GreenWatch

B. McPherson Are you being fracked? Fracking or fresh water, that’s what it’s come down to in Lawrence County countryside. At the center of the pig protest is Maggie Henry, a farmer. She and her family have farmed the area for many years and along with neighbours have learned to live with the consequences of oil exploration. The area is riddled with abandoned oil wells from the 19 th Century oil rush in the area. Periodically leaking methane causes buildings to explode. The new gas rush using rock fracturing or fracking is a whole new ballgame. Shell is proceeding with fracking in the area and protesters have stationed a nine foot papier mache pink pig in the driveway of the well head. They have chained themselves to the legs of the monster pig impeding traffic to and from the well. This civil disobedience comes after Henry tried and failed through the courts to stop fracking in her area. There are several concerns around this relatively new technology. The fra...

B. McPherson Economist Robyn Allan has strong words about the economic feasibility of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project. Allan is quoted in the Calgary Herald this morning: "The emperor has no clothes," Allan said in an interview. "We're told it is a gross producing economic opportunity, but in fact it's an oil price shock to the economy." Allan, a respected economist, once named in the top 200 CEOs in Canada, presented her report to the commission charged with hearings about the project which would ship bitumen (oil sands product) overseas. Her report that the proposed pipeline would have a depressing effect on the Canadian economy is in sharp contrast to the sunny predictions put about by the Canadian PM Steven Harper and his Minister of Natural Resources of many good jobs and wealth to the government coffers. The cards seemed stacked from the start of the hearings into the pipeline project when the Minister of Natural R...