Here are the top news stories covering Canada’s energy landscape:

Activist Health Care Professionals Promote Debunked Claims about Hydraulic Fracturing

Last week, 250 physicians and health professionals urged Quebec Premier François Legault to consider the potential “negative impacts” a 750-kilometer natural gas pipeline may have on nearby residents. The healthcare professionals claim that the hydraulic fracturing process used to obtain the natural gas has been linked to health problems such as some forms of cancer and complications in pregnancies in adjacent communities. However, a prior scientific review of more than two dozen studies aimed at linking fracking with these illness was inconclusive, along with additional scientific literature which also failed to establish a causal mechanism or questioned activist research purporting to show a direct link.

The healthcare professionals also asserted that the project would increase greenhouse gas emissions in the area but failed to account for the broader benefits that Canadian produced natural gas will have on global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, global demand for natural gas will increase by 43 percent by 2040 and every LNG facility built in Canada to meet that demand has the potential to reduce global emissions by 60 to 90 million tons per year.

Keep-It-In-the-Ground Protestors Coordinated by Activists Affiliated with 350.org

Many protestors blocking roads and railways across Canada over the last few weeks attended a conference at Ottawa University called PowerShift: Young and Rising in early 2019 and many of the speakers were affiliated with 350 Canada, an offshoot of 350.org, which distributed $19 million in grants in 2018. According to CTV news:

“At PowerShift, conference attendees had the opportunity to participate in a variety of workshops on topics like resisting arrest, scouting locations and blockading.”

Additional coordination can be expected in similar upcoming protests says B.C. indigenous activist Kanahus Manuel:

“Indigenous people are at the forefront of combatting climate change,” said Manuel. “We’re the first to be impacted. So, you’ll see us on the front lines. We’ll be the first face you see but it’s impacting all of us.”

One of the indigenous groups involved in a protest of the Coastal Gaslink project, which blocked railway tracks in Montreal last week, is also in the midst of a proposal agreement to allow the project to move forward and have been called out by some of their own members for protesting and misrepresenting the group’s opinion.

For more Canadian energy news and setting the record straight on the day’s top stories about the oil and natural gas industry, visit Canadian Energy Network.