding and Catskills Mountainkeeper Program Director Wes Gillingham speak about their experiences and knowledge of this issue. The underlying message from this presentation was that the potential for contamination of surface and groundwater in New Brunswick is real. Yet despite these concerns, the process continues to occur unabated in New Brunswick.
Of the three companies currently exploring for shale gas in New Brunswick, one company has obtained the lease to conduct tests and see how much of the gas can be recovered from a million-hectare swath of land spreading from the Atlantic coast to the Maine border. It is difficult to predict how many shale gas wells might be constructed if this explorative venture proves to be commercially viable. Estimates range from 480 to 5000 wells.
Given that 29 wells have already disrupted the small community of Penobsquis, a minimum of 480 wells will have a significant impact on the landscape, freshwater supplies, air quality, and lifestyle of many more New Brunswickers. At the moment, New Brunswickers are facing the same situation faced by Pennsylvanians a few years back.
Like New Brunswick, Pennsylvania had no regulations in place to allow for a
gradual and community based development of its shale gas industry. And like New Brunswick, it lacked regulations on fracking. Consequently, gas pads started appearing next to homes, hospitals, schools, and summer camps, transforming the countryside into an industrialized zone, with tractor trucks operating 24/7, gas burning flares affecting air quality, and citizens experiencing significant drops in their property values.
"As devastating as the experience is for those who have lost their fundamental right to have clean, safe, potable drinking water come out of their taps," wrote Kate Sanding on her blog April 15, 2010 after visiting Dimock, Pennsylvania, "what was perhaps most eye-opening was the utter transformation of the community." In other words, some of the prettiest and peaceful countryside became transformed into an industrialized zone.
Unless there are provisions in place, and soon, which would allow ordinary New Brunswickers to play an active and determinant role in how the gas industry may evolve in this province, there is no doubt in my mind that we will suffer the same consequences here in New Brunswick. It's too late for Pennsylvanians, but it's still not too late for us New Brunswickers. So, let's get involved.
Jean Louis Deveau has post-graduate degrees in both the natural and social sciences. He is the co-founder of the Friends of the Mount Carleton Provincial Park and an avid canoeist. Apart from proximity to family and friends, he and his wife chose to live and raise their two sons in New Brunswick because of its picturesque countryside, relatively clean air and water, and lack of heavy industrialization.
