Read this story from The Globe and Mail on the BC government’s decision to launch a review into controversial oil and gas practices, including hydraulic fracturing and flaring to determine what impacts they may be having on human health. (Jan. 3, 2012)
The B.C. government has launched a review to determine if controversial practices by the oil and gas industry such as fracking and flaring pose a threat to human health.
“We want to do this so we can all have some peace of mind,” Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom said Tuesday.
Premier Christy Clark promised a review during a public meeting in Fort St. John last March in response to a question from Lois Hill, a hay farmer who lives on top of the Montney Shale gas field near Dawson Creek.
“It’s a start,” Ms. Hill said Tuesday. “We had asked for something much broader, but I’m hopeful that we can turn this into something we need to happen.” She wants a formal registry of residents who have suffered adverse health effects because of exposure to toxic gases. Some northeastern B.C. residents have blamed sour gas leaks, for example, for severe health issues ranging from cancer to depression, but it’s a link that industry has not accepted.