Oil and Gas Industry Fracturing Chemicals
Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In Pennsylvania natural gas companies are allowed to keep their fracking formulas proprietary, but the ingredients are public record. In Alberta companies can keep the chemical compounds in their fracturing fluid secret, and therefore scientists do not know what to test for. This puts Alberta’s groundwater at risk. My questions are to the Minister of Environment. What reason does the government have for allowing companies to keep secret the chemicals used in their fracking formulas?
Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, that question would more appropriately be addressed to the Minister of Energy, responsible for ERCB.
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Knight: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, that is the case in Alberta and British Columbia. I don’t know about Saskatchewan and other provinces. In fact, the majority of the frac fluid used in the province of Alberta currently, particularly in unconventional gas – and I believe it’s the area that the member opposite would be suggesting is taking place in the eastern United States – is water. Secondly, the areas that are fracked in the province of Alberta are not anywhere near potable or surface water contaminant possibilities.
Ms Blakeman: Well, then, to the same minister: how does the government expect to get a true result from the testing of Albertans’ well water that is close to well sites if the scientists do not know what to test for?
Mr. Knight: Mr. Speaker, what I would suggest is that if there is any indication of the types of surfactants or release agents that actually provide lubricant to push frac fluids and frac solids into fractures in production facilities underground, if there was any contamination, cross-contamination, it would not be difficult for the ERCB to be able to determine what those contaminants and chemicals were.
Ms Blakeman: Secrets, secrets.
Back to the same minister: given that diesel is commonly used in other centres as a fracking agent, how can Albertans be sure that diesel is not being used here and is not contaminating our groundwater?
Mr. Knight: Well, Mr. Speaker, that again is an entirely different process that the member is talking about. Most certainly, we do have areas in certain circumstances in the province where the geology is sensitive to water and water contamination of the geology causes decrease in production capability, but it’s a completely different issue and used for different processes in the industry.
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