Ontario will review fracking rules

Rules for fracking—a controversial technique used to extract oil and gas—will be reviewed by the Ontario government

By John Spears Toronto Star January 30 2013 

Environmental rules for fracking – a controversial technique used to recover oil and gas from some rock formations – will be reviewed by the Ontario government.

In a letter to an environmental group that asked for the probe, the province’s ministries of natural resources and the environment have agreed that “the public interest warrants a review.”

Fracking frees oil and gas deposits trapped in shale formations by injecting water and chemicals into the rock at high pressure. That fractures the rock, allowing the valuable fuels to flow to the surface.

But drilling chemicals and contaminated water also flow back to the surface and must be disposed of.

The practice has generated widespread complaints that it contaminates springs and wells used for drinking water.

Fracking isn’t yet being done in Ontario.

But Ecojustice combed through rules governing drilling and water management in the province, and pointed out what it considers to be gaps in current laws, should resource companies want to start fracking.

“The existing regulatory regime is ill equipped to manage the potential effects from fracking,” the group said in its original application.

Ecojustice found that fluids associated with fracking are exempted from some conditions of the province’s waste regulations. The group wants the exemptions eliminated, and wants the fluids to be treated under rules governing industrial waste or hazardous waste.

Several provinces and states have imposed moratoriums on fracking. But the practice is widespread, and is driving huge increases in oil and gas production in the U.S.

There’s potential for resource companies to look for promising formations in Ontario, Ecojustice says.

“This is good news that they want to get out ahead of the issue,” Elaine MacDonald, senior scientist for Ecojustice, said in an interview Wednesday.

The government letter doesn’t estimate how long a review will take.

“Now our concern it to try to get them to agree to a timeline so this doesn’t drag on for years,” said MacDonald.