Water licence for northeast B.C. fracking operation cancelled

An aerial view of a Nexen well in northeast B.C. A water license for one of its fracking operations near Fort Nelson has been cancelled.
Photograph by: Dave Olecko/Vancouver Sun.

Fort Nelson First Nation wins important ruling against Nexen

By Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun, September 8, 2015

The Fort Nelson First Nation has won a potentially precedent-setting decision from the B.C. Environmental Appeal Board that cancels the water license of a natural gas fracking operation in northeast B.C.

The appeal board — in a decision that took 20 months to deliver — concluded the science behind the license was fundamentally flawed and the province did not consult the First Nation in good faith.

After kicking out government officials at industry summit, Fort Nelson First Nation signs LNG worker camp deal

Fort Nelson FN chief Sharleen Gale speaking at LNG conference.

After both praise and backlash for expelling B.C. government from an industry summit in April, the Fort Nelson First Nation has signed on to an LNG camp deal with Black Diamond, which would include a 425-room lodge in the Horn River area.

Jenny Uechi, Vancouver Observer, Aug 13th, 2014

In an apparent turn of events since the “Fort Nelson Incident”, in which 33-year-old Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharleen Gale held up a feather and kicked out government officials from an LNG summit, the nation has now signed up a deal for a long-term camp lease for LNG workforce. 

Fracking waste water being injected into old wells in northeastern B.C.

Enbridge fracking plant near Fort Nelson, BC.

 Integrity of those wells unclear, says UVic study

 By Stephen Hume, Vancouver Sun, June 16, 2014

Toxic waste water equal in volume to 24 World Trade Center towers has been injected into a single 46-year-old natural gas well in northeastern British Columbia, says a report for the Fort Nelson First Nation done by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre.

More than 41 billion litres of water too contaminated for surface disposal has been injected into the well — identified as Well #2240 — since 1968.

“Because waste water is not tracked after disposal,” the study says, “the fate of this massive quantity of waste water is unknown.”

Defiant northern Chief galvanizes BC First Nations against Premier’s LNG plans

Sharleen Gail, chief of Fort Nelson band.

The “Fort Nelson incident” has united First Nations against speedy approvals of a $78 billion industry – potentially “destabilizing” the Premier’s entire strategy.

Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer, April 22nd, 2014

The actions of a young, tough-talking First Nations leader in northeast B.C. last week, that sparked the embarrassing reversal of a cabinet decision to fast-track natural gas plants, appears to be rallying province-wide Aboriginal opposition to Liquified Natural Gas plans.

Black bear killed by Apache contractor near Nelson, BC

Apache contractor ran over a hibernating bear den while clearing land near Fort Nelson, B.C.

CBC News, Jan 30, 2014

An oil and gas company is investigating after one of its contractors accidentally ran over and killed a black bear near Fort Nelson, B.C., last week.

The black bear was hibernating in a shallow, unidentified den approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Fort Nelson, in the Liard Basin of northern B.C.

B.C. ordered to pay logging company $1.75M over aboriginal blockade

By James Keller, The Vancouver Sun/The Canadian Press December 30, 2013

VANCOUVER – The British Columbia government didn’t properly consult with a northern First Nation community about forestry activity and then failed to warn a logging contractor about an imminent blockade, according to a court judgement that orders the province pay the company $1.75 million.