Accurate, unbiased information is absolutely essential to informed debate. If we want good government, we need good information. It’s also essential that the public can trust the information they get from their government is ‘good:’ as unbiased and as accurate as possible.
That’s why it’s so disheartening to hear government Ministers spreading disinformation about substantive issues involving public health and safety, impacts on our environment, and the implications of government enabled activities for future generations.
The most recent example of this is Energy Minister Rich Coleman’s interview on CBC Radio about oil and gas development in the Peace River region. Minister Coleman claimed during the interview that he had done his “own research,” yet throughout the interview he gave false and misleading statements about the health impacts of oil and gas development, water usage for fracking, and the public reporting of the toxic chemicals used during fracking operations.
Minister Coleman claimed that “we don’t have any evidence whatsoever” that oil and gas development has had negative impacts on the health and safety of the people in the Peace region. I guess the Minister didn’t research Encana’s Pouce Coupe gas leak (or other such leaks) that killed a horse and permanently damaged the lungs of at least one resident. He must not have read the Oil and Gas Commission’s (OGC) report, which concluded that Encana’s emergency response systems were fundamentally inadequate and put the health and safety of local residents at risk.
Minister Coleman’s claim that there’s “no evidence whatsoever” of negative health impacts disregards peer-reviewed studies which document these negative effects. It dismisses the direct experience of people living in the Peace who are experiencing declining health and are increasingly worried about their safety. He failed to mention that the Northern Health Authority and its health officers have called on the government to develop a health plan to address health concerns of the community. He also didn’t acknowledge the numerous residents groups and first nations who have called for a full public inquiry into the effects of oil and gas development on their health and safety.
Even more insidious are Minister Coleman’s statements about water use. He actually claimed during the interview that the industry is “not using fresh water,” he claimed it uses saline water and that the water is “actually” recycled and recaptured. This begs the question of why then the government issued a permit to Talisman Energy this summer for a permanent pipeline to take water from the Williston Reservoir to conduct their fracking operations near Hudson’s Hope. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s a fresh water source.
The reality is that most of the water used for fracking is fresh water, there is an attempt by industry to find alternate water sources and in some locations saline aquifers are being tapped and used, but the majority of the water currently used for fracking is fresh water. And, the majority of this fresh water is not recaptured and recycled as Minister Coleman claims. The addition of fracking fluids permanently contaminates the fresh water and industry must dispose of it, mostly by storing it under pressure in underground wells (a practice which has been implicated in increased seismic activity).
Finally, Minister Coleman’s claim that there will now be transparency in the publication of fracking chemicals is yet another falsehood. Industry will still have the right to claim that their toxic soups are “proprietary” information and avoid full disclosure in order to protect their company secrets. These are known neurotoxins and carcinogens that are transported on BC’s roads, mixed with our fresh water and pumped down into the earth, first to fracture the shale beds and then to “permanently” store the toxic water that can’t be used again. There should be no secrecy associated with these chemicals.
As a Minister of the Crown, Mr. Coleman’s key responsibility is to protect the public interest, not act as an apologist for industry by spreading misinformation about its activities. Based on the CBC interview, Minister Coleman is either deliberately spreading fracking falsehoods or he is seriously misinformed. I hope it’s the latter.