Williston Lake Reservoir
A Dawson Creek, BC local newspaper is reporting, “(Last week), the provincial government approved a water license that will allow the annual removal of upwards of 7.3 billion litres of water from the Williston Reservoir near Hudson’s Hope. The contract is for Cambrian Energy and was submitted at the same time as a Talisman license. That license was approved in July, also drawing criticism. In June, Energy Minister Rich Coleman said there would be extensive public consultation as well as negotiations with First Nations before the pipelines would be approved. It appears this hasn’t been done. Both Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson and Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington have asked the Premier to create a Special Legislative Committee to examine the development of B.C.’s hydraulic fracturing, particularly the use of fresh water.”
This past March, the Vancouver chapter of the Council of Canadians organized a public forum with Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He spoke on water use in British Columbia’s rapidly expanding shale gas industry. At that time, he wrote in the Tyee.ca that, “If (the Calgary-based companies) Talisman and Canbriam get their way, they could soon withdraw a combined 7.3 billion litres of water annually out of the (Williston Lake) reservoir (in the Northern Interior of British Columbia for their fracking operations)…”
The blog on Parfitt’s speech at the Vancouver chapter-organized forum on March 16 can be read at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=5975. A 17-minute video of his presentation at the chapter event can be viewed at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=6158. To read about the Council’s call this past May for a public inquiry on fracking in BC, go to http://canadians.org/blog/?p=9190.
For more on our fracking campaign, please see http://canadians.org/fracking.
