Papers discuss fracking impact on B.C. dams, province defends approach
VANCOUVER — Officials at British Columbia’s public power utility raised concerns as early as 2009 that earthquakes caused by a controversial gas-extraction method used in the mining industry may put the province’s largest hydroelectric dams at risk, internal documents reveal.
Emails obtained through an access-to-information request by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives show BC Hydro discussing the possible threat posed by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a mining technique that involves injecting high-pressure fluid deep underground in order to extract either natural gas or coal-bed methane.
Critics have slammed fracking as a poorly understood and risky industrial activity that contributes to increased seismic activity and risks contaminating nearby aquifers.
In one BC Hydro email exchange dated Dec. 3, 2009, safety officer Ray Stewart expresses his unease to water rights comptroller Glen Davidson over the risks of a particular methane-extraction project near the Peace Canyon Dam.