Our Aquifers Are Not Bathtubs, and Our Communities Are Not Covered by Glass Domes
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Say No to Shale Gas Development and Export Tar Sands Pipelines: Our aquifers are not bathtubs, and our communities are not covered by glass domes. SUBMISSION TO NEW BRUNSWICK COMMISSION ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING Submitted on Nov. 20, 2015 by Mark D’Arcy, resident of Fredericton, New Brunswick SUMMARY The cost to human health, our air and water, our global climate, and our local economy are simply too great to remove the moratorium on shale gas. Regulations are unable to protect us from the certainty of air pollution in the low-lying valley of Fredericton. And the aquifer from which we draw our drinking water extends far outside the Fredericton city limits into large tracts of shale gas exploration areas. We have no choice. Climate change means that our communities must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels. The huge greenhouse gas footprint of both shale gas development and tarsands expansion means that both have to be stopped. And an equally compelling reason to stop shale gas development and tarsands expansion is the destruction our watersheds and airsheds by shale gas fracking, tarsands pipelines, and tarsands export terminals. Using local matters of concern here in Fredericton, I would like the Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing to recommend that the moratorium on shale gas development remain in place throughout New Brunswick so that no community has to be placed in harm’s way. RECOMMENDATION #1: Since the majority oF residents and communities in New Brunswick get their drinking water From groundwater, we must insist on accurate aquiFer mapping beFore any shale gas exploration and development. RECOMMENDATION #2: Protect the airsheds oF our communities From the heavier-than-air toxic chemicals that would concentrate in low-lying valleys. RECOMMENDATION #3: Protect our homes, businesses and communities From the risk oF damage due to earthquakes. RECOMMENDATION #4: Vote in progressive candidates into town and city councils that will take advantage oF the huge job opportunities oF the local, clean economy. BACKGROUND Politics has no place in human health and safety. Politicians and other decision- makers have a duty of care not to put the public in harm’s way. Citizens concerned with climate change have successfully used duty of care in The Netherlands and in the State of Washington to force their governments to implement stricter reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Our current political system has been corrupted by the money and influence of the oil and gas industry. Perhaps the most shocking example of intentional misrepresentation and deliberate censorship of information in the latest report on shale gas fracking written by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Why are we going through this process again, just over a year since the September 2014 provincial election? A decisive majority - 2/3’s of New Brunswick voters - rejected the pro-shale gas platform of David Alward’s PC government and the new Liberal government imposed a moratorium on shale gas. Yet here we are with another shale gas commission here in New Brunswick. Why are New Brunswickers asked to waste their time and energy, their social capital that could be used to contribute to our communities, on yet another shale gas commission? We need to get on with the huge job opportunities with local, diversified economies using efficiency, clean energy, local food production. And we may just save our own children from a catastrophic climate future! We have run out of time because of man-made climate change. We have no choice but to rapidly transition off of fossil fuels. Our children will not forgive us if we don’t act. RECOMMENDATION #1: Since the majority of residents and communities in New Brunswick get their drinking water from groundwater, we must insist on accurate aquiFer mapping beFore any shale gas exploration and development. Here is the question I raised with Dr. John Cherry, a world-renowned hydrogeologist and Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies Report on Shale Gas in 2014. This is Dr. Cherry’s response when he was here in Fredericton during his public presentation at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre on Tuesday night at Nov. 17, 2015. QUESTION (Mark D’Arcy): “The City of Fredericton is surrounded by shale gas license areas 10 km in all directions. The areas not under license areas are the south side of Fredericton and St. Mary’s First Nation on the north side. Everywhere else is in a license area but real estate companies do not disclose this when they sell houses in lease areas. In Fredericton, we don’t know the extent of our aquifer outside the city limits. How can gas companies safely stay away from our groundwater sources when accurate aquifer maps do not exist for most of the province? Since the majority get their drinking water from groundwater, should we not insist on accurate aquifer mapping before any shale gas exploration and development?” ANSWER (Dr. John Cherry): “Well of course. Shale gas, or no shale gas, you the public should be insisting that our governments get up to modern standards on groundwater monitoring and mapping. And we have done almost nothing for the last 20, 30 years with all the government cutbacks. because the benefits are always in the future. And so in essense, almost all provinces without esception, basically I would put in the category of 3rd world country standards when it comes to groundwater mapping and monitoring. And many people now are now recognizing this crisis and there is kind of a movement to do something about it. The Federal Government stays away from that action because it is convenient for them to say it is the job of the provinces. As long as the Federal Government is not there, the provincial government is sort of left hanging there. In many cases the question is if you wanted to do proper mapping and monitoring, how would you do it? And so my position is that the public certainly should not approve of fracking if in fact that task isn’t first completed. And that is a general task. You have to understand your aquifers first before you can decide how to monitor them for shale gas development.” The Department of Natural Resources map showing the shale gas test drilling license speaks for itself. This license covers a 10-kilometre radius around Fredericton and includes the UNB Woodlot and most other areas of the City of Fredericton and surrounding communities. Just think about what this map represents. Well pads can be located inside the city limits. And well pads can be located outside the city limits and then drill horizontally up to 1 kilometre or more inside our municipal boundaries. Fredericton is in the center of a huge aquifer under the Saint John River. The significance of this is very simple. Any water contamination by shale gas development that happens to any part of the aquifer affects every other part. The Fredericton Aquifer is not an isolated bathtub of water but instead it is connected to the deeper portions of this aquifer via bedrock fractures underneath Fredericton. The aquifer under the Saint John River Basin is protected and there must be a total ban on any shale gas operations in this Basin. And the aquifer from which we draw our drinking water extends far outside the Fredericton city limits into large tracts of shale gas exploration areas. There is limited knowledge on where our drinking water sources. We don’t fully understand the water cycle between the surface water bodies (e.g. streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands) and groundwater systems (aquifers, which happen at various spatial and temporal scales). The amount of groundwater stored in the aquifer under the Saint John River Basin is virtually unknown. Does the groundwater flow system belong to shallow, intermediate, and deep aquifer systems? Is there connectivity of multiple aquifers? Have geophysical surveys been conducted to discover evidence of bedrock faults that might contribute to recharge from below the shallow aquifers? Other gaps in knowledge include recharge rates of aquifers, intrinsic vulnerability of regional aquifers, and long-term data and sustained monitoring of groundwater levels and groundwater quality. To protect our aquifers, our municipal and provincial government must work together to ensure the following: 1. To strengthen the protection of our wetlands; 2. To increase our aquifer mapping and groundwater flow monitoring to determine the extent and the connectivity of the aquifers; and 3. To implement province-wide, watershed-based source protection of our drinking water (the same as Province of Ontario implemented after the Warkerton water contamination tragedy) A critical question for professionals is the following: Will qualified engineers in New Brunswick sign a letter that says #shalegas #fracking will not contaminate our aquifers, watersheds & air? Engineers and geologists are professionals who are obligated to follow their Code of Ethics of their professional body. An important part of this code of ethics is to protect the public. In New Brunswick, the APEGNB Code of Ethics clearly states this obligation to "hold paramount the safety, health & welfare of the public" (Section 2.1, APEGNB Code of Ethics, retrieved at http://www.apegnb.com/en/home/memberbenefits/publications/codeofethics.asp x) And do we want to risk the migration of natural gas and fracking fluids into aquifers by the fracking of our bedrock? Industry and government studies show that hydraulic fracturing create fractures that can spread up to 2,500 feet underground, and that hydraulic fracturing can also open up natural, pre-existing fractures in the bedrock. Early evaluation of the chemicals in fracking fluids is cause for great concern. More than a third of the chemicals are associated with cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive disorders, and genetic disruptions.