A series of earthquakes, confirmed triggered by hydraulic fracking, have led to a set of calves to be born premature at the Dead Horse Creek Cattle Ranch near Wonowon.
According to rancher and paralympian Robert “Bo” Hedges, the tremors have become more frequent and intense.
“It’s continuously been getting worse and more frequent to this point where we’re at now,” Hedges told CJDC-TV.
The calves were birthed right after last week’s earthquakes, according to Hedges, who also says his run was left shaken and a natural water spring used for livestock and drinking water has been reduced to nothing more than a trickle.
“The next basically two and a half, three days, all of them are kind of on edge, which probably led to the more calves coming out in the end,” he said.
Hedges says that while the calves require a bit more attention, they are safe, as calving season continues on the ranch.
Hedges criticized the BC Energy Regulator (BCER) for downplaying the recent quakes despite years of reported tremors, accusing the agency of lacking transparency and having a ‘reactionary’ approach.
“There needs to be more of a proactive monitoring and regulation around it,” said Hedges.
In response to the increasing seismic activity, the BCER released a technical update announcing steps to strengthen oversight of seismic activity in Northeast BC.
Special Project Orders will now mandate the suspension of energy operations immediately after a magnitude three or higher quake hits the Farmington area. Operations in the greater Wonowon-Pink Mountain region will be suspended after a quake of magnitude 4.0 or higher.
“The Orders place additional requirements on permit holders conducting fluid injection activities in those regions,” said the BCER.
Earthquakes Canada reported two earthquakes in Fort St. John less than two hours apart on February 11 and 12, hitting at a depth of five kilometres with magnitudes ranging from 3.8 to 4.3.
“It took something like that for them to finally implement something that they’ve been working on—or said they’ve been working on for quite some time,” explained Hedges.
The BCER confirmed to CJDC-TV that these quakes were caused by fracking from Tourmaline.
Hedges notes that fracking is now starting to consistently impact their lifestyle and ranching business that has a nearly 50-year history in the farming community.
Despite the situation, he does not hold it against the energy companies since they are operating within regulations.
There were no reports of damage according to Earthquakes Canada, but the ‘fracking frenzy’ shows no signs of slowing down.
“We’re going to have a company that’s going to frack within eyeshot distance of our ranch house, right across the valley here, come this summer at some point, so that’s very concerning to us as well,” said Hedges.
The BCER encourages residents who feel a seismic event to contact them with a date, time and location by email or calling their 24-hour emergency line at 1-877-500-2237.
The Northeast B.C. Seismicity Map shows events greater than local magnitude 1.5 that have occurred since 2014.