A major concern is the will and attitude of provincial governments historically in Nova Scotia to set policy,regulations, and then actually execute,inspections and enforcement regarding natural resource development and extraction and coinciding impact on our environment, While they are firm and fast with individuals (see what happens if your oil tank leaks) their record with larger players in the resource industry not so much…ie.. failure of adequate aquaculture monitoring and enforcement……the Pictou pulp mill has until May 2015 to clean up…mink farms continuously polluting waterways in SW Nova Scotia..etc.
Bill,
Good analysis. I attended the session in Port Hawkesbury and was well attended by people from both sides of the argument. I hope that the result allows safe franking to go ahead. We need this resource to be developed.
Bert
I agree with this analysis completely. Amazing how quickly environmentalists and aboriginal chiefs settle down and become more respectful, once they are making $500,000 a year….sometimes, like organized strikes by certain unions, this seems to underly the reason for protest. The poor local citizen can’t get a word in….your analysis correctly seeks to correct this malfunction. Thank you.
Excellent piece Bill, as usual. It lays out the issues and the importance of a transparent, science-based approach without histrionics and politics. It also nicely ties the economic potential to the realities of our fiscal situation. Well done.
Great article regarding the fracking issue in Saturday’s paper. You > should run for office. Premier even…
I travelled every highway and road in Alberta in my former work there and stayed in many small motels where you could see the snow coming in
> under the doorway. I’ve been to hundreds of gas wells and oil batteries, gas plants and every major oil extraction facility. Not one of these places has had water problems. At the small mom and pop (usually Vietnamese or Chinese) restaurants in these small towns and villages, they provided tap water for drinking. I’m still alive.
What is the big problem with contaminated water, if it occurs? Don’t towns and villages have water treatment plants? Calgary is downstream of a couple large towns like Cochrane, Bragg Creek and Canmore that dump their sewage, domestic and industrial into the Bow River. The water was treated (tertially) and Calgary has the best rinking water in the world (Calgary Water was a customer of mine so I had inside information about how it operated. They do 300 water tests per DAY to ensure the water is good for drinking).
I take water out of a well that is 3x too high for uranium and manganese. I clean it up with a reverse osmosis filter that cost me $250 and installed by myself in less than an hour. I had it tested and it is better than the bottled water you buy in a store.
So…I have no doubts that treating any wastewater from fracking can be done, cheaply and efficiently. So what is the problem? Why aren’t we exploiting this resource?
We will always be a have-not province if we can’t adopt the proven technologies of other provinces and states. Like you say:” Look at Alberta”.
I made a fortune in Alberta and thank god for that, because I need a fortune to live here in Nova Scotia.
Great article regarding the fracking issue in Saturday’s paper. You should run for office. Premier even…
I travelled every highway and road in Alberta in my former work there and stayed in many small motels where you could see the snow coming in
under the doorway. I’ve been to hundreds of gas wells and oil batteries, gas plants and every major oil extraction facility. Not one of these places has had water problems. At the small mom and pop (usually Vietnamese or Chinese) restaurants in these small towns and villages, they provided tap water for drinking. I’m still alive. What is the big problem with contaminated water, if it occurs? Don’t towns and villages have water treatment plants? Calgary is downstream of a couple large towns like Cochrane, Bragg Creek and Canmore that dump their sewage, domestic and industrial into the Bow River. The water was treated
(tertially) and Calgary has the best drinking water in the world.
(Calgary Water was a customer of mine so I had inside information about how it operated. They do 300 water tests per DAY to ensure the water is good for drinking).
I take water out of a well that is 3x too high for uranium and manganese. I clean it up with a reverse osmosis filter that cost me $250 and installed by myself in less than an hour. I had it tested and it is better than the bottled water you buy in a store.
So…I have no doubts that treating any wastewater from fracking can be done, cheaply and efficiently. So what is the problem? Why aren’t
we exploiting this resource?
We will always be a have-not province if we can’t adopt the proven technologies of other provinces and states. Like you say:” Look at Alberta”.
I made a fortune in Alberta and thank god for that, because I need a fortune to live here in Nova Scotia.
It is so refreshing to get a balanced point of view. I have emailed you before to thank you for your point of view on other subjects, and this is no different. Having moved back from Calgary and working at Encana and Suncor I saw first hand how rural partnerships can benefit communities and how regulation and enforcement could significantly decrease risk.
I hope we have a government that takes a stand for this and demands a high standard of development, while taking the harsh feedback that would come with the first stage of development. We would see the benefits in the province, but not for 5 to 10 years.
Thanks again for your take on the Wheeler report. I believe there are many people that support that opinion but are fearful to speak up.
It is kind of silly to keep pushing the fact this panel is non partisan and then pull back when questions arise on which members own what patents and which consultancy firms related to the oil and gas industry. It is not transparent. Perhaps if the push was stronger for clean air, clean water and clean soil, instead of ‘investors need to move forward’ we could develop some resources that manage to do both.
First we have public mistrust of the industry. Often, this is not based on any knowledge of the industry.
Next, we have public mistrust of our government and its agencies. There have been too many examples of disasters which have affected the public.
A major concern is the will and attitude of provincial governments historically in Nova Scotia to set policy,regulations, and then actually execute,inspections and enforcement regarding natural resource development and extraction and coinciding impact on our environment, While they are firm and fast with individuals (see what happens if your oil tank leaks) their record with larger players in the resource industry not so much…ie.. failure of adequate aquaculture monitoring and enforcement……the Pictou pulp mill has until May 2015 to clean up…mink farms continuously polluting waterways in SW Nova Scotia..etc.
…
Allan Rodger | August 4, 2014 |
Bill,
Good analysis. I attended the session in Port Hawkesbury and was well attended by people from both sides of the argument. I hope that the result allows safe franking to go ahead. We need this resource to be developed.
Bert
Bert Lewis | August 4, 2014 |
I agree with this analysis completely. Amazing how quickly environmentalists and aboriginal chiefs settle down and become more respectful, once they are making $500,000 a year….sometimes, like organized strikes by certain unions, this seems to underly the reason for protest. The poor local citizen can’t get a word in….your analysis correctly seeks to correct this malfunction. Thank you.
Phil | August 4, 2014 |
Excellent piece Bill, as usual. It lays out the issues and the importance of a transparent, science-based approach without histrionics and politics. It also nicely ties the economic potential to the realities of our fiscal situation. Well done.
John | August 4, 2014 |
Great article regarding the fracking issue in Saturday’s paper. You > should run for office. Premier even…
I travelled every highway and road in Alberta in my former work there and stayed in many small motels where you could see the snow coming in
> under the doorway. I’ve been to hundreds of gas wells and oil batteries, gas plants and every major oil extraction facility. Not one of these places has had water problems. At the small mom and pop (usually Vietnamese or Chinese) restaurants in these small towns and villages, they provided tap water for drinking. I’m still alive.
What is the big problem with contaminated water, if it occurs? Don’t towns and villages have water treatment plants? Calgary is downstream of a couple large towns like Cochrane, Bragg Creek and Canmore that dump their sewage, domestic and industrial into the Bow River. The water was treated (tertially) and Calgary has the best rinking water in the world (Calgary Water was a customer of mine so I had inside information about how it operated. They do 300 water tests per DAY to ensure the water is good for drinking).
I take water out of a well that is 3x too high for uranium and manganese. I clean it up with a reverse osmosis filter that cost me $250 and installed by myself in less than an hour. I had it tested and it is better than the bottled water you buy in a store.
So…I have no doubts that treating any wastewater from fracking can be done, cheaply and efficiently. So what is the problem? Why aren’t we exploiting this resource?
We will always be a have-not province if we can’t adopt the proven technologies of other provinces and states. Like you say:” Look at Alberta”.
I made a fortune in Alberta and thank god for that, because I need a fortune to live here in Nova Scotia.
BF | August 4, 2014 |
Great article regarding the fracking issue in Saturday’s paper. You should run for office. Premier even…
I travelled every highway and road in Alberta in my former work there and stayed in many small motels where you could see the snow coming in
under the doorway. I’ve been to hundreds of gas wells and oil batteries, gas plants and every major oil extraction facility. Not one of these places has had water problems. At the small mom and pop (usually Vietnamese or Chinese) restaurants in these small towns and villages, they provided tap water for drinking. I’m still alive. What is the big problem with contaminated water, if it occurs? Don’t towns and villages have water treatment plants? Calgary is downstream of a couple large towns like Cochrane, Bragg Creek and Canmore that dump their sewage, domestic and industrial into the Bow River. The water was treated
(tertially) and Calgary has the best drinking water in the world.
(Calgary Water was a customer of mine so I had inside information about how it operated. They do 300 water tests per DAY to ensure the water is good for drinking).
I take water out of a well that is 3x too high for uranium and manganese. I clean it up with a reverse osmosis filter that cost me $250 and installed by myself in less than an hour. I had it tested and it is better than the bottled water you buy in a store.
So…I have no doubts that treating any wastewater from fracking can be done, cheaply and efficiently. So what is the problem? Why aren’t
we exploiting this resource?
We will always be a have-not province if we can’t adopt the proven technologies of other provinces and states. Like you say:” Look at Alberta”.
I made a fortune in Alberta and thank god for that, because I need a fortune to live here in Nova Scotia.
Bob Found | August 3, 2014 |
It is so refreshing to get a balanced point of view. I have emailed you before to thank you for your point of view on other subjects, and this is no different. Having moved back from Calgary and working at Encana and Suncor I saw first hand how rural partnerships can benefit communities and how regulation and enforcement could significantly decrease risk.
I hope we have a government that takes a stand for this and demands a high standard of development, while taking the harsh feedback that would come with the first stage of development. We would see the benefits in the province, but not for 5 to 10 years.
Thanks again for your take on the Wheeler report. I believe there are many people that support that opinion but are fearful to speak up.
David Meister | August 3, 2014 |
It is kind of silly to keep pushing the fact this panel is non partisan and then pull back when questions arise on which members own what patents and which consultancy firms related to the oil and gas industry. It is not transparent. Perhaps if the push was stronger for clean air, clean water and clean soil, instead of ‘investors need to move forward’ we could develop some resources that manage to do both.
Joanne MacPherson | August 3, 2014 |
First we have public mistrust of the industry. Often, this is not based on any knowledge of the industry.
Next, we have public mistrust of our government and its agencies. There have been too many examples of disasters which have affected the public.
Jon Coates | August 2, 2014 |