Taranaki Regional Council insists it’s following international best practice in allowing fracking waste to be disposed of on farmland, even though the Canadian province it’s modelling itself on doesn’t allow such waste on agricultural land.
Fracking is the mining process that involves high-pressure injection of water and a cocktail of chemicals far below the earth’s surface to access oil and gas.
The regional council says it bases its controversial practice of putting the waste on farmland – an operation known as land-farming – on what Alberta is doing.
But the Alberta Energy Regulator has told Radio New Zealand it does not allow fracking waste to be applied to farmland and insists it be disposed of in industrial waste facilities.
It says fracking waste, as opposed to waste from traditional drilling operations, is not suitable for agricultural land.
Presuming the report is correct this is deeply concerning. Because we could be putting our largest export industry at risk and our clean and green image is under further attack.
A variety of Government Departments and agencies were invited to comment on the issue on Nine to Noon this morning but none were available …
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