The Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project at Kitamaat, British Columbia, Canada. Rio Tinto Alcans smelter is at left and the town of Kitamaat at upper right. The fear of oil spills is especially acute in this pristine corner of northwest British Columbia, with its snowcapped mountains and deep ocean inlets. People here still remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, and oil is still leaking from the Queen of the North, a ferry that sank off nearby Hartley Bay six years ago. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck
Canadian natural-gas producers have voluntarily adopted standards to disclose fluids used in hydraulic fracturing amid investigations into the risks posed by the drilling technique in Canada and the U.S.
In addition to listing the chemical ingredients used in each well, producers will test water sources and evaluate the handling of fluids used in fracturing, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said on its website today.
The industry is under increasing regulatory scrutiny in both Canada and the U.S. amid concern that chemicals used in the process may contaminate drinking water. Fracturing, in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water and sand are forced underground to break rock and let trapped vapor flow, has been halted by some states and Quebec, where the government is studying the technique’s impact on fresh water.
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