NOTE FROM EDITOR; I have put two articles together here, both from the Council of Canadians. They are both on the issue of "fracking". The second article is from the Council of Canadians Making Waves Water Newsletter. "Fracking" impacts underground water reserves as you will read.

The Toronto Star reports that Calgary-based Mooncor Oil & Gas Corp. has been buying land rights in southwestern Ontario for shale gas drilling.

FROM THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS
Mooncor intends to drill in the Kettle Point Formation known as Antrim Shale in Lambton and Kent counties, and the Collingwood/Blue Mountain formations known as Utica Shale.

"It has already locked up nearly 23,000 acres (9.30776 hecatres) of land in Lambton and Kent counties..."

"Shale gas is called an unconventional natural gas because extracting it isn't as easy as drilling a deep hole into a reservoir and simply pumping its contents to the surface. Instead, the gas is trapped in cracks, pores and organic material within a sedimentary rock called shale, which is made mostly of clay minerals. The resource may be widely dispersed, but getting at it is tricky. It must often be coaxed out using a horizontal drilling technique that hydraulically fractures ('fracking') the rock and causes the gas to flow toward a vertical collection well."

As described by Environmental Leader news, "the hydraulic fracturing process involves taking water from the ground, pumping fracturing fluids and sands into the wells under pressure, then separating and managing the leftover water after withdrawing the gas."

The Toronto Star report continues, "As the rest of the industry rushes to develop shale-gas projects in the prolific Marcellus shale deposits of the U.S. northeast (from New York State and Pennsylvania to West Virginia) and the Utica shales of Quebec, Mooncor is gaining a solid foothold in Ontario."

The article notes that the gas can presently cause an "egg smell' in well water, but also that "the rush to develop the Marcellus Shale has led to widespread concern about the hydraulic fracturing process and how the use of toxic chemicals in that process could affect the local watershed and make residents who rely on well water sick."

"New York State has banned high-volume drilling of horizontal wells until it can thoroughly study the concerns. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also weighed in and could soon have more industry oversight as a result of a congressional investigation of the practice."

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that this past Thursday the EPA "launched a study to determine whether (hydraulic fracturing) is contaminating water supplies."

The WSJ notes, "Last month, Steve Heare, director of EPA's Drinking Water Protection Division, said at a conference he hadn't seen any documented cases that the fracking process was contaminating water supplies. Bill Kappel, a US Geological Survey official, said at the same conference that contamination of water supplies is more likely to happen as companies process the waste water from hydrofracking. In some instances, municipal water systems that treat the water have reported higher levels of heavy metals and radioactivity."

The Toronto Star article notes that, "A green light from regulators, however, could unleash a wave of shale-gas development in Ontario." In fact, Natural Resources Canada and Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources promote shale gas drilling in Ontario.

Mooncor is also "preparing to spin off a separate company called DRGN Resources that will focus its efforts on both conventional and unconventional gas drilling."

The full article - which largely presents this drilling as a good opportunity for the province - is at http://www.thestar.com/business/article/782552--alberta-firm-eyes-ontario-s-untapped-shale-gas.

Brent Patterson The Council of Canadians www.canadians.org/campaignblog


Potash Mine drying wells in Penobsquis

Communities across the country are dealing with water contamination and shortages that are a result of unsustainable industrial development. For the past several years, 60 residents of Penobsquis New Brunswick have had their wells dry up. They attribute this to the activities of a potash mine owned by the New Brunswick subsidiary of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, but the government has failed to investigate the situation. In the meantime, drinking water to the affected homes is supplied by the potash mine, while the government of New Brunswick provides water for other uses. The Council of Canadians received the below entry from a resident who has been active in the struggle to protect local water resources.

Potash Mine drying wells in Penobsquis by Beth Nixon

In 2004, life in my small rural community started changing in a way that is difficult to describe. More than 60 homes lost their well water that year. Until you have lived without water, and have no way you can think of to get a regular supply, you can't imagine what it is like.

When the first wells were lost, most in the community just thought it was an anomaly. But as the numbers increased , people began to suspect that it might have something to do with the Potash Mine in the area. Many homes drilled 2nd, or even 3rd wells at their own expense. Others had their wells deepened. Washing machines and taps were broken due to the sediment from riley water. Homes that lost their wells were directly over the mining shafts and stopes that are between 350 & 450m beneath the surface.

At this time a local Potash Mine was doing seismic testing to explore for new potash reserves, which involves putting a charge in the ground — the resulting blast is measured with electronic equipment like stereo speakers called geophones. This information can tell an exploration company where rocks of different densities are to assist them in finding new resources.

Over the next five years more water wells went dry, but uneven water flows created a situation where excess water nearly flooded the area around the mine.

More seismic testing was done, and nearby natural gas wells were developed with the use of a new technology called 'hydraulic fracturing' (aka fracking) to crack rock deep beneath the surface of the ground. The water flow into the mine increased as high as 2,300 gallons per minute. In an effort to keep the mine open 250 - 300 transport trucks to haul the water out. The potash mine has built a pipeline to transport some of the water to the Bay of Fundy. They built a grouting station next to homes that initially lost their wells to pump concrete underground to plug the holes. They brought in a drilling rig to pump aggregate, cement and other materials into the ground and aquifer to try and stop the flooding from the outside of the mine.

In the end, more than 60 homes could no longer depend on their water supply. The New Brunswick government paid for water to be trucked to the community and the mine provided drinking water. The province promised the community it would commission a study to verify the relationship between the flooding of the mine and the drying of the wells. Unfortunately, the province asked the Potash mine to conduct the study. The mine hired a consultant to write a report stating there was no conclusive evidence that the flooding of the mine was related to the drying up of residential wells . Members of my community have only seen the executive summary of this reportt. The province says we cannot see the whole report as it is considered proprietary information.

Today, the mine is pumping over 11million litres of water a day from the mining shafts and stopes underneath our homes. So much water is being taking from underneath our homes, we are experiencing subsidence — the ground is settling underneath our homes.

If this was happening to you - in your community, what would you do?