By Shawn Jeffords, The Observer
An Alberta-based oil company want to usher in a second oil boom in Lambton County.
At least that’s what Mooncor Oil and Gas CEO Darrell Brown hopes will happen now that his company has acquired drilling rights to 23,000 acres of land in Lambton and Chatham-Kent.
Lambton, site of the first commercial oil well in North America, is also home to an extensive network of shale gas deposits. Mooncor wants to used a hydraulic fracturing process, known as fracking, to uncover oil buried underground.
“Oil and gas is a real risk-based business,” Brown said. “There’s no guarantee we’ll find what we’re looking for but we like what we see so far.”
The company hopes to set up locally by the summer and begin drilling shortly after that. He wouldn’t say exactly where the company plans to drill for competitive reasons.
If significant oil or natural gas deposits are found it could lead to jobs and further investment, Brown said.
“We’re going to primarily be working with drilling contractors in Ontario. But as activity levels ramp up we’ll need operators and workers to maintain and monitor drilling.”
Mark Calzavara, a regional organizer for the Council of Canadians, said the drilling could pose an environmental threat to Lambton.
The hydraulic fracturing process can lead to ground water contamination with heavy metals and even radioactive materials drawn from the rock, he said.
“Fracking is very scary. It’s created a gold rush mentality amongst a lot of oil companies and it has a lot of deleterious effects on ground water.”
Calzavara said landowners who have signed agreements with the company should measure and test their well water before and during the work.
“Locally, you have to look at protecting your ground water because no one else will,” he said.
Brown defends the hydraulic fracturing process, saying it’s been in use in Canada in U.S. for years with few problems. The process he uses drills well below ground water supplies, leaving them untouched by gas and oil materials, he said.
“These concerns always come up,” he said. “But they always seem to be dealt with because there are, I would even suggest, zero incidences where it has caused a problem.”
Observer Article ID# 2507145
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