Fracking & Health

Risks of reorganizing Public Health

Date: September 29, 2017
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change, Fracking & Health

by JIM EMBERGER COMMENTARY  (Telegraph Journal/Miramichi Leadre, 29 Sept 2017)

On Aug. 31, the New Brunswick Minister of Health announced the transfer of many of the public health functions of the Office of Chief Medical Officer of Health to other government departments.

The government’s stated reasons are to streamline operations, increase efficiency, save taxpayer money and increase uniformity with other Atlantic provinces. This issue is now back in the news with a national group of doctors, affiliated with the Canadian Journal of Public Health, opposing this reorganization plan for New Brunswick.

However, then-minister Victor Boudreau did not furnish examples or explanations as to how these goals would be accomplished. The new minister, Benoît Bourque, must do so, because common sense and experience suggest that this move will have exactly the opposite effects.

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Stop chasing a fossil fuel dinosaur

Date: February 8, 2017
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies, Wastewater Disposal, Water Issues

Commentary by Jim Emberger (Fredericton Gleaner, 7 February 2017)

Donald Trump’s resurrection of the Keystone pipeline has some pundits worried that Energy East may be cancelled. This in turn has some editorialists calling for a return to shale gas as New Brunswick’s saviour.

Apparently they have forgotten that five conditions must be met before the shale gas moratorium can be lifted. New studies furnish examples why those conditions are unlikely to be met.

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Let’s close the door on shale gas development once and for all

Date: November 25, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Good News, Wastewater Disposal

Commentary by Jim Emberger (Fredericton Gleaner, Nov 23, 2016)

We applaud the Gallant government’s decision to amend the Clean Environment Act to ban the disposal of fracking wastewater in municipal and provincial sewage treatment systems.    The scientific studies behind the decision have long noted that municipal wastewater systems were not designed to deal with industrial waste. They cannot remove substances for which they were not designed and the plants themselves can be damaged.

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Social license is not easily granted

Date: July 12, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Research & Scientific Studies, Social License, Wastewater Disposal

Jim Emberger Commentary, Telegraph Journal July 12,2016

In the government’s mandate to the Commission on Hydrofracturing were five instructions, including how to obtain ‘social license’. While there is no legal definition of that term, social license is, in essence, the citizenry’s informed decision on whether or not to proceed with an industry based on an evaluation of the risks and benefits.

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Recent news on fracking

Date: May 26, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Moratoria, Wastewater Disposal

In encouraging local news, The Environmental Advisory Committee, established by the Provincial Government of PEI to create a new Water Act, has recommended banning fracking in PEI.  This conforms to the trend of the last few years, as the case against shale gas and fracking grows with each new study, regardless of topic – water contamination, public health, earthquakes, climate change, etc.

Recently, news on fracking has taken a decided about-face from the many stories previously singing its praises. The truth is beginning to emerge.

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The other side of risk and science in shale gas

Date: March 28, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies, Social License

Jim Emberger Commentary, Telegraph Journal, 27 March 2016

Krista Ross’ [Fredericton Chamber of Commerce] recent commentary (12 March 2016) suggested that New Brunswick’s citizens are too unsophisticated to understand the science behind the risks surrounding shale gas, making them easy targets for shale gas opponents to manipulate with fear.

These condescending assertions are, fortunately, easy to dismiss. Our Alliance continues to direct the public to the hundreds of independent scientific studies that are now collected into a Compendium available at: http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/.

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NBASGA Statement on the New Brunswick Commission on Hydraulic Fracturing Report

Date: March 1, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Fracking News, Moratoria, Social License

The New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance provides the following statement about the report issued last Friday by the New Brunswick Commission on Hydrofracturing.

The Commissioners recognized that the discussion about shale gas had to be looked at in the contexts of the immediate need to combat climate change, the lack of a coherent and forward-looking energy policy for the province, and the inadequacy of current institutions and procedures in New Brunswick to deal with either shale gas or with the new realities of a low-carbon world.

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The Case Against Shale Gas

Date: February 25, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Moratoria, Most Asked Questions, NBASGA, Research & Scientific Studies

The following letter was sent to New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant and members of the Liberal Caucus on 22 February 2016.

Dear Premier Gallant:

The Commission on Hydrofracking will soon submit its report and the government will make its decision on the future of shale gas in the province.   We have to ask: “After 5 years of examining the pros and cons, what evidence has accumulated to support each side?”

To answer this question we have put together a short summary of the latest news and scientific information on a few of the major issues at the heart of the discussion.  We hope you will take the ten minutes necessary to read the attached document.

The  executive summary follows.

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Shale gas decision must be made in different contexts

Date: February 19, 2016
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change, Fracking & Health, Fracking and Economics, Moratoria, NBASGA, Social License

JIM EMBERGER COMMENTARY
The Miramichi Leader, 19 February 2016

The Commission on Hydrofracking will soon submit its report and the government will make its decision on the future of shale gas. After five years of examining the pros and cons, what evidence has accumulated to support each side?

If a solid economic case for shale gas ever did exist, it has now evaporated. It is now common knowledge that to offset the rapid depletion of shale gas wells, producers continuously drilled more of them.

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No More Trust

Date: December 9, 2015
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Fracking & Health, Fracking News, Research & Scientific Studies

Liberal firing of Dr. Eilish Cleary a dark day in New Brunswick history

MONCTON, NB (Dec. 8, 2015) – Members of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance are shocked and dismayed at the unprecedented action taken against Dr. Eilish Cleary.

“This has effectively put a fatal bullet into any hopes that this government had of obtaining a social license for any endeavor that impacts the health of New Brunswickers,” says spokesman Jim Emberger. “Dr. Cleary was perhaps one of the few remaining voices in government with any credibility with the citizenry.”

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