As N.B. reconsiders fracking, here’s how science and tech have evolved since the moratorium - CBC

Jim Emberger started lobbying against fracking in 2010 after seeing gas exploration work near his home in Taymouth, a rural area that relies on well water. He also studied environmental issues at Johns Hopkins University. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)Social SharingAs the New Brunswick government reconsiders its moratorium on natural gas development, opponents say there’s now stronger science that it’s harmful, while proponents say there are also safer ways to do it.

“Concerns of environmental and health problems … remain exactly the same,” said Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance. “Only each has now more credence and more severity attached to it.”

Meanwhile, according to Maurice Dusseault, emeritus professor of geological engineering at the University of Waterloo, “hydraulic stimulation and shale gas development can be done with a high degree of safety — much, much higher than other industrial operations such as fishing, mining, agriculture, et cetera.”

Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing or hydraulic stimulation, requires blasting a mix of water and chemicals into a well — drilled deep before making a turn horizontally — to release oil, gas, geothermal energy or water that is held within shale rock formations.

CBC News spoke with Emberger, Dusseault and Jim Livingstone, who is interested in a different type of drilling for gas near Moncton, about developments in science and technology that have bearing on fracking’s impact on the environment and human health. 

One of the main environmental concerns about fracking remains its use of large quantities of water. 

Today, even more water is used, said Emberger, because greater underground distances can be fracked from one well.

In an email, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers countered that the industry is “continually improving water-use efficiency,” citing recycling, as an example.

In Dusseault’s view, the reuse of fracking fluid — the water mixed with chemicals used in the process — can limit the amount of water that must be treated or stored underground to a “relatively small volume.”

Fracking wastewater has been found to sometimes migrate and contaminate water supplies, Emberger said.

The number of these cases has been “very few,” said Dusseault, and each is “investigated extremely carefully” to alter guidelines and procedures and prevent repeat occurrences.

Some residential wells in fracking areas have been contaminated by natural gas itself, primarily methane, Emberger and Dusseault agreed.

Hydraulic fracturing hasn’t been completely ruled out as the cause, Dusseault said, but it’s more likely that leaky well casings were the reason.

That's why strong guidelines are needed for industrial well cementing, he said.

And even with that, “an incident or two,” can still be expected, Dusseault said.

Recent scientific studies have found harmful effects of living near fracking operations, said Emberger.

For example, a 2025 study from the University of Pittsburgh looked at 500 cases of cancer in children and found a connection between how close they lived to fracking sites and the risk of lymphoma.

Canadian research evidence is sparse, though a recent review of existing studies by Canadian scientists connected fracking exposure to respiratory and cardiovascular issues, as well as negative birth outcomes. 

Researchers warn of negative health outcomes from fracking in the B.C. Peace region

 A 2022 University of Calgary study compared the health of 35,000 pregnancies in rural Alberta to how close people lived to hydraulically fractured wells. It found a higher risk of lower birth weight and birth defects associated with living within 10 kilometres of a well, and a higher rate of preterm birth when living near 100 or more wells.

According to Dusseault, the chemical makeup of fracking fluids has been modified over the years to reduce contamination risks.

He didn’t know all of the substances used but said that companies are required to disclose them to regulators and certain substances are banned.

Livingstone, who’s based in Calgary, said less water is an advantage of the method he developed and wants to use to drill for shale gas in Stoney Creek, near Moncton, in a joint venture between his company Innovation Energy and Pabineau First Nation.

It would require less than 20,000 litres of water per well, he said, while fracking a single well in Western Canada can take about 23 million litres.

Livingstone’s drill rig uses dry air, a valve system and technology previously used in mining, called a reverse circulation centred discharge drill, he explained.

Jim Livingstone has about 50 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. (Zoom/CBC)

Livingstone said he tested this in the west in the early 2000s, in partnership with the drilling companies Nabors and Trican.

CBC reached out to Nabors and Trican to verify Livingstone’s claims but did not receive any replies. Livingstone said most of the people he worked with when developing the equipment have now retired or died. 

But Pack Walters, who owns a construction company in Cut Bank, Mont., said he’s one of the people who helped build Livingstone’s drill and saw it in action. 

“We took wells that were totally dead and got gas back,” he said.

No one is currently using it, Livingstone said, because regular fracking works fine in other areas.

New Brunswick is different because it has “lake shales,” with high clay content, that are “very prone to drilling damage,” he said.

Dusseault does not share that assessment. He previously worked for the New Brunswick Energy Institute, a now-inactive advisory body, and said that to the best of his knowledge, the province’s shales are well suited to fracking.

“They will not turn into mush,” he said. “[Hydraulic] stimulation should be relatively straightforward and reasonably successful.”

There’s more consensus these days that fracking can cause earthquakes “of a significant magnitude,” Dusseault said.

Alberta, British Columbia and other jurisdictions have adopted a “traffic light approach,” he said, in which seismic activity thresholds trigger various responses by fracking companies and regulators.

A 2.0 quake can mean reducing pressure, for example, or a 3.5 quake can require a fracking shutdown.

For Emberger, the most important developments since the moratorium have been in climate science.

The goal of keeping global warming to an average of 1.5 C is now out of reach, he said, and any additional fossil fuel development will exacerbate floods, wildfires and death counts.

The petroleum industry says it’s cutting down on methane emissions.

But an estimate out this month from the Canadian Climate Institute says greenhouse gas emissions appear to have increased in 2025, mainly because more gas is used for heat and electricity.

This story is part of the series Shale Gas Development Revisited: What’s Changed. CBC New Brunswick is taking a closer look at what has changed since the provincial government put a moratorium in place on shale gas exploration in New Brunswick in 2014. The provincial government is now reviewing the moratorium until January 2027, when it will decide whether to lift it. If you have a story or tip to share on this topic, please write: nbshalegas@cbc.ca. 

Jennifer Sweet has been telling the stories of New Brunswickers for over 20 years. She is originally from Bathurst, got her journalism degree from Carleton University and is based in Fredericton. She can be reached at 451-4176 or jennifer.sweet@cbc.ca.