Protesters march on legislature; demand ban on fracking
Posted Apr 23, 2011 07:39:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
More than 100 protesters showed up at the Nova Scotia legislature to call on the province to ban a controversial method of extracting natural gas from underground known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
Many at Friday’s protest maintain the process poses a threat to groundwater and to people’s health.
Fracking involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into a gas well to fracture the layers of shale rock to release the natural gas.
Event organizer Yuill Herbert, of the citizen’s group Stop Fracking In Nova Scotia, says it wouldn’t make sense to allow something that uses large volumes of water while pumping a mix of chemicals into the ground.
Herbert tells the Canadian Press there are other problems as well.
“There are recent studies that say green house gas emissions from this type of natural gas are actually worse than coal,” he says. “A lot of people think natural gas is a transition fuel, but this type of natural gas isn’t. I really think we need to be building a green economy in Nova Scotia and not focusing on industry which I think, take us backwards.”
The province has announced a review of fracking and has asked for written public submissions.
