LONGUEUIL - More than 200 people attended an environmental hearing in Longueuil Monday night to vent their concerns about controversial shale gas exploration in Quebec.
Protesters outside the meeting said the environmental risks outweigh the rewards of the potential moneymaker for the province.
It could cause unknown environmental damage said critic Gerard Montpetit.
"It has been compared to the tar sands of Alberta - in other words it takes a tremendous amount of energy to create a small amount of energy," he said.
Though the Quebec government said the gas will feed Quebec's future energy needs and will be better for the environment than using traditional forms of fuel, environmental activists say the process used to extract the gas, called fracking, uses large amounts of water.
Environmental group Equiterre is asking for a moratorium on shale gas exploration pending further research.
"There are so many things we don't know, so many things we don't understand. We're saying, 'Let's take a break here.' There's no rush, the gas is going to stay there, it's not going to go to Ontario or somewhere else, it's going to stay here - so let's take the time to understand this better," said Equiterre co-founder Steven Guilbeault.
Others, like the conseil du patronat du Quebec's Yves-Thomas Dorval, support exploration.
"We believe that based on the information we have, we will be able to produce the gas in a safe way with all the measures that have to be appropriate," said Dorval.
The panel listened as citizens posed questions and raised concerns about why the exploration needs to take place before studies are completed.
The next public hearing is set for Monday in Becancour, near Trois Rivieres. Becancour sits on the Utica shale, a large shale deposit where exploratory digging has begun as several companies have shown interest in mining for shale gas.
