GASLAND Comes to Wynyard

[Oscar]

GASLAND Comes to Wynyard

Submitted by Elaine Hughes

Published in the Wynyard Advance on June 6, 2011

Hydraulic Fracturing or 'fracking' was the focus of the screening of the movie, GASLAND, at the Annual General Meeting of the Quill Plains Chapter of the Council of Canadians held on Saturday afternoon in Wynyard, SK.

Fracking is a method to get at oil and natural gas deposits lying far below the earth's surface. Now reaching 'gold rush' proportions in the USA, fracking involves forcing millions of gallons of water, sand, and about 600 chemicals (names are secret but investigations reveal that many are toxic and carcinogenic) into holes drilled thousands of meters into the rock or shale below ground. There, mini-earthquakes are produced to crack the rock and allow the gas or oil to come to the surface where it is captured and trucked away for processing. Toxic fumes and highly contaminated water also come to the surface to be taken up by the environment and its inhabitants.

GASLAND, nominated earlier this year for an Academy Award, tells how U.S. filmmaker Josh Fox - after being asked by a company to lease his land for natural gas drilling - set out on a cross-country road trip to answer the question: Is Fracking Safe?

He interviews many people whose lives have been impacted by this activity. Besides footage of how, after nearby drilling occurred, residents are able to set their tap water on fire, the film tells many stories of numerous respiratory and neurological illnesses, skin irritation and lesions on people and animals, and total destruction of the lifestyles of residents.

The film also brings to light the legal loopholes, technical misinformation and lack of transparency of an industry feeding the fossil fuel addiction of the Planet.

Now parts of Canada, including Saskatchewan, are racing to catch up! Saskatchewan land sale revenues for oil and natural gas stand at $152 million after two sales in 2011, with the next sale in June. Most of this natural prairie or farmland lies in the southern part of the province over the Bakken Formation.

Attention also is directed to north eastern Saskatchewan - in the Hudson Bay-Endeavour-Preeceville-Sturgis area. Millions of acres of forest and farmland apparently cover significant deposits of coal, oil and natural (shale) gas.

However, because of serious negative impacts on water, air, land, and human and animal health, France, several U.S. states, and Canadian provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, British Columbia), are in the process of banning hydraulic fracturing.

Lawsuits against fracking companies have been launched in several States. Jessica Ernst of Rosebud Alberta, whose drinking water allegedly was destroyed by the activity of Encana, has taken legal action. An environmental scientist, Ernst recently addressed these concerns at the United Nations in New York.

The Council of Canadians will increase efforts across the country to inform the public about the impacts of this poorly regulated industry.

"Hughes, who is from Archerwill, is the Chair of the Quill Plains Chapter Council of Canadians"