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Kings County, New Brunswick, you will find several small rural
communities made up of residents who have chosen to live in this area.
Many have lived here all of their lives, whereas more and more have
moved to the area to enjoy the benefits of a country way of life.
Among those benefits are such things as beautiful scenery, privacy,
clean air, good water, and nature at its best.
Such is the case for residents living
in the region stretching from Markhamville to Smithtown, including
Hammondvale, Upperton, Hillsdale, Poodiac, Cassidy Lake, Southfield,
Salt Springs, Upham, Titusville, Barnesville, and others. People
living here have become very concerned after receiving word that a
natural gas company was interested in the area. Residents have learned
that a company has been given an exploration license from the New
Brunswick Government, covering close to 40,000 acres, to look into the
prospect of flushing out salt caverns for the purpose of storing
petroleum products, among which could be natural gas, crude oil,
propane, and butane. The flushing of these caverns would require
massive amounts of water; the resulting brine would be piped to the
Bay of Fundy.
The Quality of Life Initiative protest in
Fredericton, December 4, 2009.
(Photo: Otty Forgraves)
Why the need to store natural gas? The
thought behind the salt cavern storage is that large amounts of
natural gas and other petroleum products can be stored for future use
and sold to the markets in the northeastern USA and Atlantic Canada
when price and demands peak.
On May 26, 2008, Corridor Resources
Inc. hosted an open house in Southfield, N.B., to provide information
on its potential gas storage facility. Several attended this meeting
and many questions were asked, but those attending did not feel
satisfactory answers were received. Weeks later, a few residents of
the area met to discuss the proposal and felt they needed to get input
from others as to their thoughts and feelings. It was learned that
many people had never heard of the proposal and were shocked to hear
of such a thing for the area.
Other meetings were held, each with
increasing attendance - up to 200 people or more. "The Quality of
Life Initiative" was chosen as a name for the group. An executive
has been elected and several committees set up, for example, Research,
Public awareness, Government Liaison, Media, and Fundraising. These
committees have been very active. A web
site has also been set up for the group.
Sign at information rally in Hampton.
(Photo: Otty Forgraves)
Much research has been done by the
group. It has been learned that there are 29 facilities in the USA
similar to what is being proposed for this area, mostly in the
southern states. Of those facilities, the accident rate is high. Ten
have had major accidents. Also, the USA does not utilize salt caverns
in the north-eastern states for storage because the geology is not
suitable. How is our N.B. geology any different? The more we learn,
the more concerned we are.
Our first main concern is the effects
that a project of this nature might have on our water supply, as a
majority of homes depend on their own private wells for water, while
others depend on natural springs. To flush out the proposed salt
caverns will require
"…10,000 cubic metres per day
which is 1830 gallons per minute water supply over the long term. For
a single 2 billion cubic foot (Bcf) cavern, 4.5 million or 1190
million US gallons of water would be required. Each 2 Bcf cavern would
require 10,000 m3/d of water for about a 15 month period."
-- Report for Corridor Resources by Jacques Whitford Environment
Limited, Dartmouth, N.S., January 30, 2004.
Our second concern is the safety of the
project. A pipe line would run from Penobsquis to the storage site in
the proposed area, then a line would run to Saint John to connect to
the Maritime and Northeast Pipeline (M&NP) system. What happens if
a pipe line ruptures?
Our third concern is the environment
itself - streams, rivers, lakes, springs, wildlife, plants, and
forest. What happens to these if a leak occurs?
Our fourth concern is property value.
If any resident wishes to sell property, would anyone be interested in
purchasing it, knowing such a facility is nearby?
The Quality of Life Initiative protest in
Fredericton, December 4, 2009.
(Photo: Otty Forgraves)
The Quality of Life Initiative has been
active in various ways:
-Letters of protest have been sent to the Minister of Natural
Resources
-A meeting was held in Sussex with members of the Department of
Natural Resources, at which time they were presented with a number of
questions.
-An information rally took place in Hampton on November 29, 2008.
-Information tables have been set up at different community events.
-Approximately 100 members went to Fredericton on December 4, 2008,
and held a protest in front of the New Brunswick Legislature and met
with the Minister of Natural Resources, Wally Stiles. MLAs Bev
Harrison and Bruce Northrup presented a petition to the House with
over 2200 names on behalf of the residents.
-We've been interviewed several times by the media, and we appreciate
the coverage they have given our group.
We have been encouraged by the number
of other groups that have shown a concern over this proposed project.
We have been asked the question,
"Why are you so concerned when this is just in the exploration
stage?" We are well aware of the hardships the neighboring
community of Penobsquis has experienced over the last four or five
years with the loss of their water supply. Therefore, the residents of
our communities are being proactive. We hope to persuade the
government to say "NO" to this proposed project
before it begins and causes any danger to our Quality of Life.
