Editor:
The B. C. government is touting increased production and sale of liquified natural gas (LNG) as beneficial for British Columbia.
On March 13 on his free-time CBC political broadcast, Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas, claimed that liquified gas was "clean" energy, safe to transport, and a desirable source of revenue and employment.
This is a gross misstatement. The lauded new extraction techniques were developed because easy-to-access natural gas is depleted. But there is gas enclosed in large shale beds in North America. To extract it, a long, proprietary list of highly toxic chemicals combined with huge quantities of water are injected into the rock bed to blow it up (fracture, or "frack") it. It takes three barrels of water to produce one barrel of gas, an untenable draw on already threatened, increasingly scarce quantities of good water.
More alarming are well-documented health effects of chemicals on the life around fracking wells. Films of nearby residents turning on kitchen faucets and setting alight the gas that flows with the water are famous. People in these areas have reported animals with hair falling out, various other ill health effects on people, plants and animals, and higher than average rates of cancer.
Engineers can demonstrate that every metal pipe and every concrete sheathing will eventually fail, releasing carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemicals as well as gas into the soil and water table.
Fracking in Northeastern BC has already caused great concern within our population and fear for the consequences of increasing production, liquefaction and transportation of LNG.
We must develop alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. We must preserve our environment while sustainably providing goods and services in a healthy economy. We must think about more than immediate financial reward.
Joan Robb, Roberts Creek
