LNG, SHALE GAS AND FRACKING:
CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF SHALE GAS AND BC’S LNG SECTOR
BC First Nations LNG Summit
Hosted by Treaty 8 Tribal Association ~ Pomeroy Hotel, Fort. St. John
February 19, 2014
Who we are
~ We are a Dene & Cree
community in NE BC
~ 800 members
~ Our vision: A nation, a
people—strong, healthy and
self-reliant
~ Our families wish to continue
to provide for ourselves in our
own land long into the future
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
FNFN is a
Treaty Nation
~ Treaty 8 confirms our right to
govern our traditional territory,
‘nation-to-nation’
~ Governance = the right and
responsibility to protect and
manage our territory for our
future generations

~ A central role in economic
development and resource
management is a treaty
imperative
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Shale Gas Plays in FNFN Territory
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5
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Summary of Gas-Related Activity
Horn River Basin
Liard Basin
Cordova Embayment
% tenured by 2012
63.5%
18.4%
44.6%
Linear disturbance
2002-2012 (density on
tenure)
59,915 km
(6.84 km/km2)
7137 km
(1.07 km/km2)
11,531 km
(5.93 km/km2)
Areal disturbance on
tenure, 2012 (with
250m buffer on lines)
71% of tenured
lands
33% of tenured lands
73% of tenured lands
Gas wells drilled 20072012
537
39
53
Well pads constructed
2007-2012
255
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Production rates Dec.
2011
400 million cubic
feet/day
Minimal
200 million cubic
feet/day
*All data from OGC sources
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Cumulative Effects of Shale Gas
Significant impacts
affecting:
~ Land
~ Water
~ Air
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Impacts to Land: Linear Disturbance
~ Pipelines, seismic & roads
~ Habitat fragmentation
~ Predator – Prey balance
disrupted
~ Damage to streams during
crossing
~ Interference with FNFN access
to traditional lands
~ Taking up of land
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Impacts on the Land: Roads
~ Increased speed and traffic
pollution, dust, garbage and
noise
~ Wildlife mortality including
beaver “relocation”
~ Sand and gravel quarries
~ Increased access to FNFN
hunting areas
~ Our people feel unwelcome
and unsafe in our own land
Impacts on the Land: Well Pads
~ Sites will checkerboard
landscape every 2 to 6 km
~ Industry term: “carpet bomb”
~ Enlarged 200m x 200m sites
to accommodate frack crews
~ Dust, noise, weeds, erosion,
run-off, spills
~ Loss of land for traditional use
~ Contamination of surrounding
ecosystem
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Impacts on the Land: Deforestation
~ Oil and Gas companies are exempt from using
merchantable timber because the mill is too far away
~ Solution is to burn all trees
Impacts on the Land:
Frack Sand Mining
~ Frack (silica) sand exploration
coincides with good Caribou
habitat
~ Frack sand mining will require
processing plants
~ silica sand has been implicated
in causing silicosis, a lung disease
~ it can take up to 10,000 tons of
silica sand to frack one well
Impacts on Water: Contamination
~ Fluids used in fracking
are known carcinogens
~ Our people are afraid to
drink from the land
~FNFN members worry
for the health of the
animals and plants
~Tu ni ttheh—We need
the Water
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Impacts on Water: The Water Cycle
~ Huge water withdrawal
and loss
~ Our people fear that the
muskeg will be “dried up”
because the water is taken
forever
~ Our people fear that
there will be no beaver,
moose, fish or other foods
& medicines that we need
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Impacts on Air
~ Members report
changes in air quality
~ Avoidance of food and
medicine plants and snow
~ Health concerns (e.g.
sour gas leaks)
~ Climate impacts of CO2
extraction and venting
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Gas Processing = GHG Emissions
Enbridge’s Cabin Gas Plant –1 of 5–will release 200 million tonnes of CO2
into the atmosphere every year.
BC just permitted the Fortune Creek Gas Plants, which will raise BC’s
GHG emissions another 3.5% through direct venting of CO2 to the
environment
BC’s LNG Strategy
Upstream
gas basins
Midstream
pipelines
LNG
facilities
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BC’s LNG Strategy: The Promise
~ BC LNG strategy is “moving
ahead without delay”
~ $1 trillion to be generated
between 2013 - 2046
~ “new money” that serves as a
legacy for all British Columbians
~ BC is “continuing close work
with industry and First Nations
to build world’s cleanest LNG
industry”
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Photo Source: BC Energy and Mines, Liquefied Natural Gas: A Strategy for B.C.’s Newest Industry
BC’s LNG Strategy: The Peril
~ Race is on to develop LNG
export facilities on the BC coast
~ No final investment decisions
made
~ BC is pitching economic
benefits while ignoring
environmental costs
~ Upstream impacts and First
Nations have been ignored by
Crown, regulators and industry
in LNG debate
http://www.gov.bc.ca/com/attachments/LNGreport_update2013_web130207.pdf
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Cumulative Effects of BC’s LNG Strategy
A projection of BC’s LNG Strategy shows that the number
of shale gas wells drilled and fracke in FNFN territory will
increase by 600% over the next 20 years.
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2007-2012
2014-2034 (LNG)
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Cumulative Effects of
BC’s LNG Strategy
Given current LNG proposals,
we expect LNG to induce:
• 3,000 new wells in FNFN territory
• 300 new large industrial facilities
• 50,000 km of seismic lines
• 4,500 km of new roads
• 1000’s of new water permits for
fracking
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Cumulative Effects of
BC’s LNG Strategy
Land
~ tens of thousands of kilometers of
roads, seismic lines & pipelines
~ thousands of well pads, frack sand
mines, camps, plants & borrow pits
Water
~ trillions of litres of water removed
from muskeg, rivers and lakes
~ waste water blowouts, leaks and
spills
Air
~ Increasing pollution and emissions
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BC Cumulative Effects Framework
• Outdated LRMP sets
values & objectives
• First Nations not involved
in values identification
• No mandate for LUPs,
thresholds, “red colour”
areas or monitoring
• NE Pilot irrelevant to FNFN
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FNFN Approach to Cumulative
Effects Assessment
~ Uphold our treaty
~ Establishment of territorial
monitoring systems
~ Collection of ‘baseline data’
~ Shared decision making on
the ground and at strategic
level
~ Basis for our decision-making
is FNFN values and objectives
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Mussi cho
(big thank you)
Sah lo Dene
(for all our relations)
Please join
us in the
Fort Nelson
First Nation
Territory
April 14-16,
2014
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