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On top of being really well done and effective, that video by the Irish kids is one of the most concise statements I have seen.
In other words- you cant do much better in a limited time than hit exactly the points they did.
One caveat, if you do that.
The well pads [with several wells each] are not 2 miles apart in a producing field. It is typically half a mile, and there are few points that would be as much as 2 miles from a compressor station.
The resource is distributed everywhere in the shale bed, and this intensity of industrial infrastruture is necessary for profitable extraction. In a typical 70 square kilometre producing area, full development is 200 plus wells, with all the tanks [routinely venting VOCs], pipelines, compressors, access roads, and truch traffic, plus may multi-million litre mixing and waste brine ponds on the go at any time, for the multiple wells being fracked again... even after the field is fully developed.
Fracking In Nova Scotia: Why the big secret?
http://wwww.c-a-s-m.org/frackingate/
Rather strange if you ask me titling aomething to be about fracking, when it is coal mining you want to talk about.
The text about Donkin mine is good, but it is sanwiched between that title and this closing:
We consent to coal mining and gasification? ??
Thats quite a leap in logic.
Read the links Ken, it is not just strip mining coal that's golng on here, what part of the government's 2010 Call for Proposals for Coal Gas Exploration and Development do you not understand?
It is not a leap of logic at all, but a fact lacking any evidence to the contrary. For over a year now Nova Scotia's fracking shale gas propaganda machine has very knowingly censored any information about what is actually happening in Nova Scotia, as a brief example:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20100414005
http://www.imwa.info/docs/imwa_2010/IMWA2010_Younger_378.pdf
http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningcb/2010/09/09/coal-gasification/
http://laurusenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Laurus-final1.pdf
It is only because of the efforts of volunteers at c-a-s-m.org that the Scope of the "Fracking Shale Gas Review" was expanded to include the Coal Gas projects happening in Nova Scotia that the fracking shale gas propaganda machine does not have the integrity to even mention to this day! Why the big secret? http://www.c-a-s-m.org/frackingate/ . If there's any evidence that Nova Scotia's funded enviromental groups oppose strip mining Cape Breton or Stellarton for coal and throwing the emission regulations out the window last year to allow burning it, or fracking Coal Gas under downtown Sydney then please do share!
And note that under the Environment Act, if you're going to appeal the Minister's decision to drill a conventional oil well at Lake Ainslie to the Supreme Court it has to be based on "FACT", not far fetched fantasies and presumptions about fracking shale gas in the oil and coal fields of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, no matter how many "tens of thousands of dollars" are already in the bank without doing any local community fundraising events whatsoever!
It's a crying shame that the Council of Canadians' fracking shale gas propaganda machine is doing an excellent job of preventing any honest or informed dialogue about what is actually happening in communities across Nova Scotia where there's oil or gas or mineral resources. The real problems being faced by the people in affected communities are the same no matter what they're mining or drilling for or where, banning fracking shale gas does nothing to address any of them.
The March Toward the Abyss - by Fidel Castro
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30181.htm
"...Just a few months ago I read for the first time some news about the existence of shale gas..."
A bribe by another name... Natural Gas Industry Pumps $1.34 Million To New York Politicians To Push Fracking
Making the rounds on Facebook today:
Situation normal, all fracked up: Obama embraces fracking
USGS: Recent Earthquakes 'Almost Certainly Manmade'
Report implicates oil and natural gas drilling, aka fracking
The jury is in on this process - let's completely ban it Quebec bans any fracking pending studieshttp://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Quebec+bans+fracking+pending+studi...
Poll shows Canadians opposed to hydraulic fracturing
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Poll+shows+Canadians+opposed+hydra...
Survey says...fracking is causing earthquakes
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/04/11/Survey-says-frack...
A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says that the increased seismic activity taking place in certain areas of the United States is almost certainly the result of oil and gas drilling activities. The group has been studying dozens of earthquakes across America for the last eight months and determined that the man-made quakes were taking place in areas where fracking or deep waste water injection had recently occurred.
Two separate studies are providing insights into the earth-shaking consequences of the controversial gas extraction process known as fracking.
Both studies confirm that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can trigger manmade earthquakes. The process involves blasting water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to fracture rock to obtain oil and natural gas.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/04/17/environment-fracking-...
hey does anyone know if they are fracking out NB way? I watched the news last night and they said they had like 39 earthquakes there over the last month
They have not begun any fracking in NB yet. The NDP convention came out opposed to fracking. The governing PCs have promised the strongest environmental regulations around fracking in NA to be implemented. Large amount of anti-fracking sentiment in NB. You may find the PCs back away from in before next election.
i was just browsing around looking to see if they're doing it anywhere in AC and could only find that PEI had agreed to start. have they?
There has definitely been fracking in NB. Fewer wells than in Nova Scotia- but arguably a more serious effort [nonetheless, an ambitious drilling program aborted early on]. (Fall 2010)
I cannot remember whether PEI had one exploratory well, or just an "almost". But the government did give it the green light.
The economic realities of the moment is that there would likely not be a single exploratory well in the region even if there were no restrictions.
I'm sure the NB govt wishes now that they could put the genie back in the bottle. They are isolated now, with moratoriums and apparently serious reviews underway in Quebec and Nova Scotia. They painted themselves into a corner that there is no easy way out for them now.
Still, I expect they'll figure out how to pull the plug before the election.
The promise of the strongest regulations in NA is utter bullshit. It's a questionable goal [the bar to clear being so low], but they wouldn't know how to do it even if they had the will.
Vermont Senate bans fracking: One state down, 49 to go
In Ontario, when industrial wind turbine development corporations are getting farm land contracts to build those huge mothers, in the contract fine print is the right to frack their land for natural gas. Oh, those wind turbines are built to run on natural gas too, so when doesn't blow, the industrial turbine can generate electricity with natural gas backup - oh how ungreen it all is - cough & a front for the oil/gas industry.
Industrial wind turbines are such bad business.
I have heard that before, and I'm curious why they would bother.
Land contracts mean FAR more in the US than Canada. Here, the Crown [province] owns the resource and grants or does not the right to extract. Extractors also need surface leases to actually extract. While getting those is not trivial, it is SO secondary... and the chances if there is a resource accessible from the land under contract IS the right land and enough of it, those chances are extremely low.
In other words, the chances in Canada that land contract right conferrs any real benefit are very, very low.
So why do they do it?
Or put another way, are you sure they do it? IE, it has been done more than once [by some possibly stupid bright light]? Might this be some kind of rural legend? Or am I missing something about what use these land contract rights are?
Fracking at production scale- not just an exploratory well- is extremely invasive and has a frightful footprint. But it is not very picky about exactly where the wellpads are placed. Which means that there is almost always either some ccrown land available, or one landowner out of 10 or 20 happy to lease.
If it really becomes a developing production field then the amount of leases needed starts to get at least potentially 'prickly'. But the fact you MIGHT have a wind turbine land contract in your pocket that will help is pretty low, and that will just be one piece of the puzzle anyway. If the locals are pretty universal about not wanting you and your leases, you are into 'issues' even if you have one or two land contracts for wind turbines in your pocket. And now we are talking the powers of expropriation, which is a different kettle of fish. But you get the point of wondering what is the point/use of those land contracts? (And are they actually common?)
Hi Ken, I have been told this repeatedly by those closely alined with the anti-industrial wind turbine movement. It's hard to find out or to actually see a "contract" because the owner of said land must sign the contract which sipulates that they can't disclose the contents of the contract, although some people have because they were unhappy (understatement) with the "deal" and wanted to back out.
I will try to find out more on this but I guess the area that I reside - south western Ontario (huron, Bruce counties) may well have known natural gas underneath it and so why the private companies are doing a 2 for 1.
I'll get more info on this.
India mulls natural gas imports via Atlantic Canada
excerpt:Where once North America largely imported gas, new technology called hydraulic fracturing-or fracking-has led to an explosion in unconventional exploration, development, and ultimately supply. That is driving down prices, and making natural gas-often talked about as cleaner than oil-particularly palatable to overseas markets such as India.
"Shale gas reserves are so plentiful, and their development has been so successful, that prices have dropped significantly. It really is making the North American market attractive for LNG importers," said Lawrence Smith, a partner at the law firm Bennett Jones with experience in the industry's regulatory framework, and a speaker at the March meeting.
Other stakeholders are also taking note. Maritimes Energy Association executive director Barbara Pike said she had recently authored a report to the Canadian government suggesting that natural gas was a huge potential in the Indian market. She said the East Coast could play a role in that, if the infrastructure there was modified.
The Harper government also sees the potential for Canadian natural gas to be shipped to India.
Ottawa faces $250-million suit over Quebec environmental stance
Quebec has abundant shale gas formations but the provincial government has declared a moratorium on fracking while it studies the environmental impact of the technology, which some say consumes unacceptable volumes of water and may be contaminating groundwater. Quebec also passed legislation in June banning drilling below the St. Lawrence River.
Lone Pine contends it deserves $250 million in compensation by Ottawa for the Quebec government’s expropriation of its drilling permit, which it says violates Canada’s obligations to treat foreign investors from other NAFTA countries fairly.
Critics of NAFTA’s Chapter 11 provisions say the threatened suit by Lone Pine drives home the risks of bilateral investor protection treaties, which they say are being increasingly used by private companies to challenge government regulations in Canada and elsewhere.
(cross-posted with the Anticosti thread)
Global List of Fracking Bans and Moratrium
Canada (we really need to add more jurisdictions to this list!!!)
(cross-posted to the pipelines thread)
The Fight Over Fracking
excerpt:
March 2012: Eastern Canada shows concern about fracking. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has not faced the same wrath from environmentalists in Canada compared with the oil sands industry. That could change as the activity picks up pace in the country and stories from the United States where shale gas recovery has been blamed for contaminating water tables and even earthquakes, attract regulatory scrutiny. Although 70% of all gas wells in Canada now use fracking, the treatment remains divisive even within various provincial governments. Shale gas-rich Quebec has slapped a moratorium on fracking, while Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are hamstrung by public backlashes, which has made exploiting relatively low reserves politically unappealing. Meanwhile, pro-fracking provinces, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, have allowed producers to use the method to access previously inaccessible gas resources. link
We dont have a moratorium in NS any more than gung-ho fracking NB does. The NDP government calls it a moratorium, but they are simply not issuing any permits. But no company wants a permit now or for the forseeable future anyway.
As far as I understand it, tecnically, Quebec is also just not issuing any permits... and withdrawing the Charest govt saying companies could still do test wells. But at least the PQ means it- and had to bite the petroindustry hand to do even that much... which the Dexter governemnt did not do, and would not short of us pushing them to the cliff edge.
Suzuki, Nature of Things: Shattered Ground
and the associated live chat with Tony Ingraffea and Ben Parfitt
Is There a Regulator in the House?
Through the Fracking Rabbit Hole with Nova Scotia Environment
Its another horror story of fracking "regulation".
Very fact and detail rich. Trying to push this in "our" NDP government's face.
I'd be curious how much of it people find has some bearing for those of you outside the region.
I don't mean whether you like it- safe presumption the muckracking will be popular here.
Is it instructive? Does it have applcation where you live? Etc.
posted in the Nova Scotia thread:
NDP Government Gives Fracking Waste Handler Free Ride: Colchester County Left Holding Bag
If you click on the author's name you get a list of my previous 4 articles on the issue. Though all of them may be hotlinked as references in the text of the story.