Gas exploration company quits N.B. town

A company searching for oil and natural gas in southeastern New Brunswick is abandoning plans to test for deposits within Sackville's town limits.

Town councillors voted in July to ban seismic testing by PetroWorth Resources Inc., a Toronto-based company, because they believed testing and future drilling could affect town water.

Seismic testing uses sound waves from explosives or special equipment to examine the surrounding geography.

Last week, councillors reversed the decision after they learned an outright ban would force the company to drill on the outskirts of town, thereby excusing the company from monitoring water-quality changes in Sackville.

Because PetroWorth would not be on town property, well testing to compare water quality before and after the drilling was not mandatory. This would have made it harder to prove any changes in quality were caused by theseismic work.

The reversal prompted a letter-writing campaign by Sackville's large arts community.

Company loses interest

Company president Neal Mednick said Tuesday his company is no longer interested in searching for fuel deposits in Sackville.

"We feel that if something as innocuous as a seismic program is going to meet that kind of opposition, then God knows what's going to happen if we ever applied to drill," he said.

Mednick said his company isn't interested in developing wells in a community so opposed to the idea of drilling.

Testing will, however, continue in areas outside Sackville. The company is licensed by the province to explore for shale oil and gas in New Brunswick.

Coun.Virgil Hammock called the company's decision to pull out of Sackville avictory for the town.

"I think these companies and these people coming in here think that we're a bunch of small town rubes, and that it's easier to deal with us than it would be in a more sophisticated area," he said. "I think that's what their thinking is, and I think they're wrong."