Well said. And I respect his courage to write this. Exclusive: Sask. premier wades into fracking debate ADAM HURAS Legislature Bureau September 19, 2014 Premier Brad Wall. Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has waded into New Brunswick’s provincial election to stress his province’s history with hydraulic fracturing – underlining the technology’s safety and urging the country to develop its resources as part of a national energy strategy. “I want to say very clearly that I completely respect the fact that New Brunswickers are going to make their own decision about any particular issue going forward,” Wall said in an interview with the Telegraph-Journal. “Obviously, the election’s upcoming, they will choose their leadership. “In a way that is frankly non-partisan, I do want to say that as we watch the debate from Saskatchewan’s perspective on the issue of fracking I want to let folks know across the country who may not know, that there is a lot of science behind fracking.” Wall added: “We have been doing it for about 40 years in the province of Saskatchewan.” “It’s literally thousands of wells.” A total of 44,266 oil and natural gas wells have been hydraulically fractured in Saskatchewan. There were 1,380 wells fracked last year, according to that province’s figures. There were 1,320 a year before. Saskatchewan maintains that each well frack employs 10 to 12 people directly, and numerous spinoffs. The western province had long been used as a measuring stick for New Brunswick because of its similarities – a small and rural population base with a similar geography. Both provinces have also faced a large migration of its workers leaving to find work. But Saskatchewan’s radical transformation has arguably now made the two provinces as different as night and day. Unemployment there stood at 4.2 per cent in August, the lowest in the country for the 20th straight month. “The foundational strengths of the Saskatchewan advantage – as we call it – is the natural resources we have,” Wall said. “As a province that has fairly recently moved from have-not to have status, the answer is we can sustainably develop our natural resources and we should in the interest of our economies, not because the economy is the end game, but because we want a quality of life.” Wall says it concerns him that some regions of the country don’t want to participate. “It does, because we have experience with it,” he said. “Near my hometown of Swift Current, there is actually fracking that has been happening for sometime on shallow vertical wells. “There are simply not the incidents that some who oppose fracking are pointing to.” Wall added: “Here are the incidents that we found related to fracking – our kids are coming home, they are starting new businesses, we have jobs being created for young people here, and we have a broader tax base in which we can afford education and health care investment.” Wall said existing regulations have ensured safety in development. A history of success has quelled concern. “We have just not had the debate because fracking started so long ago,” he said. Wall said parts of the province inexperienced with hydraulic fracturing should turn to parts of the country that are. “There is a part of this country that has a lot of experience with fracking,” Wall said. “I think the experience of other regions is germane and relevant and wanted to share it. “Fracking is also a big part of what has unlocked the Bakken formation.” The United States Geological Survey has deemed that formation, the largest of its kind in North America, is expected to see 7.4 billion barrels of oil recovered. “The oil was there for some time, but sort of similar to the rest of the country where there has been energy resources, it has only relatively recent that improvements in technology that has unlocked it,” Wall said. “The Bakken formation, that we grudgingly share with Montana and North Dakota, in that case, fracking has meant literally some of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada.” Wall said in locations where industry has set up, unemployment is two per cent. “And we just haven’t seen a single environmental incident,” Wall said. Wall said his words are not an endorsement of Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward, but instead an industry that aided in bringing prosperity to his province. “No, it is absolutely not, because it’s none of my business,” Wall said of endorsing a political party. “But it is an endorsement for all of us in Canada – Canada is an emerging energy superpower – and we should act like it. “We should embrace the fact that we have oil, that we have natural gas, and we have the technology to in a sustainable way to unlock these resources.” He added: “This is an endorsement for the sustainable development of natural resources, it’s an endorsement for fracking which has been tried and true in large parts of Canada.” “As it becomes an issue not just not in New Brunswick, but I know in Nova Scotia, maybe in other parts of the country, I just wanted to take the opportunity to say ‘let’s make sure we understand the importance of the resources that we have as a country, the fact that we are an emerging superpower – and we should act like it.’”
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:24:21 +0000
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