I would like to offer a few facts and thoughts regarding fracking.
Hydraulic fracking means pumping water and chemicals underground to break the rock and release the gas. Large percentages of the chemicals come back up and pollute water.
The chemicals are linked to the following health problems: cancer, circulatory, respiratory, developmental, brain and nervous system disorders. Cement casings fail in six per cent of wells immediately. Fifty per cent fail over 30-year period. Cement failure caused the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. It caused the gas leak in the North Sea.
The drinking water of people living close to the drilling sites became oily and flammable because methane gas got into their wells. Many regions (such as the Athabasca River) are destroyed, fish are deformed, and people living there have very high rates of cancer. Fracking can cause earthquakes. There are scientific studies revealing facts about the
impact on environment.
This industry may bring jobs and money to the Yukon. But what price are we going to pay in the long term? If we destroy our natural environment, especially our water sources, we will be faced with more problems than we will be able to handle in the future. It will cost us even more and negatively impact our economy, health and quality of life.
The earth provides us with our basic needs - air, water, food. We are connected. If we destroy it, we will not be able to live here.
Water is like the Internet, an information network. It is underground, comes up as creeks and rivers, gets into oceans, evaporates and falls back again as rain hundreds of kilometres away. If it gets polluted, nobody can ever control where it is going to go.
Let’s protect our nature, wildlife, water sources and our own health. Fracking is not a sustainable approach. It means cutting the branch that we are sitting on. There are other - cleaner, safer, renewable sources of energy.
Fracking is good for the mining companies but it is not good for Yukon people.
I encourage you to get informed (there is lots of information online) and express your opinion during the public consultation process.
Lenka Klauserova
Faro