Ottawa – The Council of Canadians delivered petitions signed by nearly 10,000 people today who are demanding a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Canada until the federal reviews are complete.
Council of Canadians staff, dressed in hazardous materials suits, attempted to deliver mock buckets of toxic fracking fluids to Environment Minister Peter Kent. The buckets, filled with petitions, highlight the demands of the majority of Canadians calling for a moratorium on fracking because of the potential for water contamination by fracking fluids, the lack of disclosure of fracking chemicals and the lack of a solution to dispose of fracking wastewater. Peter Kent failed to appear to accept the petitions.
Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking,” is a technique to extract natural gas from harder to access unconventional sources trapped in rock formations such as shale gas, coal bed methane and tight gas. Millions of litres of water and thousands of litres of chemicals are injected underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in the rock allowing gas to flow up the well.
“All across Canada people are standing up and fighting fracking in their communities,” says Emma Lui, water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “Communities will continue to do so with or without the support of the federal government. But we hope the government will fulfill their responsibility of conserving and protecting water sources in Canada by placing a moratorium on fracking.”
In February, an Environics Research poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians found that a majority (62%) of Canadians support a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all the federal environmental reviews are complete.
The petition, which will be tabled in the House of Commons in the coming days, notes Minister Kent’s admission that he has the power to stop fracking and the federal responsibilities associated with fracking including regulation of air emissions, the Canada Water Act, the Species at Risk Act, and the Fisheries Act.
The delivery leads up to the Global Frackdown on Saturday – a global day of action with over 150 events organized in over 20 countries calling for a worldwide ban on fracking.
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