Coalition of Towns Plan to Sue Quebec to be able to Protect their Drinking Water from Fracking

Some municipalities are getting ready to go to court - Elected officials want to have their own laws to protect drinking water from the oil and gas industry

My translation of article written by Alexandre Shields published in Le Devoir on May 27 2018.

At least 166 municipalities have decided to make a common front and go to court to force the Couillard Government to give them the right to have stricter laws to protect drinking water from oil and gas drilling, learned Le Devoir. The Environment Minister Isabelle Mélançon is still refusing to give them this right, even if she can do so.

These 166 municipalities are part of some 338 municipalities, representing more than 4 million Quebecers, that have passed a law that would require a minimum distance of 2 km between a drinking water source and future drilling.

They all ask Minister Isabelle Mélançon to give them the right to go above and beyond the provincial law. This law, called Règlement sur le Prélèvement des eaux et leur Protection (RPEP), passed back in 2014, imposes a minimal distance of 500 meters between drinking water sources and oil and gas wells. A distance thought of as clearly insufficient by municipalities to insure against any contamination.

But even though a first formal request was presented in June 2017 but rejected by the ex-minister David Heurtel, then discussions and 2 meetings with Mme Mélançon`s team, the "pilot committee" that drives the municipalities`endeavour is still waiting for a positive response from the government.

Exasperated by the slowness of Quebec to answer their request, 166 municipalities have decided Friday to instruct their lawyer to file an application in court to obtain the requested exemption.

"The analysis that is the basis of our request is solid and credible. So we do not want to start all over again a new scientific analysis process that would put us back at least till the end of June, so after the National Assembly`s session`s closure, during the summer period and just before the electoral campaign" says the mayor of Ristigouche Sud-Est François Boulay, member of the pilot committee, Friday.

"The committee remains open to negociations. We are ready to welcome any reasonable proposition and work with the Minister. But the municipalities want an anwer and an adequate answer." added jurist Richard Langelier, in charge of scientific suppport to the municipalities.

If the Environment Minister refuses to agree to give an exception , the committee could then ask the court to evaluate the "reasonable character" of such a decision.

"Our question is as follows: can a municipality pass a law that is more strict than the provincial government`s in order to protect it`s drinking water?" says François Boulay. Passing such a law that puts a 2km distance between a source of drinking water and drilling made the gas company Gastem sue his municipality. But the court ruled in the municipalities favor, without ruling on the 2km part.

To avoid repeating this situation, that was a major risk for Ristigouche Sud-Est`s finances, the municipalities have decided to ask Quebec directly the right to vote on more strict laws than those of the RPEP.

"To give more weigth to the unprecedented legal prodedure that they now have decided to start, the municipalities will try to have more to join them. "We will quickly be more than 200 municipalities" predicts Richard Langelier. They have also received last week the unanymous support of the members of the Union des Municipalités du Québec.

Mr Langelier added that they did not mean to stop all of the oil and gas exploration projects that could develop in Quebec where more than thousands of square kilometers have exploration permits. As per Mr Langelier, the Gaspésie Bourque project belonging to Pieridae Energy, is more than 2km from the nearest drinking water source.

In the office of Isabelle Mélançon, they said Friday that they wanted to avoid going to court. Press spokesperson Julien Marcotte, repeated that the Minister will have an answer for the municipalities "in June", without giving an exact date. He says that Mme Mélançon never promised to answer the committee by May 25 like they say. He added that the MInister came into her function in October 2017 and had to familiarize herself with the dossier.

While the municipalities want to be able to prevent risks of contamination of their water by hydrocarbons, the Energy and Naturale Ressources Minister Pierre Moreau has still not published the law that would enact the hydrocarbons Law.

The bills published in September 2017 confirmed the intention of the Couillard giovernment to allow fracking. They also would allow drilling at 350 meters form residential areas and 275 meters from hospitals and schools. Minister Moreau promised to make corrections, but still has not published the laws.