N.B. studies U.S. shale gas drilling rules

Three New Brunswick cabinet ministers are spending a few days in Arkansas examining how the state regulates the shale gas industry.

The provincial government is reviewing its mining regulations surrounding shale gas and is touring the southern U.S. state with Southwestern Energy Company, which operates in both in Arkansas and New Brunswick.

Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup said he wants to understand how other governments handle the shale gas industry.

"Our main mission here is to talk to landowners down there, talk to conservation groups, and talk to industry, and get all the positives and negatives that they've gone through the last 10 years," Northrup said.

The provincial government is also inviting environmental observers on the trip to Arkansas.

Stephanie Merrill, a representative from the Conservation Council, said she will use the information gleaned from the trip as the province entertains the possibility of allowing more shale gas development.

"I think it's a good chance for us to all go together and see what's happening somewhere else where there's a lot of development happening."

Future trips planned

The New Brunswick government is planning more trips to study how other jurisdictions handle the contentious development.

Northrup said the provincial government plans to make a similar trip to northern British Columbia to see how the western province handles shale gas development.

"If we can do everything right environmentally, work with industry to make sure that they're doing everything right environmentally then at the end of the day it will mean that a lot of royalties, millions of dollars coming into New Brunswick to help out with our debt and education, health care and different other things in the government," the natural resources minister said.

The issue of shale gas development has become a contentious issue in New Brunswick in recent years.

Many New Brunswick communities have become concerned with shale gas development.

Town councils in Norton and Sackville have been met by protests when companies announced they wanted to conduct seismic testing in their communities for natural gas.

Many people are concerned about the hydraulic fracturing process that is used to extract the shale gas.

The companies pump a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the ground, creating cracks in shale rock formations. That process allows companies to extract natural gas from areas that would otherwise go untapped.

Texas-based Apache and Halifax-based Corridor Resources are in an exploratory stage of a shale gas project near Sussex.

If sufficient gas is discovered in southern New Brunswick, Apache and Corridor Resources could drill as many as 480 new wells in the area.

While critics have complained about the regulations surrounding the shale gas development, Apache and Corridor Resources have already agreed to participate in a new phased environmental process that is being overseen by the provincial government.

The concern over the drilling process has caused groups to hold public meetings to explain the drilling technique.

Southwestern Energy Company hosted a public meeting last week at the University of New Brunswick to discuss how it has teamed up with environmental groups to examine the regulations surrounding the shale gas industry.

The departments of environment and natural resources are holding a public meeting on Jan. 29 in Sussex to allow people to ask questions to the industry and the provincial government about the mining technique.