Lawsuits: tidy
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==Holds and Moratoriums==
==Holds and Moratoriums==
===Alberta===
===Alberta===
−
Alberta landowner Jessica Ernst filed a lawsuit against EnCana, Alberta Environment and Energy Resources Conservation Board of negligence and unlawful activities. Over ten years ago, EnCana began hydraulic fracturing throughout central Alberta. It was reported that on "April 27, 2011 lawyers representing Jessica Ernst, a 54-year-old oil patch consultant, released a 73-page statement of claim that alleges that EnCana broke multiple provincial laws and regulations and contaminated a shallow aquifer used by a rural community with natural gas and toxic industry-related chemicals. The claim methodically reports how Alberta’s two key groundwater regulators, Alberta Environment and the ERCB, 'failed to follow the investigation and enforcement processes that they had established and publicized.'"<ref>[http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/ "Multi-Million Dollar Landmark North American Lawsuit on Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Impact on Groundwater"] Ernst v. EnCana Corporation, accessed September 16, 2014.</ref>
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===Quebec===
===Quebec===
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==Lawsuits==
==Lawsuits==
−
===Alberta===
{{#evp:youtube|iEHz8SSfFJs|Untested Science: Fracking natural gas controversy |right|300}}
{{#evp:youtube|iEHz8SSfFJs|Untested Science: Fracking natural gas controversy |right|300}}
−
Alberta Environment and
Water
,
the agency
that
oversees groundwater
,
tested local resident
Jessica Ernst
's well. When the well was drilled in 1986
,
tests showed it had no methane. Tests after drilling
,
however, showed high levels
of
the gas, as well as
a
hydrocarbon called F2
and
two other
chemicals. The
Alberta Research Council, a government research agency, concluded in its 2007 complaint review of EnCana that it was unlikely fracking had impacted Ernst's water. In response, Ernst sued Encana
, Alberta Environment and
Water
, and
the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (the gas drilling regulator) over allegations
that
Encana’s drilling operations were negligent
and
the governmental agencies were complicit in Encana’s contamination by failing to enforce regulations. The lawsuit asks for $33 million Canadian in damages, along with a return of wrongful profits. Ernst has stated she will not settle on terms involving a confidentiality agreement, as others have previously done
.<ref>
Lynn Herrmann,
[http://
digitaljournal
.
com/article
/
317334#ixzz1x7dOrLmd
"
Canada fracking creates ‘test tube’ residents in B.C
.,
Alberta
,
" Digital Journal, January 5, 2012
.</ref><ref>[http://
banmichiganfracking
.
org
/
?p=386
"
A Cautionary Tale
for
Michigan from Jessica Ernst, Canadian scientist suing EnCana for water contamination,
"]
Ban Michigan Fracking
,
accessed April 2012
.</ref>
+
===Alberta===
+
Alberta landowner Jessica Ernst filed a lawsuit against EnCana,
Alberta Environment and
Energy Resources Conservation Board of negligence and unlawful activities. Over ten years ago
,
EnCana began hydraulic fracturing throughout central Alberta. It was reported
that
on "April 27
,
2011 lawyers representing
Jessica Ernst,
a 54-year-old oil patch consultant
,
released a 73-page statement
of
claim that alleges that EnCana broke multiple provincial laws and regulations and contaminated
a
shallow aquifer used by a rural community with natural gas
and
toxic industry-related
chemicals. The
claim methodically reports how Alberta’s two key groundwater regulators
, Alberta Environment and
the ERCB
,
'failed to follow the investigation
and
enforcement processes
that
they had established
and
publicized
.
'"
<ref>[http://
www
.
ernstversusencana.ca
/ "
Multi-Million Dollar Landmark North American Lawsuit on Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Impact on Groundwater"] Ernst v
.
EnCana Corporation
,
accessed September 16
,
2014
.</ref>
In other words, Ernst alleges that Encana contaminated her groundwater by fracking shallow coal seams near her property.
<ref
name=can
>[http://
thetyee
.
ca/Opinion/2014/09/16/Fracking-Suit-Supreme-Court
/ "
Last Stop
for
High Profile Fracking Suit: Supreme Court
"]
Andrew Nikiforuk
,
TheTyee.ca, September 16, 3014
.</ref
>
+
+
However, in September 2011 the Court of Appeal argued in an 11-page decision that Energy Resources Conservation Board (now the Alberta Energy Regulator) owed "no duty of care to individual landowners harmed by industrial activity." Ernst is now seeking to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.</ref name=can
>
==Citizen opposition==
==Citizen opposition==