Questerre Energy Corporation

Published July 18, 2011 at 05:00 | Updated at 13:45

The industry is beyond the new regulation on air quality

Charles Côté

Press

Quebec has adopted, after years of gestation, a new regulation on air quality, but it does not apply to gas drilling,

found La Presse .

Indeed, these regulations came into force last month applies to stationary pollution sources, like a factory, but not

the impressive machinery used in mobile gas drilling sites.

"There is no standard of coaching?" Says Helen Simard, Head of Media Relations at the Ministry of Sustainable

Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP). "? But even in the absence of standards, MDDEP may require

that measures be taken, says Ms. Simard. The impacts of the use of heavy equipment are part of the analysis

process for any project. "

This is one more hole in the regulations applicable to the gas industry.

La Presse said recently that oil and gas drilling are not required to be declared to the National Pollutant Release

Inventory, the federal government. The exception was in 1992 and was maintained in 2002, before the appearance

of the shale gas industry in Canada.

This exception has been the subject of a complaint to the Federal Commissioner for Sustainable Development

from three environmental groups, including the Quebec Association to fight air pollution (AQLPA).

"From the beginning, we say that in the absence of coherent regulation, we must demand a moratorium on shale

gas, said André Bélisle, the AQLPA. We have no control over pollution. There are not enough stations to monitor

the air quality in the region. "

The exploitation of shale gas much more mobilized heavy equipment than traditional natural gas. It takes a lot more wells to get the same amount of gas, and these wells have a long horizontal

section. Drills, fueled by powerful diesel engines, working a lot longer.

Then there is the stage of well stimulation or fracturing of shale gas in particular. It features a series of truck pumps that inject water, sand and chemicals under high pressure. All these

compressors are also powered by diesel engines. The rise of the water fracturing can also release pollutants.

Chemicals

In the U.S., people alongside the gas industry are sounding the alarm about this for years.

Just last week, a report compiled by a group of citizens of Colorado and New Mexico reported the presence of 22 toxic chemicals in the air in areas where shale gas operated, four carcinogens,

such as benzene and acrylonitrile.

This study was carried out by groups of citizens fed up with the inertia of the authorities, with the help of the organization Global Community Monitor. Pollution levels by more than 3 to 3000

when government standards were detected.

"We worked with people who live near drilling platforms, compressors, refinery and tailings pond water drilling, said in an interview with La Presse Denny Larson, Global Community Monitor. We

were not surprised to find volatile organic compounds such as benzene, but we also found compounds that are not usually associated with deposits of oil or gas, such as acrylonitrile and

dichloromethane. These products are not found in normal air, unless you live near a chemical plant. Our theory is that they are part of the fracturing fluid. "

Another study published last fall provided that the air pollution throughout the region would increase the Haynesville Shale, which became operational recently. The deposit straddles the border

of Texas and Louisiana is of a size comparable to Utica in Quebec, although the number of wells planned in Quebec is lower.

This information has reacted U.S. authorities. The Agency for Environmental Protection in the United States (EPA), the equivalent of the Minister of the Environment in the United States,

announced new regulations.

In late June, the director of the EPA, Lisa P. Jackson, attended a forum on the protection of public health in Colorado, where two shale gas fields in operation. "You have smog problems where

there had never been before, she said, reports the Aspen Daily News . These are rural areas. There are a lot of activity around these wells and this has an impact on air quality. The EPA will

soon propose regulations regarding the air quality around areas of natural gas production. "

Share 34

advertisement

© 2000-2011 Cyberpresse inc., A