VANCOUVER -- Anti-fracking protesters briefly set up a mock rig at Premier Christy Clark’s Mount Pleasant home Sunday morning, saying they wanted to bring the controversial extraction process from the hinterland to her front lawn.

Activists with Rising Tide Vancouver Coast Salish Territories set up the three-metre PVC-pipe structure on the lawn at 10 a.m. and were quickly escorted off 15 minutes later by police. The small group promised more protests across British Columbia as Clark embarks on an East Asian trade mission later this month — part of her government’s pursuit of a massive expansion of the province’s LNG industry.

“How does she justify going on other people’s property and doing the same thing?” said Rising Tide’s Teresa Diewert, noting an ongoing protest from members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to an LNG pipeline near Kitimat. “If you look at the hydraulic fracturing all over North America it’s absolutely destroying the water and B.C. is one of the last places that good water is still available and we feel like we can stop it.”

Maryam Adrangi of the Council of Canadians, said there are already more than 23,000 fracking wells operating in northern British Columbia.

Opponents of shale gas extraction say the method of injecting high-pressure water into the ground to shatter rock and release the gas contaminates drinking water and causes other environmental problems, including increased greenhouse gas emissions and earthquakes.

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission says its rules are designed to ensure water used in the fracking process never comes into contact with the environment, including groundwater aquifers, during storage, fracturing or disposal. Key rules include strict requirements to use metal casing (pipe), and cementing around the casing to make sure fracking fluid is isolated from groundwater reservoirs.

The commission has noted that most fracking takes place kilometres below drinking water aquifers, which are generally 18 to 150 metres below the surface, and there have not been any incidents of aquifer contamination in British Columbia.

“No one should have to face the impacts of fracking, which include having all of their freshwater being used by industry and for corporate profit and then having unidentified, toxic chemicals put back into the water cycle,’’ Adrangi said.

Clark was reportedly in her house, but did not talk to the protesters.

The premier meets Tuesday with Alberta Premier Alison Redford to discuss Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

Last month, Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman spent 12 days in China, South Korea and Malaysia, where he met with eight companies interested in the province’s nascent LNG industry. Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company announced last month that it will invest $36 billion in an LNG plant and pipeline proposed for Prince Rupert.

It is estimated that B.C. has 1,400 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — enough to support production and LNG exports for more than 80 years, according to the province. There are at least 10 LNG projects proposed in the province, three of which already have approved export licenses from the National Energy Board.

Clark has said the industry could be worth a total of $1 trillion by 2046, and could create more than 100,000 jobs in the province.

Sunday’s protest was brief, but an LNG protest in New Brunswick last month erupted in a violent clash between aboriginal protesters and police.

mhager@postmedia.com

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