As Albert Einstein said: "Insanity; doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
My name is Maxime Daigle and I from Pointe-Sapin, NB.... I’m a student in Electrical Engineering Technology/Alternate Energy Systems....and also a former oil & gas driller.....I’ve worked on the oil rigs for number of years in Alberta, British Colombia, Saskatchewan, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New-Brunswick.
Today I come here to speak about my concerns about shale gas exploration. As a citizen of New-Brunswick, Canada and planet earth, I really do believe that our basic human rights are violated by these oil & gas companies and governments that support such activity.
From working in the oil & gas industry for 7 years, I’ve had the opportunity to see how a well is drilled and what methods and chemicals are being used in the process. I tell you today this is not a safe practise for our ecosystem or for our health and future.
The ways of extracting oil and gas from a well bore, is done by hydraulic fracking. Hydraulic fracturing is the high-pressure injection of fracking fluid – a mixture of water, sand, and toxic chemicals – into the ground to break open and “fracture” rock formations to release liquid gas. The controversial technique was developed in the 1940s by energy services company Halliburton. Modern practices such as horizontal fracturing and high-volume hydraulic fracturing allow drillers to extract greater amounts of gas than previously possible. But at what cost?
The chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing often include substances that are toxic to humans and wildlife. While particular fracking fluid chemical combinations differ based on the company and drilling location, many include toxic substances such as benzene, ethylbenzene, glycol ethers, and acids to name a few. Many of these chemicals contain arsenic, boron, chromium and many more. Fracking fluids may contain mixtures of hundreds of chemicals agents. Yet, the precise chemical compositions used are secret; drilling companies refuse to disclose the composition of their fracking fluids, citing proprietary interests. The amount of these chemicals used can reach upwards of 50,000 gallons during the fracturing of a single well.
The infiltration potential of these fracking fluid chemicals into drinking water supplies is alarming. Even though the hydraulic fracking process is designed to remove these chemicals, a large percentage – anywhere from 25-80 percent – are often left in the ground and never fully recovered.
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