RCMP move in to enforce injunction against Rexton, N.B. shale gas protesters

REXTON, N.B.—The RCMP are enforcing a court injunction issued against shale gas protesters blocking a highway in eastern New Brunswick.

Const. Jullie Rogers-Marsh said Route 134 near Rexton is closed, as is a section of Highway 11 between Rexton and Sainte-Anne-de-Kent.

She said the Mounties moved in around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, but she couldn’t say how many officers were involved or how many protesters were at the site.

Here are the latest pictures of the action on Twitter

“To ensure public safety we have closed the road until it is resolved,” she said. “It’s still unfolding.”

Schools in the area were locked down as a result.

The injunction was granted earlier this month to end the blockade of a compound where energy company SWN Resources stores exploration equipment.

The RCMP blocked Route 134 on Sept. 29 after a protest began spilling onto the road. Protesters subsequently cut down trees across another part of the highway, blocking the entrance to the compound.

The protesters, who include members of the Elsipogtog (ell-see-book-took) First Nation, want SWN Resources to stop seismic testing and leave the province.

Last week, Premier David Alward and Chief Arren Sock agreed to set up a working group to find a resolution. Meetings were held in Fredericton and Moncton.

At the time, Alward said: “I can say that we have a consensus that we’re working towards finding a peaceful resolution and we will continue that work.”

He said the working group, which would include members from his government, Elsipogtog and the energy industry, was to begin its work immediately.

But Sock said there were still many details to be worked out.

Alward has stressed that he doesn’t have control over decisions of the RCMP and SWN Resources.

Assistant commissioner Roger Brown, the commanding officer for the RCMP in New Brunswick, said last week he was disappointed that discussions between the provincial government and the First Nation had failed to resolve the issue. At the time, Brown said the Mounties would take a measured approach to resolving the situation.

Opponents of the shale gas sector say the process used to extract the resource—hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking—could pollute drinking water. But proponents of the industry say such concerns are overblown and don’t take into account the possibility of replacing coal and oil with cleaner burning natural gas.