LLI GOLINE/NORMAN WELLS
Politicians and the people of the Sahtu seem to be supporting the idea of fracking in their region.
Husky Energy Inc., whose 2006 drilling and testing program in the Sahtu Summit Creek region is pictured, and ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. each intend to file applications to drill a total of six horizontal wells which will use hydraulic fracturing during the winter of 2013-14. - photo courtesy of Husky Energy Inc. |
"Without fracking, the wells in the Sahtu will not go into production," said Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay.
The stakes are high, said Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya.
If energy companies currently operating in the Sahtu cannot complete their exploratory wells to determine how much oil can flow, then industry will move on, making the Sahtu "another Inuvik," he said, referring to the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) in the Beaufort Delta which was officially put on ice last year.
"We've had stranded gas in the Mackenzie Delta for 40 years now," said Ramsay about the MGP, adding that if the shale oil in the Sahtu goes into production, it is expected to bring $500 million in investment to the region.
Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, is a controversial drilling method where high-pressure water and additives are used to fracture surrounding rock. It is an efficient way to extract oil and gas, but environmental groups in other jurisdictions have called for energy companies to stop the practice, citing possible harmful effects on groundwater, among other concerns.
However, in the Sahtu, conventional fracking using vertical wells has been done for decades, said Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger. What is new is that one company, ConocoPhillips Canada, has applied to the Sahtu Land and Water Board (SLWB) for a water licence and land-use permit to drill two exploratory horizontal wells, which if approved will be fracked during the 2013-14 winter season.
Husky Energy also intends to file an application to drill four exploratory horizontal wells next winter, two of which the company intends to frack. However, the SLWB had not received an application from the company by April 26.
The deadline for comments on ConocoPhillips' application was April 26. All of the nine individuals who had submitted letters to the land and water board by press time support the application, stating more information on the effects of fracking is needed and the best way to get that information is to closely monitor these two exploratory wells.
"The two wells will be near my family's traditional hunting area - Three Day Lake," stated Norman Wells business owner Mandi McDonald in her letter to the board. "Fracking and the effects of fracking are the subject of controversy. I believe that more facts are needed to fully understand the controversy. These facts can be best obtained by allowing the application by CPC to proceed and the results of the two wells, when completed, can be used to inform a reasonable debate in the Sahtu Settlement Area. I don't believe that these two wells will affect my family's traditional hunting area."
Currently, the effects on underground and surface water of all wells drilled in the Sahtu are monitored on a site-by-site basis by the companies responsible, said Miltenberger. The territorial government is currently developing groundwater mapping and creating baseline information for wildlife in the area.
Work on these studies is expected to begin this summer and will take years to complete, said Miltenberger. The goal is to complete groundwater mapping, which will map where underground aquifers are and how much water they hold, before new oil wells in the Sahtu go into production.
The GNWT intends to have best practices policy guidelines in place for the Sahtu by this fall, he said.
"We want to make sure we hit the balance between protecting the environment and being able to support resource economic development," said Miltenberger. "It's a balance that we need to work hard to maintain and we're aware of what's going on in other jurisdictions, so that's why we're working hard on our own best practices."
One of the most controversial issues involved with fracking surrounds what is in the liquid that is shot underground. This liquid is traditionally water mixed with additives, which is sometimes recovered and processed on the surface and at other times left underground.
Miltenberger could not say what additives may be in the fracking liquid used in the Sahtu next winter, but his goal is to have this information available to the public.
"What we want to see put in place is a full public disclosure of the additives so that everybody knows what goes underground," he said.
