Critics, supporters sound off on N.S. government move to pursue fracking

The Nova Scotia government is lifting the ban on hydraulic fracturing, which is commonly known as fracking.

Hydraulic fracturing – commonly known as fracking – has been banned in Nova Scotia since 2014, but the provincial government wants to reverse that decision.

“We’re sending a signal right now to industry saying that we are open,” says Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau.

Estimates show there’s potential to extract about seven trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which could mean billions of dollars to the province.

Boudreau says tapping into this underground resource will make Nova Scotia more self-reliant.

“We are importing 100 per cent of the natural gas that we use here in Nova Scotia and that means all of the jobs and the economic benefits that come with that are going somewhere else,” he says.

“The fact that it’s on the East Coast rather than the middle of the United States or out west in Canada really provides a significant potential in terms of investments and economic development for the province,” says Dan McTeague, president of Canadians For Affordable Energy, an advocacy group.

McTeague thinks those benefits could go beyond natural gas by developing liquified natural gas facilities, which would allow the province to cash in on exporting the product around the world.

“This could be a boon beyond anyone’s expectation,” McTeague says. “With the growing demand in Asia, with the growing demand in Europe, and we’re just across the Atlantic. It would be a golden opportunity for jobs and investments for Nova Scotia,”

Officials with the Ecology Action Centre believe the potential impacts on health are too great to pursue natural gas.

“When we frack, what we do is essentially pumping water, chemicals, and sand into the ground, and the majority of the chemicals that are used have been identified as being harmful to human health,” says senior energy coordinator Thomas Arnason McNeil.

Arnason McNeil thinks the sudden willingness to extract natural gas reserves is nothing more than political opportunism

“The idea of fracking every corner of the province of Nova Scotia… I think that is, in a way, just exploiting the situation created by the threat of tariffs on behalf of the U.S.,” he says.

The province also has its eye on uranium exploration, which has been banned since 1981. Minister Boudreau says industry will dictate timelines on the pursuit of both uranium and natural gas.

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