Hundreds of protests against fracking took place around the world on Oct. 19. | Photo by Nicholas Shore, Flickr.

Oct. 19 was a global day of action against fracking, with over 100 demonstrations reported in more than 25 countries worldwide.

What’s fracking? You might not have heard much about it, even though it’s becoming increasingly common right here in British Columbia. Fracking is short-hand for hydrolic fracturing, a method of extracting shale gas deposits. It involves pumping water mixed with toxic chemicals at high pressure deep beneath the Earth’s surface in order to make gas deposits accessible.

It’s almost unbelievable we haven’t yet had a serious debate about fracking in British Columbia, because this method of extraction plays a big part in the scramble to dig up and export gas from the northeast of this province.

Earlier this year, I wrote about my hope that fracking would be debated prominently during May’s election campaign. Sadly, it wasn’t. The Green Party of B.C. raised the issue, but unfortunately the NDP chose not to oppose the practice, only calling for more scientific review.

We heard a lot about natural gas or LNG (liquified natural gas) – in fact it was a centrepiece of Premier Christy Clark’s campaign – but the reality is that there’s nothing natural about it.

A substantial body of evidence shows that fracking causes dangerous damage to the land and water. In Ohio, a study found that it caused a series of earthquakes in 2011. And, in 2012, B.C.’s own industry regulator, the Oil and Gas Commission, reached a similar conclusion about tremors in this province.

“The investigation has concluded that the events observed within remote and isolated areas of the Horn River Basin between 2009 and 2011 were caused by fluid injection during hydraulic fracturing in proximity to pre-existing faults,” reads the commission’s 2012 report.

As if earthquakes weren’t bad enough, fracking also damages groundwater and produces toxic wastewater. A study published earlier this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found that wastewater from fracking operations in western Pennsylvania was radioactive. Farmers living nearby fracking sites in a number of regions have had their drinking and irrigation water contaminated by the industry.

On top of all this, expanding fracking has serious climate change implications. Gas has often been trumpeted as a cleaner burning fuel than oil or coal, and the industry has promoted LNG as a “transition fuel” on our way to greener, renewable energy sources. Well, gas might be cleaner burning, but it turns out that the extraction process leaks a large amount of methane directly into the atmosphere – and this occurs much more so with fracking than with traditional methods. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So fracked gas is no “transition fuel,” unless we’re talking about speeding up the transition to a drastically changed climate.

These are just a few of the basic facts about fracking that we have heard far too little about in B.C.

Jurisdictions around the world have had this debate and many are taking action. Many U.S. states have placed serious restrictions or moratoriums on the industry. France has banned fracking outright. The move had strong public support and was recently upheld by the France’s highest court, the Constitutional Council.

As with many issues concerning our environment, Indigenous people in Canada are on the frontline of opposition to fracking. In New Brunswick, the Elsipogtog First Nation has been leading the fight against seismic exploration by a U.S.-based company that hopes to extract shale gas. There is, in fact, a major coalition opposed to fracking in New Brunswick – large demonstrations have been held at the provincial legislature in recent years.

Last week, the RCMP carried out a massive operation to clear a blockade protest by opponents of fracking. Hundreds of heavily armed officers stormed in, arresting dozens. Scenes from the raid and its fallout – snipers, officers drawing weapons, burning police cars – have been leading news hours and social media feeds across Canada.

The dramatic events in New Brunswick should be cause for us to look closer to home. We are long overdue for a real public debate about fracking here in B.C.