Petition Seeks to Ban Fracking in Nova Scotia

The Nova Scotia provincial legislature has introduced a petition to ban the controversial method of oil and gas extraction called fracking.

The group who tabled the ban met Tuesday in the provincial capital with Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks to oppose a proposed project in the Lake Ainslie area of Cape Breton.

The petition has approximately 1,200 names so far, with signatories calling for a provincial ban on hydraulic fracturing (aka ‘fracking’), which is a process that requires large amounts of water mixed with sand and chemicals to shatter free gas from rock shale.

Area residents have raised concerns about that project’s possible impact on Lake Ainslie – where Petroworth Resources has applied for a permit to drill an exploratory  well – which also affects their own water supply.

The chairman of the Inverness County chapter of the Council of Canadians, Thom Oommen, reports other jurisdictions have started reviews of their own or banned fracking altogether due to health concerns about the chemicals used in the process.

Oommen said he was pleased with the meeting with the Energy Minister and described it as only the first step.

“We’re not done by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “We are making connections with other communities where this has happened.”

The President of Petroworth Resources has said that the chance of oil spilling into the lake or drinking wells is remote, but said his company will drill test wells within a one kilometre radius of the proposed site before and after drilling.

He added that the company currently has no plans to use fracking at the site but that plan may change if the process is later considered necessary.

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Photo by Erland Howden