The environmental review hearings on EnCana’s drilling proposal started in Calgary on Monday Oct 6. You can listen to a recording or read the transcripts

Our coalition’s lawyer, Jennifer Klimek, is doing a great job cross-examining EnCana’s panel of experts on the details of, among other things, how EnCana did the environmental assessment without actually doing any field surveys…hmmm…

I think the highlight so far has been a comment by one of EnCana’s experts that the small-flowered sand verbena, a federally listed species at risk that lives in Suffield, is considered ugly in California…I beg to differ: it’s no rose, but it’s very pretty, I think. See for yourself.

Oh, and by the way, there was a blowout in one of EnCana’s wells in Suffield last week–all appears to be under control and fortunately it was not a well in the NWA. This time. The fact that these kinds of accidents do happen (like the 300 plus bird deaths from a spill about a month ago) is one of many reasons more wells should not be allowed in the wildlife refuge.

Stay tuned…