In this mornings Telegraph Journal... SETTING WATER USE GUIDELINES Energy New Brunswick Energy Institute and Canadian Rivers Institute developing monitoring tool ADAM HURAS LEGISLATURE BUREAU FREDERICTON – The New Brunswick Energy Institute is pioneering a system to determine how much water can be safely withdrawn from the environment by industry and municipalities, while also moving to ensure that earthquake monitoring remains in place near current oil and gas production sites. David Besner, the interim chair of the institute, announced the two new projects at a meeting of the independent body’s energy roundtable in Fredericton on Friday. The two initiatives join a study announced earlier this month that will see the institute spend more than $500,000 on research looking at well-water quality in areas where industry wants to develop shale gas. Besner said the group had decided to replace seismic monitors near oil and gas wells in the McCully and Stoney Creek areas after the Geographical Survey of Canada announced plans to remove the equipment. “This was a special project, so they are pulling two of the monitors in September,”Besner said.“We have agreed to buy two monitors to put in their place so we keep the network going.” In 2016, the geographical service will remove the three other seismic monitors from New Brunswick. “We are forecasting right now that we will buy three more to replace them to keep this going,”Besner said.“If there is activity in the shale gas we will have the baseline testing and then we can measure what is happening as time goes on” The monitors cost roughly $30,000 each. The federal government has launched its own study to determine whether hydro-fracking causes earthquakes. The Canadian study was launched after the U.S. Geological Survey released research that points to an “unprecedented” spike in mini-earthquake activity around areas of intense oil and gas production. The research found a six-fold increase in seismic events in the last decade in the U.S. mid-continent compared to last three decades of the 20th century. It found no direct link between hydraulic fracturing and an increase in seismic events, Instead, it’s suggested deep, waste-water injection wells, are a more likely cause. “Seismicity is an issue,” Besner said. “In the United States they have noticed some quaking events, although my understanding is that most of it has been with deep well injection of waste water and not fracking itself, but, we want to look at it, and I think New Brunswickers wants to look at it. “They are concerned about that, so that’s the issue.” Besner said the institute may make plans to study the data in the future. “This was intended to focus on the shale gas issue as baseline monitors right now,” he said.“What we would also like to do is not just have the data that comes out of this, which is continuous and the public can access, but we are looking at whether we will define a research project or interpretation of this data.” Besner also announced a partnership with the Canadian Rivers Institute to develop a tool to monitor the amount of water being withdrawn from New Brunswick’s water systems. “This project with the Canadian Rivers Institute is designed to develop methodology that is useful in New Brunswick that looks at how much water can be withdrawn from streams, lakes, and rivers,”he said.“It’s to develop a methodology that is useful for New Brunswick as a whole,for the government as a whole,to determine what accessibility should be given to withdraw water. “There are a number of issues around that.” Besner said the methodology is expected to be completed by September. More details on the partnership will be released next week. “It’s good, not only for the shale gas industry if they need water, but many other industries that use surface water from our streams,” Besner said, adding that municipalities also draw a large supply themselves. The institute announced earlier this month that it would spend more than $500,000 on research looking at well-water quality in areas where industry wants to develop shale gas. The research will go towards establishing proper baseline testing before any more wells are drilled. Kerry MacQuarrie, a civil engineering professor at the University of New Brunswick, was selected as the project lead for the two-year study on about 500 private wells. He said it was important to find out the water quality before any further development takes place because sometimes people don’t realize there’s naturally occurring pollution with no human cause. “This will be totally voluntary and it will be up to the homeowners that we contact whether they want to be involved,” MacQuarrie said. “I would assume that people would be interested to know what the quality is for their drinking water, but there won’t be any obligation for anyone to take part.”
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 10:42:35 +0000
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