From the various public presentations, documented cases and discussions, I am convinced that fracking is harmful to our environment, health and society. I am horrified from what I have come to understand.
Can you imagine turning on your tap for a glass of water, and only gas comes out? Madness, I say.
Can you imagine an industry that refuses to divulge what chemicals it is sending down its wells, for fear of divulging trade secrets? Not accountable, I say.
Can you imagine your next-door neighbour dying of cancer because that person was exposed to the carcinogens found in fracking water? Sad, I say.
I am against fracking because it destroys the very essence of our being, for without clean water, we are nothing.
Have we forgotten something? Martin Luther King Jr.‘s, “I have a dream” resonates strongly in my being. I have a dream of one day building a small cabin on a beautiful river in the Yukon, where people may come to enjoy nature, find peace and tell stories of a world taking care of one another - all powered by renewable energy.
Sadly, that dream is being jeopardized by the present Yukon Party government lead by Darrell Pasloski. Their track record of not respecting democracy and the will of the people is cause for alarm.
Witness their refusal to accept the Final Umbrella Agreement and protect the Peel. Witness its decision to construct a LNG plant in Whitehorse.
Witness its flip flop on building affordable housing. Witness the debate in the Senate on the YESSA agreement, where Darrell Pasloski has publicly stated he would abdicate his territorial power, for reasons of expediency.
Witness its inability to negotiate with Yukon First Nations governments. This is a government that neither respects democracy nor the will of the people. Consequently, am I to believe that what I or others have to say at the fracking hearings will not be heard by the Yukon Party government?
Let’s turn things around. Let us voice the real questions: What can we do today to lessen our immediate reliance on fossil fuels? What concrete steps can be taken to developing renewable resources? This is the debate we should be having today.
On Sept. 23, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an announcement at the 2014 climate summit. Leaders from government and public and private sectors are committed to action on climate change. He also announced that there is a new compact of mayors, representing 200 cities and 400 million people, which has pledged to reduce their annual emissions.
But what is happening here in the Yukon? Has the present Yukon government and community clearly established its objectives to reduce the threat of global warming? To what extent does fracking hinder this process? Was our Mayor Dan Curtis part of this compact of mayors?
Along with many other people, I am against fracking.
Bernard Walsh
Whitehorse