Public Meetings on the Nova Scotia Hydraulic Fracturing Review

The Hydraulic Fracturing Review, led by Cape Breton University, is holding public meetings around the province. Right now it looks likely that they will recommend lifting the moratorium. Some people from Don’t Frack PEI will be attending the meeting in Amherst on Tuesday July 22nd at noon, to find out about the review and to offer our support to our neighbouring province. If you would like to share a ride, or if you can offer a ride, please e-mail info@dontfrackpei.com

The schedule is here: http://www.cbu.ca/hfstudy/events

Getting Your Community Involved – a program for West Prince CANCELLED

This event has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date.

Don’t Frack PEI invites interested persons to a Training Workshop Saturday, February 15, 2014,  9:30 a.m-1:00 p.m. St. Luke’s Hall, O’Leary Corner.

To pre-register: e-mail  info@dontfrackpei.com or phone, toll free, Cooper Institute 1(877) 894-4573. There is space  for 10-12 people.

The workshop will:
– provide participants with clear language information on fracking
– present ways to get other people in the community interested in fracking
– examine what anti-fracking actions would work in this community
– present ways to organize and promote a few community sessions on fracking
– suggest ways of forming teams to lead some anti-fracking sessions.

No Fracking Way T-Shirts

We have T-shirts for sale, to help get the message out there. Price is $20 per shirt for most sizes; 2XL and 3XL are $24 each. Prices include HST. We have a few, and when we run out we’ll order some more, so if you want one then e-mail tshirt@dontfrackpei.com and we’ll figure out how to get it to you. The shirts are supplied by Charlottetown’s Lloyd Kerry and his Men In Black T-Shirts.Tshirt

14 attend West Prince meeting

Fourteen people from Western PEI attended a meeting on Jan 22nd at Westisle school. After an introduction from Bill Costain of Christian Life Community, Andrew Lush spoke about the dangers of fracking, Eliza Knockwood sang a song and spoke about the native viewpoint and protests in NB, and Leo Broderick spoke about how we need to get the message out to the general population. A number of people signed up for a half-day workshop, to learn more and gain the tools needed to take the fight to the next level. Please contact us if you are interested in joining one of these workshops.

jan 21 2014 1jan 21 2014 2jan 21 2014 3
See a report in the Journal Pioneer here: http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/2014-01-22/article-3586401/Speakers-express-concerns-about-fracking/1

For videos of the presentations, see our Videos page.

Don’t Frack PEI Meeting in West Prince

Don’t Frack PEI is sponsoring a general meeting on Tuesday, January 21, 2014 from 7 pm to 9 pm at Westisle Composite High School. The event is hosted by the Christian Life Community
(CLC) and chaired by Bill Costain of CLC. The session is open to all who have an interest in
learning more about, and taking action around, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas and
the threat this poses for PEI. Click here for more details.

PEI Government Committee calls for Fracking Moratorium

In the PEI Legislature, on November 26th 2013, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry presented their recommendations to the government. The Standing Committee recommends a moratorium on High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing on PEI, as well as other recommendations related to oil and alternative energy.

Click here to listen to the report being read. To see the video, click here and skip forward to 88 minutes. To read the full report, which explains the reasoning behind the proposed moratorium, click here.

PEI Petition read in The House of Commons

On November 20th, Sean Casey MP presented a petition in the House of Commons. The petition was signed by 25 supporters of Don’t Frack PEI. Here is the transcript:

HYDRAULIC FRACKING
Mr. Sean Casey (Charlottetown, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of several residents of Prince Edward Island, including some from the great riding of Charlottetown.
The petitioners are concerned about the practice known as high volume hydraulic fracking. This practice is of particular concern to us in Prince Edward Island because 100% of our drinking water comes from groundwater.
The petitioners point out that there is no definitive impartial report that can be used to either support or denounce fracking, so they are asking the government to have the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development study high-volume hydraulic fracking, and in particular its potential impacts on drinking water resources, air quality, human health, and the health of aquatic and terrestrial eco-systems, as well as the potential for seismic risks.

If you would like to collect 25 signatures, and present a petition to your (or any) MP, you can download it here.

Large protest in NB

On November 5th, three of us attended a protest outside Province House in Fredericton. About 650 people, including some from BC, protested on the first day of sitting of the legislature, and heard a number of speeches. What happens in NB directly affects us for two reasons – our PEI drinking water aquifer connects to areas in NB that are scheduled for fracking, and our Premier has stated that he is watching what is going on in NB. The atmosphere was great because of the moratorium announced in Newfoundland and Labrador the day before.

Province HouseAndrew, Jennifer, Gilles 1

Another successful public meeting

On Wednesday October 30th, Heidi Verheul of the Sierra Club gave a superb presentation, de-bunking the myths of fracking. Don’t Frack PEI and a new group, Renewable Energy PEI, also gave short talks. With 49 attendees, and a lot of new faces, we thank Heidi for coming to PEI at the start of her tour of the Atlantic provinces, and for providing us with so much evidence with which to counter the false claims of the industry. At the meeting, we gathered 25 signatures on a petition – enough to get an MP to read the petition in the House of Commons. The petition calls for a comprehensive federal review of the health and environmental effects of fracking.Sierra Club Talk
footnote: Heidi’s workshop on the following Saturday had 14 participants, and provided us all with some new tools for social engagement.

Upcoming fracking information meeting and workshop

The Sierra Club is holding a public meeting in Charlottetown on Wednesday October 30th, at 7pm, in the Murphy’s Community Centre. The meeting will ‘debunk the myths of fracking’.

More importantly, the Sierra Club will be holding a morning workshop on Saturday November 2nd, to give Islanders the tools they need to make change happen. Please do come along and learn how to most effectively get the message across that we don’t want fracking to come to PEI.

Please print off copies of the poster below and help publicize these events.

Voice Poster

Activists from five provinces meet in Charlottetown

On Saturday October 19th, activists from many Atlantic organizations met in Charlottetown. Under the banner of the Save Our Seas and Shores coalition (http://saveourseasandshores.ca), all five provinces bordering the Gulf were represented at the meeting – which was focused on how our groups can cooperate and organize. Andrew Lush gave a 15 minute presentation on the activities of Don’t Frack PEI, and Diana Messervy reported that fracking underneath the Gulf, in Newfoundland, may well start in less than a year. We all agreed to help with this immediate issue, and also to work together more closely in the future.

SOSS Atlantic

Public meeting was a great success

65 people attended a public meeting of Don’t Frack PEI on September 17th, which was chaired by Marie Burge. Andrew Lush gave a summary of the presentations, meetings and activities that the committee has undertaken so far. Dr. Peter Clancy gave an engaging talk about the lack of ‘social license’ for fracking, especially in relation to New Brunswick. Eliza Knockwood gave a heartfelt talk about the first nation reaction to fracking and the environmental damage being done by the seismic testing in New Brunswick, and Teresa Doyle led everyone in singing her song, ‘Let’s ban the foolin fracking’. We ran out of time, so we sent people away with a list of possible activities, to be followed up at a meeting later this year.

Sept_Meeting

Public Meeting – September 17th

Don’t Frack PEI is holding a Public Meeting on Tuesday September 17th from 7pm to 9pm at Murphy’s Community Centre, Richmond Street, Charlottetown. Featuring Prof. Peter Clancy and Eliza Knockwood, and a song by Teresa Doyle, come and hear about the growing opposition to fracking across the Maritimes, and how fracking has no ‘social license’. We need your input as we discuss what we should do next to stop fracking from coming to PEI.

Please print this poster and help to publicize the meeting.

Hundreds attend fracking event in NB

On August 6th, seven of us traveled to Moncton to hear Maude Barlow’s excellent talk about the need to protect our water. Maude is the National Chair of the Council of Canadians. There were a number of anti-fracking groups there, and the 800 seat theatre was almost full. Protests in New Brunswick have led to dozens of arrests, and the seismic testing has been stopped until September. Ron Tremblay, a native representative, gave a heartfelt talk about how environmental protection is being dismantled, leaving native treaty rights as one of the few ways we can now stop the oil and gas industry doing whatever they want. Patricia Leger and Deborah Carr also spoke with passion about how fracking has intruded on their communities.

Videos of the talk can be found on our videos page.
Maude Barlow
Six of us with Leticia Adair, Council of Canadians Saint John Board Member, and Maude Barlow, National Chair.

Two successful presentations to government

We presented to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry on June 6th, and to the Land Use Task Force on June 7th. Both presentations were well received. The document that we developed for the presentations outlines all our concerns with fracking, and it can be read here. Matthew’s presentation on how we can power PEI with existing renewable technology can be read here. The Standing Committee transcript can be read here.