AllianceLetter2MinisterLeonard 20130227 Sent

7/29/2019 AllianceLetter2MinisterLeonard 20130227 Sent

1/3

Fredericton, February 27 2013

Honorable Craig Leonard

Energy and Mines Minister

P. O. Box 6000

Fredericton, NB, E3B5H1

CC:Honorable Bruce Fitch, Environment and Local Government Minister

Honorable David Alward, Premier of New Brunswick

Dear Minister Leonard,

We are a group of 29 associations, organizations and unions representing thousands of New

Brunswickers, rural and urban; Anglophone, Francophone and Aboriginal.

Your release of new rules for the oil and gas industry on February 15 2013 presumes that you have a

mandate from the public. We believe that you have no such mandate and are not entitled to release

these rules or take any further steps to proceed with the extraction of shale gas in New Brunswick. We

base our claim on the following REASONS:

(1) Shale gas and hydraulic fracturing were never mentioned in your Partys 2010 electoral platform. You

cannot claim that your voters were aware that you were using the term natural gas as a synonym for

the above.

(2) You have a responsibility to protect the public from environmental harm. There is growing scientific

and anecdotal evidence that shale gas extraction is an activity that can potentially cause significant

harm. Therefore, you cannot allow such activity until the risks are fully assessed. Such assessment can

be done without exposing the public to the actual risks, which is what you are in fact doing by allowing

exploration and drilling. Ignoring your responsibility to protect the public cannot possibly be called

responsible. Therefore, your current plans cannot be reconciled with the statement in your 2010

platform that you will support the responsible expansion of the natural gas sector in New Brunswick.

(3) The two points above clearly show you do not have a mandate to renew existing licenses related to

shale gas exploration or drilling, or to grant new ones. We believe doing so is undemocratic and

irresponsible for the aforementioned reasons.

(4) You have never held public meetings to consult with your constituents about the decision to move

ahead with shale gas, even though you have been requested to do so. Shale gas licensees have

conducted open houses, and you hired Dr. LaPierre to solicit feedback on an earlier version of the newrules. However, industry marketing exercises and Dr. LaPierres pro forma consultation, where no

elected officials were present, are no substitutes for a meaningful two-way consultative process.

(5) You do not have the free, prior, and informed consent of the First Nations in this province to explore,

license or mine for shale gas, which is a requirement under Canada's own rule-of-law.

(6) You have ruled out a moratorium on shale gas based on false claims. Specifically, in your Statement

to the Legislative Assembly on the future of the oil and gas industry in New Brunswick made on


2/3

November 28th 2012, you claimed that both Dr. LaPierres and Dr. Clearys reports came to the same

conclusion a moratorium on shale gas exploration is neither required nor desirable in New Brunswick.

This claim has no basis in fact, as shown in the next three points.

(7) You did not give a mandate to Dr. LaPierre to make recommendations on a moratorium on shale gas.

We understand this decision, since we perceive he may be in a conflict of interest on this subject, given

he is a Director of NB Power. The latter has expressed interest in converting some power generation

facilities to natural gas and hence has a vested interest in the development of a local shale gas industry.

(8) Yet Dr. LaPierre created his own, ethically questionable, mandate and ruled out a moratorium on

shale gas, and you made his conclusion yours. You seemingly did not pay attention to the fact that he

did not derive such conclusion from the content of his report or the input he received from the public.

Rather, he derived it from fallacious arguments such as that a moratorium is incompatible with a

science-based approach and would leave the issues undefined. Therefore, you cannot claim that his

report came to that conclusion, or that the conclusion is based on sound evidence or perceived public

will. The conclusion is rather Dr. LaPierres biased and flawed personal opinion.

(9) Dr. Clearys report drew no conclusions on a moratorium, and does not even contain the wordmoratorium. When asked about this, Dr. Cleary has stated that any inferred comment on a

moratorium was not the intention or the point of my report. Furthermore, some of us brought to your

attention the falsehood of your claim about Dr. Clearys report and asked you to retract it, a demand

that you ignored. Therefore you cannot claim you were not aware of this misrepresentation.

(10) You have not substantiated your claim that the benefits for the people of New Brunswick will

outweigh the risks you intend to subject them to. The experience of people living in various shale plays

across North America is that the purported benefits do not trickle down to the society at large, while

extensive environmental, health and social problems do.

Considering the above, we DEMAND that your government:

(1) Bring the following to an immediate stop: ongoing shale gas exploration, the granting of any new

licenses for exploration or wells, and the renewal of existing ones.

(2) Reopen the case for a moratorium and commission an independent panel of scientists with no

conflict of interest with industry to review it.

(3) Apologize to the public for the false claims ruling out a moratorium and publicly retract them.

(4) Consult on the question of whether the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Peoples of New Brunswick

want the shale gas industry to operate within provincial boundaries. We believe the consultative processshould not start until (i) the risks are fully assessed; and (ii) a credible scenario-based business case is

developed to assess potential benefits.

We kindly ask that you reply promptly and publicly to this letter

Respectfully,

29 organizations, associations and unions of NB (please see alphabetical list below)


3/3

Canadian Union of Public Employees New Brunswick (CUPE NB)

CCNB Action

Citizens Coalition for Clean Air

Concerned Citizens of Penobsquis

Council of Canadians Saint John Chapter

Council of Canadians Fredericton Chapter

Darlings Island Fracking Intervention Naguwigewauk

ecoFredericton Sustainable Living Inc.

Fredericton & District Labour Council

Friends of Mount Carleton

Friends of the UNB Woodlot

Hampton Water First

Maliseet Grand Council

Memramcook Action

New Brunswickers Against Fracking

New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation

National Farmers Union New Brunswick (NFU NB)

Notre Environnement, Notre Choix

Parents Against Everyday Poisons

Penniac Anti-Shale Gas Organization

Quality of Life Initiative

Sierra Club Atlantic

Sikniktuk Mi'kmaq Rights Coalition

Stanley Area Action Group

Taymouth Community Association

Tantramar Alliance Against Hydrofracking

Upper Miramichi Stewardship Alliance

Upriver Environment Watch

Water and Environmental Protection for Albert County

Documents

AllianceLetter2MinisterLeonard 20130227 Sent