This group is calling on the Manitoba provincial government to follow the lead of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Yukon and declare a moratorium on hydrolic fracturing (fracking) in Manitoba. The multiple safety issues associated with the practice go far beyond the known environmental costs such as permanent destruction of fresh water, acid rain from flaring of sour gas and contamination of agricultural lands with toxins from drill mud sprayed onto the land.
In the disaster in Lac Megantic, it is suspected that many were killed by the deadly H2S This catastrophe is waiting to happen every time a train or pipeline carries oil with high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and volatile components (such as Bakken oil). Hydrogen sulphide is an extremely hazardous, toxic, flammable gas. 50 to 200ppm can cause severe respiratory tract irritation, shock, convulsions, coma, or death and the US Federal Regulatory Commission has granted permission to Enbridge and other pipeline companies to refuse to carry crude oil in their pipelines with a H2S content of more than 5 ppm.
“There are no measuring and reporting requirements in Manitoba,” says retired scientist Dennis Leneveu, “but technical documents on the Manitoba Petroleum website and on Crude Oil Monitor website indicate that the H2S content in Manitoba oil carried in pipelines and rail cars can be of the order of hundreds of ppm.”
With current practices it is just a matter of time before Winnipeg becomes another Lac Megantic.
The group has sent a letter to the Minister for and has organized a student letter writing campaign supporting a moratorium.
Oct 11 2014
The Honourable Greg Selinger, Premier
Honourable Dave Chomiak, Minister of Mineral Resources
Honourable Gord MacKintosh, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship
Erin Selby, Minister of Health
Dear Premier Greg Selinger; Ministers Chomiak, MacKintosh and Selby,
Council of Canadians-Winnipeg Chapter, Boreal Action Project, and Transition Winnipeg are asking the Manitoba Government to seriously consider following the lead of Nova Scotia, Quebec and New Brunswick to declare a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Manitoba.
We are acutely conscious that the lands involved here in Manitoba are the lands of the Anishinaabe and Dakota peoples. Some of those lands were shared with us in spirit of friendship so that we could settle there and raise our families and work for our common future. We have a responsibility to keep those lands in the same condition that they were in when we received them, the home not only of another nation of people, but the homes of a diversity of plants, animals, insects, reptiles which also have a right to survive. Our opposition to fracking is based on this prior and permanent obligation, and we are not willing to see the heritage of the Indigenous People continue to be despoiled for the economic benefit of others.
The multiple safety issues associated with the practice go far beyond the known environmental costs such as permanent destruction of fresh water, acid rain from flaring of sour gas, and contamination of agricultural lands with toxins from drill mud sprayed onto the land.
In the disaster in Lac Megantic, it is suspected that many were killed by deadly hydrogen sulphide (H2S) contained in the oil. This catastrophe is waiting to happen every time a train or pipeline carries oil with high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and volatile components (such as Bakken oil). Hydrogen sulphide is an extremely hazardous, toxic, flammable gas, and 50 to 200ppm can cause severe respiratory tract irritation, shock, convulsions, coma, or death. The US Federal Regulatory Commission has granted permission to Enbridge and other pipeline companies to refuse to carry in their pipelines crude oil with a H2S content of more than 5 ppm.
In Manitoba, there are no measuring and reporting requirements for H2S, but technical documents on the Manitoba Petroleum website and on Crude Oil Monitor website indicate that the H2S content in Manitoba oil carried in pipelines and rail cars can be of the order of hundreds of ppm or more.
With current practices it is just a matter of time before Winnipeg becomes another Lac Megantic. Especially in light of the latest train derailment in Saskatchewan, we must recognize the immediate need to reduce our use of fossil fuels and transition to a low-carbon economy. Declaring a moratorium on fracking would be a powerful step in this direction.
Thank you,
Mary Robinson for Council of Canadians-Winnipeg Chapter
Dennis LeNeveu
James Magnus-Johnston for Transition Winnipeg
Susanne McCrea for The Boreal Action Project
Sources and additional information:
http://www.manitoba.ca/iem/petroleum/documents/technical/000857.pdf
http://www.crudemonitor.ca/crude.php?acr=LSB)
http://www.canadianswinnipeg.org/apps/blog/show/32695147-fracking-in-manitoba
Leave a comment