A Niagara At Large Brief
Should federal, state and provincial governments around the Great Lakes allow the discharge of chemically contaminated water used in extracting natural gas from bedrock to a Great Lakes basin tens-of-millions of Americans and Canadians rely on as a source of drinking water?
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario councillor Jamie King was among the first to stand up against the unregulated dumping of chemical wastes from gas fracking in the Great Lakes.
That question came close to home over this passing year when petro-chemical companies made a bid to use the wastewater treatment plant in Niagara Falls, New York to discharge continuous volumes of chemically contaminated water from a gas-extraction process called “fracking” to the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
The first Ontario politicians to step up to the plate and say; ‘No (and I paraphrase), this can’t happen if there aren’t even any laws in the United States to tell us what chemicals are contaminating that water,’ was Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario councillor Jamie King. His efforts, combined with those of a few other groups, including those of Buffalo, New York -based Great Lakes United, a major coalition of non-government and government groups dedicated to protecting the lakes in both countries, may have played a role in a decision by Niagara Falls, New York’s council earlier this year to ban fracking wastes from the municipality. Buffalo, New York’s council quickly followed with a ban of its own.
Fracking for natural gas is likely not going away. U.S. President Barack Obama, should he be re-elected, sees natural gas as part of a mix of actions he believes his country needs to take to end its dependency on foreign sources of energy, most particularly oil from the Middle East.
So the question is; ‘Can this fracking process be made safer and how far are governments in both the United States and Canada willing to go to monitor and regulate this industry?
This question and others will be addressed in an important panel discussion, featuring Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario councillor Jamie King and Great Lakes United director John Jackson, sponsored by the St. Catharines & District Council of Women, this Thursday, November 8 at 8 p.m. is the central library for St. Catharines, Ontario.
Niagara At Large is pleased to post more information from the St. Catharines & District Council of Women on this public panel forum below.
Public Meeting: ” Gas Fracking Around the Great Lakes”:
‘The Process, the Purpose and the Potential Dangers’
Thursday, November 8th at 8 p.m.
St. Catharines Centennial Library 54 Church Street
Niagara -on-the-Lake Town Councilor Jamie King, and long time environmental activist, John Jackson, Executive Director of Great Lakes United, will be featured speakers at an important public meeting on ‘GAS FRACKING AROUND THE GREAT LAKES, a matter of growing public interest on both sides of the Canada/US border.
Speakers Jackson and King have a keen interest and understanding of the kinds of issues many thousands of residents around the treasured Great Lakes are concerned about as the gas industry, having targeted the area as one that is “in play’” for exploration and drilling, forge ahead.
As Jackson said recently, “The Great Lakes are a major focus of the Natural Gas industry’s current fracking plans. This inadequately tested technology is a looming ‘new’ threat to the Great Lakes.”
Of particular interest to Councilor King, is Niagara Falls New York’s offer of its wastewater treatment plant for the treatment of fracking waste, and then the discharge of large quantities of potentially chemically contaminated fracking fluids into the Niagara River.
King’s concerns led to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Town Council’s unanimous approval of a resolution calling for ” a stop to any discharge of this waste to the Niagara River until there is a “robust public discussion…with full consideration of the human and environmental impacts.”
The meeting is sponsored by the 21 Affiliated Groupemebrs and 35 Individual Members of the St. Catharines & District Council of Women and is open to the public.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post below.)
Niagara At Large 
A few years ago the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States demanded that companies engaged in the “FRACKING PROCESS” meet and discuss the chemicals they are using and come up with agents that would be standards for the industry as well as safe for the population.
Guess what? The only Corporation “NOT” obliged to attend was Halliburton who was protected by Dick Cheney while he was Vice President of the United States.
Since then, according to reports, Halliburton moved it’s head office to the Cayman Islands
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