Read this article from the Calgary Herald on the decision by the Nova Scotia Provincial Government to put a two year moratorium on natural gas hydraulic fracturing while it gathers more science on the controversial practice. (April 19, 2012)

CALGARY – Companies searching for oil and gas in the Maritimes received conflicting messages this week around the use of hydraulic fracturing to develop the resources.

New Brunswick granted a five-year licence to Calgary-based Windsor Energy to explore and drill for natural gas on Tuesday while Nova Scotia banned fracking until the summer of 2014 to have more time to review the contentious technology.

Energy Minister Charlie Parker said the provincial government wanted to study reviews being drafted by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency and Environment Canada on the effects of fracking.

Parker cited other jurisdictions have been reviewing how fracking could affect water re-sources and earthquakes.

“We think it’s important to get the best possible information that’s out there and make an informed decision after we’ve learned all that,” Parker said.

Critics of the NDP administration suggest the government is freezing discussion about hydraulic fracturing until after the next election.

Public concern has in-creased in the past year about the technology, which pumps massive amounts of waters and chemicals down well bores to crack open reservoirs of so-called tight oil and gas. Protests against frack-ing escalated in areas such as the Maritimes, where little onshore oil-and-gas development has occurred.

Monday’s announcement was a setback for companies such as Elmworth Energy, a subsidiary of Triangle Petroleum Corp., which holds a 10-year lease representing the province’s first shale-gas development project.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Nova+Scotia+issues+year+moratorium+fracking/6481080/story.html