Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard a lot about fracking in the last few weeks and months, and I haven’t had much to say to date, but I feel it’s time for me to speak out.
I have been following the statements and exchanges in the House, the media reports and so on. The Economic Development and Infrastructure committee has been at the forefront of the fracking issue for the House, doing the research, considering the pros and cons, and monitoring the exploration and development in the Sahtu. I’ve tried to stay abreast of the info flowing to and from the committee, but it’s a challenge, given my other committee work.
As of today, I’m not sure where I stand on this issue. I’m not sure if I support fracking or oppose it. I know that the Sahtu and the NWT need an economic shot in the arm and I know that the proposed development in the Sahtu will provide that boost and I’m not against development, but I do believe, very strongly, that it must be controlled development. The pace of development must be a measured and a conservative one. The all-out do-it-all do-it-now approach that apparently is happening in the area of the Bakken shale deposits scares me. I do not want that kind of development for my territory.
As well, I have a major concern with the lack of knowledge about our subsurface environment in the area where fracking will occur, particularly our lack of analysis of aquifers. Our water tables are unknown and unmapped. Fracking will have two huge impacts on our water supply: the amount of water used in, or needed for, the fracking process and the potential contamination of our groundwater through the injection of the used fracking water back underground.
We don’t get a do-over on our land, Mr. Speaker. If we use it up or contaminate it, it’s gone forever.
Another major concern for me is just what contaminants or chemicals will be used in the fracking process. Current regulations don’t require full disclosure of the products used. The companies have promised they will disclose, but without any legal requirement to do so, how can we be sure they will?
This government must do everything it can to put those requirements in place so we can effectively control the environmental liabilities which can result from fracking.
In my mind, there is the potential for the Sahtu to become a situation akin to Yellowknife’s Giant Mine, a monstrous environmental liability. Let’s not go there. Thank you.