Anticosti Island: Environmental groups call for BAPE review of shale-gas drilling

The Quebec government is not being straightforward aboutthe data it has on shale-gasexploration on Anticosti Island, a coalition of environmental and citizens' groups said Friday.

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The coalition isasking the Liberal government to orderenvironmental review hearings through itsprovincial assessment agency, known astheBAPE,and to publish the results of its drilling activities on Anticosti.

The director of Nature-Qubec, Christian Simard, saidthereare eleven sites where drilling has been completed over the past two years.

Simard saidin 2014, the findings were published on the government's website, however, this year's findings haveyet to be made public.

"It is time to have an assessment, and to make it public to open a debate," he said.

'Problem of partiality': Nature-Qubec

Pauline Marois'sPQgovernment announced early in 2014 its plan to invest $115 millionto explore the oil potential of Anticosti Islandwith its partners Petrolia, Corridor Resources, Manuel & Prom and Junex.

Simard said theQuebec government has already spent nearly half that amount.

"Unfortunately, the government is not neutral," Simard said. He said the province has a 35 per cent stake inAnticostiHydrocarbons, the company which holds the drilling permits on the island.

"At the same time, they do the [environmental] assessment," he said. "There is a problem of partialitythat's why we need an independent commission before we go further."

Patrick Bonin, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada, saidthe province should be looking towards greener energy sources if it intends to meets its greenhouse-gas emission objectives.

"What the Quebec government has in terms of a plan is to have a peak in the oil production on Anticosti by 2050, and this is exactly the moment where Canada and Quebec need to be at zerogreenhouse-gas emissions," Bonin said.

Threat to island's water?

The coalition says it is worried the government could begin hydraulic fracturing next year.

Environmentalists contend thatAnticosti Island'secosystem is vulnerable, since it haslimited water resources.

Joceline Sanschagrin, the spokeswomanfor Eau Secoursa coalition of groups promoting responsible water use in Quebecsaidfrackingfor shale gasrequires up to 12million litres of water per well. The watercan contain up to 350 chemical products.

"Fifty per centof this polluted water never comes back up to the surface. This residual water and sludge cannot be treated in Quebecor elsewhere," Sanschagrin said.

BELOW: The Quebec government's interactive map detailing drill sites on AnticostiIsland (French only)