Photo: checpitt The long-term negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing at great depths of the Utica Shale are potentially too devastating: it is necessary that any activity, even exploratory stops NOW! Everybody thought okay, the Charest government shows no signs of wanting to impose a moratorium. Spring is upon us and drilling resumed with a vengeance soon, no doubt. TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
Regarding the issue of a moratorium, we will remember the crisis in the hog industry in Quebec in 1996. The parallels and lessons to be learned are too glaring not to make links. Andre Boisclair and company have declared a moratorium of two years on new hog barns in June 2002. However, during this moratorium, the Quebec pork exports have increased steadily and environmental protection measures have been released. The moratorium ended, poor agricultural practices such as fluid management on farms, feed made from GMO increased under-dosing of antibiotics and too narrow buffer strips are still the norm. Only the hard market has slowed the pork industry in Quebec pig cancer, and our rivers are still polluted. Integrators and pork industry are virtually all subsidies and tax breaks, while our farmers and organic agriculture made otherwise are not always encouraged by the state.
The MRC and municipalities who do not want an intensive pig farms in their territory are still denied the right to ban them. Here you familiar? As
BAPE recommendations on water and on pork production have been put on shelves, allow us to doubt the effectiveness of BAPE on shale gas. Since the moratorium on new hog farms has not changed in Quebec, let us fear that the moratorium on exploration and exploitation shale gas (if we ever get it) will bring nothing new either. That any government direction focuses on the economics in favor of private enterprise at the expense of human rights and environmental protection laws added to the appropriate measure to promote this course which are the source of our problems Quebec.
Our patience and our tolerance begin to fail. We can not say it enough: Without clean water, life is impossible!
Photo: marcelluseffect.blogspot.com Shale gas moratorium - what to make of it
The long term negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing shale Deeply in the Utica are potentially too devastating: all drilling activity, even for exploratory purposes, must STOP NOW ! Everybody in Quebec seems to agree on this, but the Charest Government is not showing any signs of even considering a moratorium. Spring is around the corner and drilling should start again soon. TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
As for the moratorium question: let's not forget the pig crisis in Quebec, well on its way around 1996. The similarities and the lessons to be learned are too obvious to deny. André Boisclair and his cronies declared a 2 year moratorium on new pig barns in June 2002. But while this "moratorium" was on, Quebec pork exports kept going up, and environmental protection measures were relaxed. Once the moratorium over, bad "agricultural" practices are "business as usual": liquid slurry instead of dry bedding (like hay or shavings), feed made of GMOs and peppered with antibiotics, too narrow green belts around fields are still the norm. Only the challenging worldwide pork market kept the pig folly under control. Our waterways are still very polluted. Integrators and their industrially produced pork receive almost all the subsidies and tax incentives, while our organic and friendly farmers are neglected by the state.
The MRCs and towns that don't want pig CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) still can't ban them. Doesn't that remind you of anything?
Like the recommendations of the BAPE on water and the BAPE on pig production that are gathering dust, we're afraid that this BAPE on shale gas will suffer the same fate. Like the moratorium on new pig farms didn't change a thing in Quebec (or maybe made things even worse), we feel that the same thing will happen again IF we do finally have a moratorium on shale gas. It is our government policies all aimed at economic benefits for private enterprise at the expense of human rights and environmental protection, with the help of laws made to fit these policies, that are the root causes of our problems here in Quebec.
Our patience and tolerance are running short. We say again: There is no life without clean water!
Photo: Voix de l'Est 
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