A gas flare lights up the countryside in North Dakota.
The B.C. government has launched a review to determine if controversial practices by the oil and gas industry such as fracking and flaring pose a threat to human health.
"We want to do this so we can all have some peace of mind," Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom said Tuesday.
Premier Christy Clark promised a review during a public meeting in Fort St. John last March in response to a question from Lois Hill, a hay farmer who lives on top of the Montney Shale gas field near Dawson Creek.
"It's a start," Ms. Hill said Tuesday. "We had asked for something much broader, but I'm hopeful that we can turn this into something we need to happen." She wants a formal registry of residents who have suffered adverse health effects because of exposure to toxic gases. Some northeastern B.C. residents have blamed sour gas leaks, for example, for severe health issues ranging from cancer to depression, but it's a link that industry has not accepted.
On Tuesday, the government announced it has awarded a contract to the non-profit Fraser Basin Council to carry out consultation with the public and stakeholders. That stage will be wrapped up by March 31 and the findings will shape what the second phase – the actual human health risk assessment – will take.
"This delays getting at the real health and safety issues up there," Independent MLA Bob Simpson said. He said the government is trying to placate critics without delving too deeply into issues that might come out of a formal health inquiry.
But any public engagement process could prove risky for government: The Premier's job creation plans, launched in the fall, rely heavily on expansion in the oil and gas sector to fuel economic growth. With battles brewing over proposed pipelines and increased fracking – where liquid is injected into rock to release fossil fuels – the Premier is creating a new forum for the industry's critics.
"The government does not really want to open up the Pandora's box at looking at how oil and gas is developed," Mr. Simpson said. "They don't want that box opened, because they aren't going to be able to close it. It will have major implications for the Premier's jobs strategy."
Mr. Lekstrom said most Peace River residents support the oil and gas industry, but they want assurances that the industry isn't harmful to human health.
"It's really about the unknown," he said. "Are there any side effects from what is going on up here? I don't think so – I think the industry is well-regulated, I think they do a good job. But having said that, I fully accept dwhat the people are asking for. I think it will be good not only for the people up here, but for industry as well."
Mr. Lekstrom said the consultation could lead to changes, but the oil and gas industry still can count on the government's enthusiastic support. "It's our leading economic driver in this province," he said. "It's what is allowing us to invest in health care and education and roads."
He played down the issue of fracking, saying he expects there to be more focus on flaring. But environmental critics say they'll push to widen the scope of the inquiry.
"We had asked for a public inquiry, a royal commission, and basically we are getting a consultant for $100,000," said Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria. "This is probably the most important environmental issue in B.C. today. We are taking a wilderness area and turning it into an industrial landscape.… I'm glad they set up the process, but British Columbians won't be satisfied with a whitewash."
Justine Hunter