FP: Fracking hysteria prompts industry code of conduct to quell fears
More than 175,000 oil and gas wells drilled in Alberta and British Columbia since the 1950s have been stimulated using hydraulic fracturing with no evidence of drinking water contamination.
Canadians are torn between the oil sands’ environmental performance and its economic benefits, but they have few qualms about pipelines, according to a new poll
In fact, there hasn’t been a single incident of water contamination anywhere in Canada due to hydraulic fracturing — a well completion practice that involves fracturing rock underground by pumping fluids mixed with sand at high pressure — according to the association that represents the companies that do it.
Yet fear of the technology, known as fracking, stoked by environmental activists and based on incidents and poor regulation outside the country, has led to so much hysteria that Quebec continues to ban it and in New Brunswick recently sparked violent protests.
Meanwhile, demand for the technology is increasing as industry repositions itself to produce oil and gas from resource plays. MORE