New Brunswick environment minister to go on third trip to study shale gas

<p>FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s environment minister heads to Pennsylvania next week – her third trip in recent months to examine the viability of shale gas development – triggering accusations from the Opposition that the government is becoming too cosy with the industry.</p> <p>Margaret-Ann Blaney said the trips have been a learning experience as the provincial government develops regulations that could allow for the lucrative extraction of natural gas trapped deep underground between layers of shale rock.</p> <p>”We’re still a year-and-a-half to two years out, so we’ve got some time to really look at the best practices,” Blaney said Wednesday. </p> <p>Blaney and other cabinet ministers have visited shale gas wells in Arkansas and British Columbia.</p> <p>Opposition Leader Victor Boudreau said the government seems too industry-friendly in its choice of trips.</p> <p>”They’re not at all looking at jurisdictions that have made the decision to put in place a moratorium or to not allow it, whether it be Quebec or the state of New York or France,” he said.</p> <p>”If they are to study the issue, they need to study both sides of the issue to be able to truly come up with an educated decision on whether this is a viable option for the province.”</p> <p>Many New Brunswick residents and the city council in Moncton have raised concerns that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to extract the gas could harm water supplies.</p> <p>The process involves pumping water and chemicals into a gas well to fracture the layers of shale rock and release the gas.</p> <p>But Blaney said the government has begun a phased environmental impact assessment for the emerging industry, starting with tests of wells for water quality.</p> <p>”We’re testing wells well in advance of anything being done, which is good, because then you have a baseline,” she said. “Arkansas didn’t do that. It is one of the things we’re doing because you learn.”</p> <p>Tom Alexander of Texas-based Southwestern Energy Company has said groundwater supplies are not affected when wells are drilled correctly with casings and properly cemented.</p> <p>Southwestern has a licence to explore more than a million hectares in New Brunswick.</p> <p>He said if New Brunswick reserves are as large as those in Arkansas, it could create thousands of jobs in the province.</p>