Natural Gas Is Safe According to Fossil Fuel Industry Experts

By André Faust

It’s hard to have trust in the honesty and integrity of big business, for example in the fracking industry, The industry will all ways tell you that there is no danger in the extraction and use of natural gas. Any evidence brought to the to counter their claim, they reject as anecdotal, or dismiss the evidence in its entirety.

The following video tells a different story.

Back in 2008 in the city of Fredericton New Brunswick Canada a house blew up as a result of a malfunctioning valve, fortunately the residents were in Florida.

Last year in February 24 a New Jersey Home exploded as a result of natural gas igniting, in that case there were fifteen people injured as a result of that explosions.

How can you trust those trying to profit from the extraction, and the transportation of shale gas when they tell you that they are no risk involved.

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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors on this web site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Left Eye.

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Gallant heeding science on shale gas but oblivious to science on pipeline

Fredericton NB  –  The three New Brunswick chapters of the Council of Canadians—Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John—remain baffled as to why Premier Gallant has given credence to the science on shale gas but has denied the science on the Energy-East pipeline. 

“While we applaud his decision to use science as the basis for a moratorium on shale gas,” says Maggie Connell, Co-Chair of the Fredericton Chapter of the Council of Canadians “we are puzzled as to why he seems to have dodged scientists’ warnings about tarsands expansion.”

In a report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in September 2013, the world’s leading climate scientists called for drastic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.  These reductions are needed to avoid what scientists are saying will be irreversible climate change if we don’t drastically reduce our emissions now.

It is estimated that the Energy-East pipeline would increase our carbon dioxide emissions annually by 32 million tonnes.

But instead of paying heed to this body of science and working towards the reduction of our carbon dioxide emissions, Premier Gallant went to Alberta to champion the pipeline.

“Ironic,” says Leticia Adair from the Saint John Chapter, “We just voted out Premier Alward who wanted to champion global warming through unconventional (shale) gas development. Now we’ve elected Premier Gallant who wants to do the same thing but with unconventional (tarsands) oil.”

“Premier Gallant should have stayed home to beef up the New Brunswick climate action plan to match New Brunswick’s greenhouse emission reduction targets with what scientists are saying is necessary—80% reductions by 2050. After that, we fully expect that he will plan a trip to European countries that are on the cutting edge of replacing their dependencies on fossil fuels with renewable energy,” adds Pamela Ross from the Moncton Chapter.

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350.org: On Creating a Global Climate Movement

Re-Blogged from 350.org

350.org is building a global climate movement. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are coordinated by a global network active in over 188 countries.

The number 350 means climate safety: to preserve a livable planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current level of 400 parts per million to below 350 ppm.

We believe that a global grassroots movement can hold our leaders accountable to the realities of science and the principles of justice. That movement is rising from the bottom up all over the world, and is uniting to create the solutions that will ensure a better future for all.

With over 4000 languages spoken around the world, words don’t always get the point across. This wordless animation explains 350.org in 90 seconds:

Our History

350.org was founded by a group of university friends in the U.S. along with author Bill McKibben, who wrote one of the first books on global warming for the general public.

When we started organizing in 2008, we saw climate change as the most important issue facing humanity — but climate action was mired in politics and all but stalled. We didn’t know how to fix things, but we knew that one missing ingredient was a climate movement that reflected the scale of the crisis.

So we started organizing coordinated days of action that linked activists and organizations around the world, including the International Day of Climate Action in 2009, the Global Work Party in 2010, Moving Planet in 2011, and Climate Impacts Day in 2012. We held the “world’s biggest art installation” and “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.” We figured that if we were going to be a movement, then we had to start acting like one. Click here to watch videos of these global mobilisations.

Today, 350.org works in almost every country in the world on campaigns like fighting coal power plants in India, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S, and divesting public institutions everywhere from fossil fuels. All of our work leverages people power to dismantle the influence and infrastructure of the fossil fuel industry, and to develop people-centric solutions to the climate crisis.

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Irving Stands To Lose 63 Million Dollars If Alward Looses Election

Irving wants Alward Elected so that he won’t lose his tax breaks

Irving has a vested interest if the Alward government were to win this election on September 22. Brian Gallant announced that his party would start to make the 1% pay their share of taxes, which would represent $63 million dollars in tax savings for the province. There is consensus among the other alternative parties that if the 1% paid their share of the taxes, the province would not be in the financial state that it currently experiencing.

Brian Gallant is the first leader speak out on tax inequality between rich and the poor, which is a reflection of new political ideologies which has permeated liberal party over the last four years.

Vote yes is to vote yes for selling the province short, for example the royalty deal that he has made with the shale gas industry is only pennies that that province would receive as compared royalties paid out in the province of Alberta. Recently Alward has basically given Irving all of the forest on Crown lands for virtually receiving nothing from the Irvings.

Vote yes means a government that will represent the will of the corporations not the will of the citizens.

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Alward government bungles first test of so-called world class shale gas regulations

Shale gas extraction

FREDERICTON— “Premier Alward’s world-class regulations on shale gas mining have failed their first major test,” says Dr. Jean Louis Deveau, chair of the Fredericton Chapter of the Council of Canadians.

On February 7th, Corridor Resources registered with the government’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) registry a proposal to propane frack four exisiting wells in Penobsquis sometime in July. This is Phase III of a three-phase project. Corridor’s short announcement was published in one small newspaper on February 11, but apparently nowhere else. The word fracking did not appear in the newspaper ad.

Before 2010, shale gas companies were not required to register for an EIA until ready to drill and frack wells. “But public pressure forced the Alward government to change that, so they created a new category of EIA called a ‘phased EIA,’ which now requires companies to register each phase of a project for an EIA.

“The problem is this ‘phased EIA’ process is not designed to require a company to submit a formal environmental impact assessment which would trigger public hearings on their proposal,” says Deveau.

Deveau points out that until February 21st, there was nothing in the government’s EIA registry to suggest that fracking would be taking place. Nor was Corridor’s proposal initially available on-line. “We live in the information age,” says Stanley resident Lawrence Wuest, “but I had to physically drive to the Department of Environment to read about the details of Corridor’s proposal.”

In addition, according to a floodplain map of New Brunswick, two of the wellpads scheduled for fracking by Corridor lie on the 20 year floodplain of the Kennebecasis River. Corridor’s EIA registration document, now available on its own website does not appear to take this into consideration. This is problematic as the new rules for industry released in February 2013 place restrictions on shale gas mining in floodplains.

Energy Minister Craig Leonard even said last September that shale gas mining in flood zone areas would have to go “through a full EIA.” The phased EIA now underway will likely allow Corridor to frack without any of us ever knowing how the public and the waters of the Kennebecasis River are to be safeguarded in the event of flooding,” said Deveau.

“This is a far cry from what New Brunswickers should be expecting from so called ‘world-class’ shale gas regulations,” says Deveau. “I encourage New Brunswickers to demand that a comprehensive environmental impact assessment be conducted on this fracking project.”

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