Seems to me that there are activists all over the world today. Our’s are comfortably against prosperity.

I have been dealing with groundwater contamination and well water supply issues for about 30 years. Julian’s comments, in my opinion, represent one end of the spectrum in the arguments for and against horizontal fracking (HF).

In my experience, the issue always revolves around money and risk. In each geologic basin and hydrogeologic (i.e., water supply) area, will be unique. Companies have been obviously historically focused on spending money to find and map the gas resource. With HF, money also needs to be spent on integrating the geology, with the geomechanics and hydrogeology of that area; this will enable assessment of the risk to overlying groundwater resource.

Companies interested in HF need the motivation, either through spectific requlation, or preferably to gain community acceptance, to spend the monies necessary to demonstate safe development of the resource (i.e., without unacceptable risk). Risk that ultimately the requlators (and hopefully the public), are willing to accept.

To say that HF can never be used with acceptable risk, is not reasonable. If a gas resources is to be developed, the onus is on both the company to prove the risk is acceptable and the requlator, to reasonably and fairly evaluate their case.

Harold

Do you know of any reliable statistics on problem rates with fracking wells?

I have a feeling that they arevery low but doubt whether there is a concensus between drillers and environmentalists.

I guess there is a point where the compensation for a homeowner can work. If there was a million barrels of oil under someone’s farm I suspect the farmer and the oil company could reach an agreement satisfactory to both.

Bill

Water supplies are forever. They are a life source. Once destroyed through underground contamination that’s it – no more drinking water for that community. The comparative examples you use are simply ridiculous. You can’t simply compensate a homeowner if their source of clean water is destroyed, they have no water…

Ultimately it is the community that should decide if that is a risk they are willing to take – not government and not you.

And by the way, the risks are not low as you suggest, they are unknown with the proposed form of fracking.

Often I agree with you article Bill but this one is just plain uninformed.

Fracking is bad and most importantly irreversible.

Most importantly we need to be looking at truly renewable sources of energy as well as innovative ways to conserve energy. For our children’s sake.

Bill

Where I have to disagree is the impact that the mill shutting down would have had. My family is a small woodlot owner and had the mill shut down, they would be off to Alberta, along with the majority of our town of 2,000(ish). The mill directly and indirectly impacts everyone in the New Ross area and if it were to shut down, it would be a disaster.

Newsprint is not the future but the investment in bio-fuel processing as part of the deal is a start. The long term vision should be on bio-fuel as part of the mill’s portfolio. This would pump back energy onto the grid.

Basically we have a 5 year window to fix the plant to be a viable industry. What many in Halifax and urban areas forget is that rural NS is tied heavily to the industry and if it AND Newpage close, rural NS will be a ghost town.

PS – as for Bob’s comment on Jan 4. I’m not sure if he is a forestry operator but we’re not a “lucky few”. This line of work comes with no hand outs even with this influx of cash to bowater. It’s a daily struggle with little pay out. I’d highly recommend trying this career to see how “lucky” it really is. You are correct though in that we need a business environment where businesses prosper not flounder.
Thanks!

I’d love to hear if Nova Scotia is working towards a Smart Grid. I would be very interested in using a power meter to monitor and plan efficient power usage, and feed locally generated power back into the grid. Anyone making colourful whirli-gig wind turbines?