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| Photo: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg |
Pushing to shift public opinion on fracking
By Stephen Ewart,
Calgary Herald
January 31, 2012
In 1965, Ralph Nader wrote a book titled Unsafe at Any Speed that detailed design flaws, such the absence of seat belts, in U.S. automobiles and the resistance by carmakers to address them.
The book proved critical in the emergence of consumer rights’ advocacy, led governments to enact regulations and prompted changes that made cars safer but also more expensive. What it did not do was drive the auto industry out of business.
Fast forward almost four decades and today community groups and environmentalists are labelling the fast-expanding, and quickly evolving, practice of hydraulic fracturing by the oil and gas industry as essentially unsafe in any circumstances.
Like the auto industry previously, public concern over safety — this time it’s the water supply, not traffic accidents — is prompting industry to implement changes to long-standing practices to make production of oil and gas safer but more expensive.
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