August 06 2008 | News Clippings | Terrace Standard
Wildlife group against gas drilling
Wildlife group against gas drilling
Published: August 05, 2008 11:00 PM
THE FOLLOWING is an excerpt of a letter written to Premier Gordon Campbell last month.
The BC Wildlife Federation wishes to express our concerns with regards to Royal Dutch Shell’s planned coal bed methane (CBM) drilling at the shared headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers, an area that has come to be known as the “Sacred Headwaters.”
The inevitable habitat fragmentation caused by the cumulative effect of support roads, pipelines, and gas well sites will be acutely detrimental to the caribou herd and other wildlife in the area.
Noise generated by compressor stations and the environmental hazards of flaring and venting serve to compound the cumulative effects on development-sensitive species of wildlife, such as the Osborne Caribou, which are listed and protected as a species of “Special Concern” under the federal “Species at Risk Act”.
With Shell’s tenure being drawn along the western border of the Spatsizi Wilderness Park, the spill-over effects into the protected park, and onto the wildlife living in the western portions of the park, will also be unavoidable, thereby directly affecting Spatsizi.
By displacing wildlife, this project will have an irreversible, negative effect on the entire ecosystem, which at this time, can only be described as highly sensitive.
Although Shell has committed to transportation and treatment of wastewater produced by its test wells, it has indicated that future disposal of wastewater will involve deep well re-injection.
We understand this process has been used in conventional gas production, but are unaware of it being used in association with CBM production, or in mountainous geological areas.
We feel the uncertainty surrounding this technique should preclude its use in sensitive ecosystems such as this.
Many of our region’s people, First Nations included, rely on wild salmon from the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers to feed and support their families, both through food fisheries and employment in the fisheries industry.
The provincial and federal governments are both well aware of the long-term financial and social benefits associated with these valuable salmon runs.
We are extremely concerned about the cumulative impact of CBM development on wild salmon, in these three river systems.
Shell is not being transparent regarding their plans in the Klappan. At recent presentations throughout north-western communities, Shell representatives continue to claim that they do not have answers to many specific questions asked of them.
They will not provide estimates for the number of wells they would need to drill to make the project viable, the location of roads, the route of the pipeline needed to deliver the product to market or the specifics of how they would contain and seal a well should it fail due to seismic activity common in this mountainous area.
Given that Shell has developed a timeline for production and the movement of gas through a pipeline, it seems apparent that they would have already answered all of the questions mentioned above – yet they seem to be reluctant to divulge that information.
This lack of honesty and transparency is of great concern to our organization.
At Shell’s latest community presentation in New Hazelton, a Shell representative admitted that they could not guarantee the integrity of each sealed well for eternity, once drilling and production terminated.
Economically, ethically and environmentally we cannot afford to have Shell, or any other company, pursuing a CBM project in the Sacred Headwaters at this time given the CBM industry’s devastating track record and the limited technology and scientific data currently available.
Mr. Campbell, we call on you to put an immediate halt to any and all drilling, for the purpose of coal bed methane exploration and extraction, in the Sacred Headwaters.
Mel Arnold is the president and Patti MacAhonic is the executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation.
We look forward to your timely response on this matter.
Yours in conservation,
Mel Arnold Patti MacAhonic
President, Executive Director,
BC Wildlife Federation BC Wildlife Federation