Second Level Assessment- Current Impacts
Mining Practices
Mining Practices
Oil and Natural Gas lease rights within the Anagance River watershed are currently registered to Headwater Exploration Inc (Government of New Brunswick 2024). Headwater Exploration is a Canadian company that operates in Alberta and New Brunswick. In 2013 seismic testing in New Brunswick by SWN Resources Inc. on Mi’kmaq traditional lands north of Moncton was halted following protests that became violent and attracted national media attention. SWN is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwestern Energy Company in the US (SWN 2015). On March 17th, 2015, SWN received an extension on its licenses which were due to expire (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2015). The former Liberal Provincial government enacted a moratorium on fracking operations (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2014), however the new Conservative Government led by Blaine Higgs has announced its intention to put an end to the moratorium and renew fracking in New Brunswick (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2018). If wells are eventually drilled in the Anagance River watershed, impacts will include freshwater extraction from streams, habitat destruction and sedimentation during road building, and the potential for wastewater spills contaminating surface waters.
