Environmentalists prepared to combat new oil and gas regulations in Quebec

Opponents of oil and gas development in Quebec say they’re prepared to ramp up their fight amid expectations that the provincial government could release new regulations on resource extraction in the coming weeks.

At the end of last year, the government passed legislation to enable production of oil and natural gas. In May, Natural Resources Minister Pierre Arcand said rules governing that activity would be released a month later and since then, both industry and opponents have been eagerly waiting for them.

Carole Dupuis of the Regroupement vigilance hydrocarbures Québec, which opposes oil and gas development, said her group will take their battle to communities in an effort to prevent an energy industry from taking off in the province. “If our politicians aren’t there to defend us, the public will defend itself,” said Dupuis.

Patrick Bonin, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said the push toward fossil fuel development runs counter to the province’s global commitment to combat greenhouse gas emissions.

“If the government was serious about its intention to respect the Paris Accord, then obviously there wouldn’t be any project to get the green light,” he said.

While the province may be better known for its wealth of hydroelectricity, it has plenty of natural gas. The Quebec Oil and Gas Association and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers believe there’s enough to meet its needs for at least a century.

About 15 per cent of the estimated 176.7 trillion cubic feet of gas mainly in the Utica Shale formation along the St. Lawrence River is believed to be recoverable, the Canadian Energy Research Institute says. A similar proportion of the 43.6 billion barrels of oil is recoverable primarily beneath Anticosti Island, though on Friday the government announced an end to drilling there.

The regulations will permit fracking but questions remain over where drilling will be allowed.

A spokesman for Arcand said the government’s goal is to have the strictest legal framework on energy development in North America.