2 major earthquakes in a month
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 14 January 2016 13:45
- Written by editor
Fracking operations in BC caused the biggest fracking-related earthquake ever recorded -- just the latest in a string of hundreds of earthquakes.
Tell Premier Christy Clark it's time to put a moratorium on fracking.
A,
Provincial regulators just confirmed that a 4.6-magnitude earthquake near Fort Nelson, B.C. was caused by a local fracking operation.
This is the strongest earthquake caused by fracking ever recorded in history -- yet fracking operations are continuing all across B.C. and Canada.
And just yesterday, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Alberta, and was felt 280 kilometres away. While the government hasn't confirmed it yet, it was likely also caused by fracking.
Communities across Canada are calling for an end to fracking. The earthquakes, which are becoming a frequent reality in Northern B.C., make it clear BC needs a moratorium on new fracking operations -- like the ones already in place in Quebec and New Brunswick.
In the past ten years, Northeastern B.C. has seen a massive increase in the number of earthquakes -- and most of them are not natural.
As if the ground shaking beneath your feet isn't bad enough, these earthquakes are really just the tip of the iceberg.
The methane gas leaked from fracking operations is a greenhouse gas 34 times stronger than carbon itself, making fracked gas as bad, if not worse, than coal. As if that weren't enough, fracking operations contaminate millions of gallons of water every day by injecting toxic cocktails of unknown chemicals into the ground to release the gas.
We can't put entire communities at risk just so companies like Progress Energy, owned by Malaysian giant Petronas, can rip and ship more fossil fuels.
It's reckless and shortsighted, and that’s why communities across Canada, from Lelu Island in B.C. to the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick, are standing up against this destructive industry.
With the end of the carbon age in sight, fossil fuel companies are making a mad rush to extract as much fossil fuels as they can, as fast as they can. That’s why the SumOfUs community has been working together to keep companies like Shell from throwing a wrench into world climate talks and from drilling for oil off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Now that world leaders, including our own in Canada, have committed to a clean future, we need to demand that they start acting on their words. Premier Clark needs to show she won't be left in the dust, and implement a moratorium on new fracking operations.
Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Emma, Liz, Rosa and the rest of us
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More information:
Provinces must do more to prevent fracking-induced earthquakes: expert, The Globe and Mail, December 17, 2015
Fracking-Caused Earthquakes Will Increase If B.C. LNG Industry Booms, The Huffington Post, August 31, 2015
St. Albert feels tremors from earthquake near Fox Creek, Global News, January 12, 2016
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