This Thursday evening, Sierra Club Comox Valley will present: Fracking up our Water, Hydro Power and Climate: B.C.’s Reckless Pursuit of Shale Gas.
The speaker will be Ben Parfitt, the resource policy analyst and researcher for the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.
Of all the new technologies for the discovery of energy, none is as controversial as fracking.
It is a process of natural-gas drilling that involves pumping vast quantities of water, sand and chemicals thousands of feet down into the earth to crack the deep shale deposits and free bubbles of gas from the ancient, porous rock. The toxic, chemically-ladened water is then pumped back out and deposited in lined “frack ponds” that, in some areas of rural Pennsylvania, are scattered across the landscape.
Fracking is happening in the Peace River country in northeastern B.C. For the past two years, Parfitt has been analyzing the fracking process and researching how the huge demands of water are related to farming and hydro power requirements in a world of climate change.
In his talk, he will introduce you to some of the people directly affected by this development. One of them, Bob Webster, is a farmer who is dealing first hand with the consequences of the water intensive fracking operations going on in his backyard.
Parfitt’s presentation will take place in the lower level of the Native Son’s Hall, 369 Cliff Ave. in Courtenay from 7 to 9 p.m.
This is a benefit for Sierra Club Comox Valley. Admission is by donation (suggested donation $10).
— Sierra Club Comox Valley