Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I continue with lessons learned from our fracking tour and applying those lessons to the North. Too much of anything can be a bad thing. Fracking is about too much of many things, too much of so much that I made a list:
too many trucks on too many roads;
too many wells flaring too much gas;
too much fresh water going down a well and too much dirty water coming back up;
too many pipelines, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, freshwater pipelines and produced water pipelines,
too many workers coming in from faraway places; and driving it all,
too much money.
This is what scientists call cumulative effects. One well, fracked under perfect conditions, can appear to be a manageable risk, so when big money is involved, things can get out of control, and that is what we saw in North Dakota and rolling across the globe today.
We learned that a loaded truck of gravel kicks up 100 pounds of dust per mile. Massive North Dakota traffic creates 10-inch-deep ruts in paved highways. Imagine what they will do to our winter roads, and we thought last year was a bad winter.
We learned that oil wells produce gas that must be flared if there are no gas pipelines. In North Dakota they flare so much gas, you can see from outer space a frack field lit up like New York City. Again, imagine what the Sahtu will look like here.
We learned that each pad with four wells requires 600 truckloads of water, 2,500 tons of sand and 1,200 barrels of chemicals. We learned that you need a multi-well pad every four miles in every direction.
We learned that each well goes deep into the Earth through layers of water and oil that should not be connected. When sealed, their integrity is meant to last forever. Go figure.
In Saskatchewan, abandoned wells are considered one of that government’s biggest liabilities. We learned that what is sent down the well is bad, but what goes back, so-called produced water, is much dirtier. We may feel like we have unlimited fresh water, but only 6 percent of our water is refreshed through rain and snow each year.
We learned that fracking does not just fracture the earth deep underground. Fracking development also fractures the landscape with a network of roads, well pads and pipelines. We know that this completely changes the way our northern land and animals function. And we learned that once you start, you have a hard time stopping.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We learned that once you start, you have a hard time stopping. Workers and companies come from all over, and local people get priced out of their own communities.
We do need development, but it must be sustainable. Tomorrow I will explore what is the sustainability question here, and suggest an alternative economic development that benefits local economies and every single resident.
I will have questions today for the Minister of Environment. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
