Let us raise these protest signs. . .

June 23, 2011

Today I participated in my first protest.

I know, I know, how could anyone as opinionated as me wait until I was 43 to participate in a protest?

Good question.

I'll let you know when I have an answer.




Fracking.

(That's Stephen behind the signs.)

This was the reason we were outside the Fredericton Inn at 8.00 am and remained until 10.30am.

As of 2.30 this afternoon, a large crowd of protesters was still there, attempting to make the Alward government listen to their very real concerns.

The invitation to protest was on the Conservation Council of New Brunswick's website http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/:

Action Alert! Rally the Provincial Shale Gas Forum

IMPACTED but not INVITED!
June 23
Fredericton Inn, top of Regent Street
8am - 4pm

The provincial government is hosting a shale gas forum and about 50 organizations from municipalities, industry groups, universities and community groups have been invited but it is not open to the public.

Come tell the government that
No Means NO!

What is fracking?

Hydraulic fracturing, often called fracking, fracing or hydrofracking, is the process of initiating and subsequently propagating a fracture in a rock layer, employing the pressure of a fluid as the source of energy.  The fracturing, known as a frack job (or frac job), is done from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations, in order to increase the extraction and ultimate recovery rates of oil and natural gas.

Hydraulic fractures may be natural or man-made and are extended by internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to extend through the rock. Natural hydraulic fractures include volcanic dikes, sills and fracturing by ice as in frost weathering. Man-made fluid-driven fractures are formed at depth in a borehole and extend into targeted formations. The fracture width is typically maintained after the injection by introducing a proppant into the injected fluid. Proppant is a material, such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped.

Considerable controversy surrounds the current implementation of hydraulic fracturing technology in Canada and the United States. Environmental safety and health concerns have emerged and are being debated at national levels.

(I wanted one of the more profane ones)

CBC New Brunswick (www.cbc.ca/nb) has reported on both the fracking process and the opposition to a process that has been suspected of causing earthquakes in some US states.

The protest made the front page of today's Saint John Telegraph Journal.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/1417699

It was too much to expect the Fredericton Daily Gleaner to cover something happening in their own front yard.

We only knew a couple of people at the protest, but that wasn't important.

What was important was letting the Alward government know that sacrificing the environment for a few bucks in morally, ethically, logically irresponsible.

At that lots and lots of people refuse to stand idly by: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqB5ihTJ8wc&feature=share

Of course, because government ministers were meeting at the Fredericton Inn, and they simply couldn't sit back and let the ignorant masses have their say, a couple of them came out in an attempt to quell the rising, yet contained, fury.

Margaret Ann Blaney and Bruce Northrup came out spewing government rhetoric, captured by the CBC New Brunswick: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/06/23/nb-hydro-fracking-regulations-1245.html

My response: whatever.

I just have no faith in a government that has done nothing to demonstrate any care and concern for the environment.

And see the natural resources of the province as a means to line their own pockets.

If the province is that desperate for money, perhaps they could trim their own fat. Cut back their own budgets.

What a revolutionary and novel idea.




Title Lyric: The Protest Song by Atrocity Solution