Re: Our View, January 22, 2015.
Your editorial suggesting the public not fret but instead be prepared for future earthquakes was informative and helpful.
However, I believe our society should be fretting a great deal more; all parts of our world are showing signs of stress, droughts, unusual changes in weather patterns and temperatures.
There are those who bury their heads in the sand, and announce “it has all happened before.”
Well, do some research on Google and get an environmental eye opener on the new threats technology has laid at our door-step.
A case in point is fracking. Extreme pressure is used to shoot massive amounts of chemicals and water down into the earth’s bowels to rupture the shale and release the natural gas. Extremely worrying is the flow back. These are residual liquids that escape, containing Benzene, Xylem and Hydrocarbons and they can seep away into the surrounding shale and underground watercourses.
Recent reports in the news cite areas in Texas experiencing small tremors where none had occurred previously. Episodes of fracking had taken place in that vicinity and when fracking ceased so did the tremors. It would seem logical that when you remove soil or shale from underground, that void must be filled, causing movement.
With fracking we are dealing with upward of half a million litres of water and additives forcing fractures hundreds of feet long under the earth.
Parts of the U.S., France and Bulgaria have stopped the process.
Typically, you would expect living on the west coast of B.C., literally surrounded by earthquake faults, the government would question the wisdom of fracking.
Yet B.C. is speeding onward with 7,300 wells fracked since 2005.
Alarming is the censorship of some Canadian scientists, as to what they are permitted to say or write regarding situations affecting the environment.
This breeds mistrust toward the government and seems to indicate they are hiding important issues from the Canadian people.
Our descendents’ lives, health and environment will depend on the choices made now.
Margaret J. Jestico, Saanichton