Shale gas - Québec and elsewhere.

[Toedancer]

I don't see much opposition to it coming from anywhere.

[Holly Stick]

Fracking on the Blood Reserve; protestors in court: 

...Jim Gladstone is one of two Blood Tribe councillors who do not support the five-year lease agreement. He didn’t sign it. He says while he is not against oil exploration, he wants it regulated.

Gladstone also said that the agreement fails to put in place any monitoring or studies into what effects fracking will have on his community...

http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/12/23/peaceful-protestors-charged-with-intimidation/

[sparqui]

From the article:

...In 2010, the Blood Tribe chief and council signed a five-year lease agreement with two oil and gas companies, Murphy Oil and Bowood Energy, giving them drilling rights to roughly half of the community’s land base....

Remember this:

Cheif Weasel Head gives Chief Speaker a name and an eagle feather

Here is the whole embarrassing event in technicolour:

[url=http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/capolitics-22424923/raw-video-pm-dons-headdress-dances-25915134.html]Chief Speaker Harper in head dress

Amazing how the useless media failed to report the backlash on that very reserve over this fracking deal:

In addition to the the risks and limited benefits, Blood members are also concerned about the actual agreement and the conditions under which it was signed. According to Protect Blood Land, no one from the reserve was consulted before it was finalized. As well, "KRI and the Blood Tribe Chief and Council neglected to maintain any degree of transparency during and after the negotiations--ultimately, leaving a large population of tribe members completely unaware of the situation until after the deal was made," says Protect Blood Land.[/b]

At the time, I remember remarking that this PMO staged event was only possible with a gas and oil compliant First Nation.

[Holly Stick]

That Kainai Chieftainship thing is something they have been doing for many years, inducting politicians, royalty, the pope, and various less celebrated people. I haven't read Hugh Dempsey's book about it, but here is a book review.  http://iportal.usask.ca/docs/Prairie%20Forum/Tribal%20Honours%20(v23no1_1998_pg127-128).pdf

So inducting Harper is not necessarily connected to the oil and gas.


There has been a lot of oil and gas development on some Alberta reserves for decades and a section of Indian Affairs regulates it. I wonder if they have just treated fracking leases like regular oil and gas leases, without considering possible environmental effects specific to fracking.

[Boom Boom]

Natural Gas Industry Pumps $1.34 Million To New York Politicians To Push Fracking

[Boom Boom]

Not sure what to make of this article: Situation normal, all fracked up: Obama embraces fracking

[Boom Boom]

USGS: Recent Earthquakes 'Almost Certainly Manmade'
 
Report implicates oil and natural gas drilling, aka fracking

[Boom Boom]

Vermont Senate bans fracking: One state down, 49 to go   

[Boom Boom]

Ottawa faces $250-million suit over Quebec environmental stance
 
Quebec has abundant shale gas formations but the provincial government has declared a moratorium on fracking while it studies the environmental impact of the technology, which some say consumes unacceptable volumes of water and may be contaminating groundwater. Quebec also passed legislation in June banning drilling below the St. Lawrence River.

Lone Pine contends it deserves $250 million in compensation by Ottawa for the Quebec government’s expropriation of its drilling permit, which it says violates Canada’s obligations to treat foreign investors from other NAFTA countries fairly.

Critics of NAFTA’s Chapter 11 provisions say the threatened suit by Lone Pine drives home the risks of bilateral investor protection treaties, which they say are being increasingly used by private companies to challenge government regulations in Canada and elsewhere.

[Boom Boom]

 Quebec tables bill to limit fracking
 
excerpt:
 
Although fracking is carried out by companies in the Gaspé and on Anticosti Island, Blanchet said the decision to limit the moratorium to the St. Lawrence lowland came because of opposition by residents to the exploration process.

 
Question: why the limitation - why not include the entire province? And what is meant by  "the St. Lawrence lowland" - what are the boundaries of that area? 

 

[lagatta]

Well, no doubt pressure from energy companies that want to exploit the resources of Eastern Québec...

I think it refers to the flood plain; what was originally covered by the river, but I don't see how that can exclude the Gaspé peninsula, except mountainous areas in the interior. It is not very well explained.

Environmentalists call for a moratorium everywhere. It is ridiculous, given the amount of hydroelectric power we produce.

[Boom Boom]

The plastics industry - which depends on oil and gas to survive - isn't happy:
 
http://www.canplastics.com/news/quebecs-minority-goverment-tables-moratorium-bill-on-shale-gas-fracking/1002333752/qvwl78qW6yv14qsvqq4sMw4q/?ref=enews_CP&utm_source=CP&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CP-EN05212013
 
excerpt:
 
From the plastics perspective, the legislation strikes at the heart of a technology that supporters of fracking say will increase natural gas supplies, lower gas prices, and transform North American producers of resins such as polyethylene, which are favored by lighter natural gas-based feedstocks, into some of the most cost-competitive producers in the world.
 
 

[Boom Boom]

France’s Ban On Fracking Is ‘Absolute’

excerpts:
 
- France’s ban on fracking was finally completed Friday, as its constitutional court upheld a 2011 law prohibiting the practice and canceling all exploration permits. The decision posted on the court’s website said the ban “conforms to the constitution” and is not “disproportionate,” effectively protecting it from any future legal challenge.
 
- And that’s not just talk. France has ambitious goals for a low-carbon future and is currently considering a tax on carbon emissions and a nuclear tax. Revenue would go to renewables and energy efficiency standards. France plans to cut fossil fuel use by 30 percent by 2030, at the same time that it de-emphasizes the nuclear power that provides three quarters of the nation’s energy.

“It’s a judicial victory but also an environmental and political victory,” Martin said. “With this decision the ban on hydraulic fracturing is absolute.”
 
Will Quebec follow suit?