Saint John, NB – The Saint John Chapter of the Council of Canadians is very concerned about the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking. Fracking poses a serious threat to drinking water, because of the vast amount used and the contaminated wastewater produced in this process.
Fracking is a contentious method of extracting unconventional natural gas, primarily shale gas. The technique involves the injection of millions of litres of water and thousands of litres of unidentified chemicals underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in the underlying rock formations to extract the trapped gas.
Fracking is facing mounting opposition across the country. A new Environics Research poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians has found that 66% of people in the Atlantic provinces support “a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all the federal environmental reviews are complete”.
The Environics Research survey was conducted by telephone among a national random sample of 2,000 adults comprising 1000 males and 1000 females 18 years of age and older, living in Canada. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 2.19%, 19 times out of 20. Interviewing for this Environics National Telephone Omnibus Survey was completed during the period: January 5 – 15, 2011. For more details, please see www.canadians.org/fracking.
With the understanding that water is a human right, we ask the New Brunswick government to ban fracking in our province. The government has a responsibility to listen to New Brunswickers who are opposed to this practice and to respect their right to clean and safe drinking water. We say to the New Brunswick government: “You have the power to stop fracking. The well being of nature and people is in your hands.”
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