Corridor Resources hopes fracking moratorium will be short-lived
New president and CEO Steve Moran hopes Liberals will lift restrictions on fracking in about one year
The new head of Corridor Resources Inc. says he is waiting for more information about premier-designate Brian Gallant's plan for a moratorium on fracking, but he hopes it will be short-lived.
"But what that means, and the scale and scope of that, we hope it's something that we can ultimately work with."
Moran says his company has a good environmental record and the industry is well regulated, so he hopes to convince the Liberals to lift the moratorium in about a year.
He wants a chance to prove to the province that the industry is safe and worth the investment, he said.
Corridor Resources has invested half a billion dollars in New Brunswick in the last 10 years, including $25 million last summer, said Moran.
Moratorium is not a ban
But Gallant is still talking tough about a moratorium.
“Our resolve to have a moratorium on hydraulic fracking is still there and we still have preoccupations, as do many New Brunswickers, when it comes to hydraulic fracking and the risk it can do to our water, our environment and our health,” Gallant told reporters on Sept. 24.
Moran notes a moratorium is not a ban.
“The premier-[designate] has made a promise to study the situation. He hasn't gone any further than that. He hasn't threatened a complete shutdown of the industry," he said.
Moran hopes to meet with Gallant and address any "preoccupations."
“Certainly we can work with the government and we're hoping that any restrictions that they put in place will be, in the grand scheme of things, relatively short-term.”