(Posted on behalf of the Taymouth Community Association)
A Response to the New Brunswick Government’s White Paper on Recommendations
To Govern the Development of Shale Gas From The Taymouth Community Association
(Page 11 of 11)
Our Remaining Important Questions
- First, what will be the legal instrument used to deny leases to companies who have lawfully fulfilled their license agreements?
- Secondly, who will decide on what is safe, what will be the decision-making process and who will provide the criteria to decide the standard of ‘safeness’?
- Will the entire decision making process by open to public comment?
- If a large portion of the medical profession in the province, backed by other medical societies around the world and supported by studies, says it is not safe to continue, given their commitment to the ethic of “first do no harm”, can they be overridden by a political decision?
- What percentage of leaking gas wells or water well contaminations will our ‘safety standards’ allow as ‘acceptable’? How will that be decided?
- If local communities have different conceptions of what is safe, what can they do?
We need answers to these basic questions before we can give any serious consideration to the government’s current position.