Wednesday, November 9, 2011

What the Frack?

 Out here in Alberta, we have fossil fuels below the ground, because as you know, we have fossils. Thousands of dead dinosaurs and plants lie far below the surface of our land. Their long dead bodies decay and with the addition of tons of pressure from alluvial deposits, the carbon in them turns to coal, which in turn becomes petroleum, methane, and natural gas.
As a result of this, we are forced to live with the effects of the methods of extraction. We don't like it, but as everyone knows, money talks, and as always the local population has very little voice against both government and oil.

What do we live with here? This rig popped up last night, less than a kilometer from my home, and right in the backyards of two neighbours.

Did you know that Canadians do not own the mineral rights to their land? This privilege was taken away by the government in the 1920s. All mineral rights belong to the Government of Canada, except in the case of old-timers who used to own their mineral rights, they were allowed to keep them and their royalties if they chose, even if they sold the property. These rights can pass down a few generations then they are taken over by the government. The mineral rights to my property are owned by the first owner of my place even though he is dead. The royalties are split between his heirs, which seems absurd.

Property owners still hold the surface rights to their land, which at least allows them to tell oil companies they cannot trespass.

However, this entire area was seismically surveyed years ago, so they all know where the deposits are already.

I was approached to see if I wanted an oil site on my place. I said "no way". So they went to a neighbour and directionally drilled 1/4 mile under my land to get the oil. I receive no money for this of course.
The neighbour receives about $3000 per year for having a station on his property about 60 feet from my fence line. Incidentally, that drilling poisoned my neighbour's well on the other side of my farm. The oil company "remedied" it by giving him a plastic tank which he has to fill (they used to fill it, but that contract expired) with water from town for both his house and his livestock. My well may not have been affected because it is very deep.
The rig pictured above is to extract natural gas or methane, and is a fracking unit. Fracking is highly controversial. Whenever I have raised concerns with the oil company, they say "restrictions are higher in Canada than the US, you should be alright".
However, according to former riggers I have spoken with, all kinds of chemicals are dumped down a well to get it to the deposit.
In the meantime, we put up with noise, dust, lights, heavy traffic on our gravel road. I can't imagine what it's like to live closer to it as two of my neighbours do.
Landowners do not have a say where these things are located. This is the price we pay as Albertans for this industry.
I have frequently seen snarky comments by the public in other provinces on broadcasters' sites about Alberta and our oil resources. Speaking personally, Alberta's "oil boom" does nothing for my own standard of living. It gives jobs to men, frequently men from other provinces, sometimes men with criminal records, often men who have or develop addiction problems due to the long isolated shifts they work. It is a boys' club. I understand that Fort MacMurray employs some women as giant vehicle operators because they are more reliable and better drivers, but for the most part, all jobs are done by men, and they are highly paid, even if they have a criminal record. It's not uncommon for a high school drop out with a few B & E convictions to earn over $120,000 a year for grunt work in this business. The hours are long though, and they do work away from home for a week or two at a time.

If I had my wish, our oil dependency would be eliminated and we would create a replacement industry based on solar energy.

Another feature of oil "exploration and development" is that it leaves industrial sites all around the countryside. A pristine meadow or field is now likely to have a metal excrescence sitting in it like an industrial turd. They are equivalent of men leaving their socks and dirty laundry lying about the floor. They are ugly, and large, about the size of 16 cars parked in a square with a big metal fence around them and a plastic tank sitting up above. I'll post pictures in a later edition so you can see what I mean. They are everywhere. The oil companies want them to be exposed for security reasons and they fly aircraft around everyday to check on them which is another annoyance. Gone are the days of the quiet countryside, man has infected even this last place with his own version of ugly utility. There is absolutely no concern for inflicting ugliness upon the land. This is one legacy the oil companies and our dependence on fossil fuels are leaving this country.

On a more positive note, here is a field (the one in the background) of frozen sunflowers. I took it as a reference photo for painting:
And here are some favorite trees. I like the shape of this old poplar:

And this old spruce tree which has seen its share of storms:

This was the sunrise in our valley last week. See the little muskrat house in the middle of the pond.

4 comments:

M D said...

Sorry to see this absurd thing is happening around you whether you like it or not Roberta. I've read the nasty effects of Fracking and the fact that the toxic releases happen without warning. Hope you and your herd are able to stay clear. The natural gas in wells
is nasty, (and people in Cochran Alberta aren't happy about this!) Global did a program about Fracking, if you haven't seen it check out this Global story - (France has banned it),
http://www.globalnews.ca/untested+science/6442511512/story.html

Also listened to this CBC program where an Alberta artist registered a copyright for his land because he didn't want a pipeline going through it - the interview is here (2nd link down - and at the 8:15 mark in the program).
http://www.cbc.ca/thestoryfromhere/episode-update/2011/11/09/november-9-2011/
best Roberta
M

Marko@Northland said...

Good story Roberta. I read about fracking and it's effects on the NYT web site but your first hand knowledge really makes it hit home.

M D said...

oops, i see blogger blocks from pasting links, hmm. Yoko Ono published a link saying that people have voted to stop fracking in the Delaware River basin too.

Satya Das said...

Hi Roberta
Excellent essay, and a perspective we all need.