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Don’t frack Chatham-Kent!

Image: marcellusprotest.org

By Joanne Lefebvre

Can we say “shale fracking” Chatham-Kent? I guarantee it will be on all our lips in the next few years.

In March 2010, the Toronto Star said Ontario was laying the groundwork to allow oil and gas companies out of Calgary to lease private land in our area to explore deep shale fracking. Chatham-Kent would be a test spot for Ontario. My first thought was “this is not the same shale fracking that they’ve done in the United States”. The environmental disaster this method leaves behind has been all over their news. From the contaminated water, wells, soil, and air to the hundreds of cancer causing chemicals they use in this process. People are unable to drink the water, bathe or use it to clean with. The odor, gas and toxins are so bad that people light their water on fire. Families are getting sick living in an unhealthy environment and they have nowhere else to go. Would you like to buy that property? How would you like to sell it?

I googled shale fracking and found out it has already started. The environmental damage from shale fracking in Canada on our east and west coast is already being talked about. Quebec is the only province that seems to want to protect residents from being fracked. They have politicians that put a ban on this industry because of the environmental issues and the loose regulations that govern it. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia  are in the fight of their life to try to stop them from any more fracking. Residents have enjoyed the luxury of having safe tap water all of their lives. They don’t appreciate that their water wells are ruined. The soil is contaminated. The wildlife and the animals are disappearing.  The novelty of lighting your tap on fire has worn off and the cold realization is setting in that this is changing their way of life as they know it. They are fighting to stop this senseless pollution of our earth, done only so oil and gas companies can get rich, and politicians can get re-elected .

 Was It Something I Said?

I contacted Rick Nicholls, our new MPP, on his Facebook page a few months ago about what his stand was on deep shale fracking. Especially considering Chatham-Kent seems first in line for the next fracking. Interesting conversation ensued among Chatham-Kent residents on about what they know about fracking on Nicholls Facebook page. They determined shale fracking today is not using the same technology they did use for the past 50 years. Instead a more radical, deeper and more toxic process has been used. Environmental disasters are more common results for the landowner and surrounding residents than in the past. I continued to post articles on Rick Nicholls Facebook page as I was finding them on fracking (hoping to help). The  conversation about having this in our community continued. Rick never weighed in or answered my questions and I was told he did not have many computer skills and was not familiar with the social media. I asked if there was a secretary or an aide who could reply for him, to explain what his stand was on this industry. Through good conversation and education I was getting some of my answers and it wasn’t very good news for us.

One night after just having looked at the New Brunswick Stop Fracking Web site where I was viewing several documentaries on their residents current nightmares, I noticed a post from Rick Nicholls daughter Brooke that she was sitting with her dad and he was nodding his head about an earlier comment someone had made on his Facebook site. So I asked Brooke if she could ask her Dad since she was sitting with him, “what he thought of the shale fracking in Chatham-Kent” and “if he wanted it in his own back yard.” Since he was obviously busy, I told her have him nod his head once if he is in favor of it. Twice if he didn’t support it. She lol me and told me her dad said he did not know much about the industry and he would have to get ahold of union gas and oil companies to find out more. Probably not a neutral source I thought. since it is the oil and gas industry that wants to do this. I finally had an answer anyway. Within seconds I received a WARNING from Bob Kennedy at Rick Nicholls office that my comment wasn’t called for. I told Bob to lighten-up that we are all concerned about our environment and community and needed to educate and tell ourselves so we didn’t have regrets after it’s too late. With the next comment I went to make, I found I was blocked and without access to continue the conversation. Censored…. and this was still Canada? It was clear at that point that I would no longer have a voice in the conversation so I resigned from the group.

Take Action While You Can

My question to my friends of Chatham, to all the property owners and tax-payers of this community is: do we still have a voice? Is government just dictating our future, our children’s future, our way of life and risking our environment for the sake of profits for the oil and gas companies? Please educate yourself if you have a computer, search out information for yourselves on whether you want this in your community, or even in your province. If you are as alarmed as I am then speak up NOW and let Rick Nicholls know. Your voice needs to be heard. You can email rick at rick.nicholls@pc.ola.org, or call his office in Chatham and talk to Bob Kennedy. Let Kennedy know if you have concerns. Take a look at the industry yourself. Check their track record. There are helpful web sites for more information. If you’re up for some eye-opening videos search YouTube for gas land or fracking hell the untold story 1 and 2.  There are a lot of documented disasters to view and they are coming soon to a neighbourhood near you unless we take action. Thank the politicians for your fracking future or let them know “we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!” On-line petitions are available at either http://nomorefracking.com or http://stopfrackingontario for you to sign, and if you have the time please give Nicholls a call… while we still have a voice, clean water, air and soil. Plant your seed in our politicians office and lets all hope we have a healthy environment for it to grow in Chatham-Kent’s future.

Rick Nicholls - Contact Information:

Queen’s Park
Room 316, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A8
Tel
416-325-9099
Fax
416-325-9000
Constituency
Suite 100 111 Heritage Road Chatham, Ontario N7M 5W7
Tel
519-351-0510
Fax
519-351-7714
Toll Free
1-800-265-3992
 This Wall Street Journal report shows a recent story of how a municipal government won the right to ban fracking. Perhaps this is a solution for Chatham-Kent as well.

6 Responses to Don’t frack Chatham-Kent!

  1. Amy Dalton Reply

    February 23, 2021 at 2:19 pm

    Way to go Jo!! This will certainly gain alot of support in our community if everyone can become informed.

  2. Tracy Lamourie Reply

    February 24, 2021 at 5:58 pm

    Thanks for making the community aware of this!

  3. Pingback: Don’t frack Chatham-Kent! | Stop Fracking Ontario

  4. Kim ILES Reply

    February 29, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Well…here we go again! Months ago…perhaps even a YEAR or so.. I posted on FB…, as well as sent an e-mail off to council….NO ONE knew anything about this, and I like you…was told to ask Union Gas??? Our water will be doomed if we allow this.Our wildlife ?? Doomed. I was told there is land already purchased ? Four years ago…we spoke out about Industrial Wind Turbines. We did a radio show on it, and then…we got threats and it affected our business. If everyone doesn’t stand tall and fight THIS? Where will we be once we have contaminated our water??? C-K is becoming the dumping ground for anything with $$$ signs….

  5. kilgore trout Reply

    March 6, 2021 at 9:36 am

    Personally my favourite part is how you dont want to talk to the oil or gas industry because they may be biased…..do you mean unlike youself? or unlike the non-scientific, biased web-sites you link too? how about you actually do some scientific research and provide data to back up your claims. remember, the computer you are using runs on energy, so while you type on oil and coal generated electricity, try not to let the hypocrisy hurt you too bad. natural gas, while not perfect, is a far better option in my (and the environments) opinion to coal and oil.

  6. joanne lefebvre Reply

    March 17, 2021 at 6:41 am

    The internet is full of material for educating yourself on fracking. I am not a scientist but I do feel its good to listen to them about their concerns of fracking. Professor Ignatieff from Cornell university is a great u tube video to watch. He is experienced with the natural gas development and the combination of these 4 technologies that have been newly introduced together the past 15 years to extract or fracture the shale to release gas. Everything we enjoy has a price to pay on our enviroment we all get that and truthfully I have never had a problem with natural gas development until this new process of these 4 technologies was merged and developed. experimenting leaving enviromental disasters behind as they go on to the next area. You cannot dispute the problems that have been left for homewoners and communitites after the gas wells are shale fracked. These are the people we need to listen too. We need to get the dioloque going they are fighting this all over for a very good reason. Listen up and educate yourself we all live here together and before we allow oil and gas companies to have free reign on how they make their profits.And what price will WE eventually have to pay for ruining our water, soil and air. And your right natural gas is a better option than oil and coal BUT using this fracking process changes the whole picture and from what I’ve seen it’s not what I want in my back yard or my community. .

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