Letter in the Oran this week... TWO SIDES OF THE STORY.. Just recently our Chamber of Commerce president Adam Rodgers and I traveled to Dundee to attend the Superport Days Conference to hear some inspiring and very informative speeches on the potential in the oceans, oil and gas sectors in our region. As some of you may know, the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce made a statement earlier in the year asking the Inverness County Municipal Council to refrain from passing a bylaw on stopping hydraulic fracturing in our area. The reasoning behind this was to give the Government of Nova Scotia a chance to do their due diligence and weigh out the pros and cons of this common practice of oil and gas extraction. Since then the Municipality of Inverness County passed this bylaw and for the most part did not inform its constituents on both sides of the story on hydraulic fracturing. There were many scare tactics and emotional decisions that were brought forward at various community meetings regarding the negative effects of "fracking" and rightfully so. I have since heard that a number of municipal Councillors in Inverness and other jurisdictions attended a conference where there was a panel of professionals who were for and against "fracking" The Councillors were pleasantly surprised to hear the "pro" side of the story. I must admit, I was not fully aware of the practices of hydraulic fracturing when moving to Cape Breton, and the more I speak to people on the issue, it seems that the majority of Nova Scoitans do not either. In a speech delivered by Sheri Sommerville from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers during Superport Days, she gave a thorough review of the current practices for hydraulic fracturing as it is their goal to educate the unfamiliar public on their efforts to complete their work in a safe and sustainable manner. Some of the surprising facts that she presented were: In Canad, there are no cases of drinking water being harmed. To be more specific, she stated that there are 172 wells in Fort McMurray being hydraulically fractured and there is not one case of drinking water being harmed. The misconception by most is that ground water and drinking water (welled water) are the same, and they are not. Some more facts she presented were: the footprint of land that is used in hydraulic fracturing is minimal compared to conventional oil and gas drilling, each well will produce from 30 to 50 jobs,and the most shocking fact presented was that the chemical additives used to release the oil and gas only makes up for "one percent of the fracture fluids and can serve several purposes, from corrosion inhibitors which prevent the metal in the wellbore from deteriorating to anti-bacterial agents" To find out more information on how oil and gas companies are keeping drinking water clean and other ways that they are fighting to keep our environment as clean as possible visit fracfocus.ca The Strait Area Chamber of Commerce has invited Ms. Sommerville to make a presentation to the residents of Inverness County and any interested persons outside the area in hearing the other side of the hydraulic fracturing story. She has accepted the invitation and is more than willing to listen to all parties and have an educated and peaceful conversation. More information on this event will be disbursed in the near future. Until then, for all who are not informed about the oil and gas industry take 30 minutes of your time to educate yourself and also attend this event to have your questions answered. DAMIAN MACINNIS Executive director Strait Area Chamber of Commerce....
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:04:04 +0000
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