All Fracked Up

Here’s some of a letter that I received from Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians:

Right now families across Canada are suffering terribly from fracking… and it’s getting worse.

David and Carol Diwell live every day fearing for their health. After fracking began next door to them in Dawson Creek, B.C., their once clean, safe drinking water is now extremely volatile and toxic.

In neighbouring Alberta, farmers Shawn and Ronalie Campbell found the home of their dreams outside Ponoka. But relentless fracking has contaminated their groundwater with deadly methane and ruined their dream. South of them in Rosebud,Jessica Ernst can light her tap water on fire and has brought worldwide attention to her battle with energy giant EnCana.

Filthy, flammable drinking water is the terrible new reality for more and more families whose lives are being destroyed by the booming fracking industry.

It’s why at this very moment women, men and children of the Elsipogtog First Nation are courageously blocking American fracking company SWN from illegally entering their land. “I want my children to be able to eat fish and drink water without getting sick,” is how mother Amy Sock puts it.

Yet premiers like Christy Clark in B.C. and David Alward in New Brunswick are pushing for more fracking – not less! Government-issued permits allow fracking companies to drain local watersheds at the rate of up to 200 million litres per fracked well, leaving little for families and farms. A criminal lack of industry regulation and government oversight keeps landowners and communities powerless and in the dark. And Big Oil & Gas couldn’t have a better friend in Ottawa than Stephen Harper to keep it all this way.

Who’s going to put a stop to this fracking madness?

You and me, that’s who.

That’s why I’m urgently writing to you now. The Council of Canadians has just launched our national “Ban Fracking Now” campaign to help families and communities protect their land and drinking water, including developing public education materials, producing community action tools, and planning strategic political interventions.

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