New Report: CCPA and the Wilderness Committee on BC's "Reckless" Desire to Frack
If British Columbia wants to pursue economic, environmental and human health then the province must slow its furious pace of unconventional gas production, says a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the Wilderness Committee. The CAPP report, part of their partner Climate Justice Project with the University of British Columbia, concludes that BC’s natural gas sector is putting the industry’s needs before those of British Columbians, and doing so with the government’s help.
Ben Parfitt of the CCPA authored the report and has written extensively on the energy/water nexus surrounding BC’s shale gas boom. According to Parfitt, “BC’s shale gas production is the natural gas equivalent of Alberta’s oilsands oil.” The comparison is due to the tremendous water required to frack deep shale deposits, an extraction process that also releases dangerous amounts of methane, one of the most powerful global warming gasses.
As expanded in the report, Fracking Up Our Water, Hydro Power and Climate: BC’s Reckless Pursuit of Shale Gas, the unconventional gas industry enjoys exclusive access to the province’s pristine water resources and the government’s lax greenhouse gas (GHG) policy. Last year, the Pacific Institute for Climate Studies (PICS) announced that if BC wants to meet its climate targets, the regulatory regimes surrounding unconventional gas production must become significantly more strict and forward thinking. But despite such a warning, no meaningful administrative changes have been made to suggest the BC government is listening.
Read more: New Report: CCPA and the Wilderness Committee on BC's "Reckless" Desire to Frack
TAGS: BC Hydro, BC Oil and Gas Commission, BCTWA, Ben Parfitt, british columbia, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Climate Justice Project, climate targets, fracking, Fracking Up Our Water, ghg emissions, hydraulic fracturing, Hydro Power and Climate: BC's Reckless Pursuit of Shale Gas, Kitimat LNG terminal, methane, Pacific Institute for Climate Studies, PICS, Report, Rich Coleman, Site C, Tria Donaldson, unconventional gas, Wilderness Committee
