Ex Greenpeace leader takes on shale gas

The Quebec government has recruited a prominent environmentalist to help chart future shale gas development.

Franois Tanguay is a former director of Greenpeace Quebec.

He will now be part of a board that decides which drilling and fracking projects will be allowed to proceed in Quebec.

Many Quebecers are skeptical about shale gas development, fearing landslides and water contamination.

Tanguay says it's important to listen to different points of view.

"It's easy to preach to a crowd that already agrees with what you're saying, but I think the idea of having different opinions, different views, mainly different experiences around the table is the basis for quality work," he said.

Tanguay's appointment comes after environment groups complained the committee was made up entirely of shale gas proponents.

Shale gas is extracted from the earth with a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

However, this process can cause gas and other chemicals to leech into the ground water, including water wells.

In other provinces, shale gas development has led to troubling reports of illness among local residents, and reports of contaminated tap water that can be ignited because of the presence of methane gas.

In May and June, a group of anti-shale-gas protesters walked 600 kilometres from Rimouski to Montreal, where they rallied with thousands of people in support of a moratorium on shale gas development.