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Town pleased with Province's swift reaction a natural gas deposit was struck in the Maple Grove Drive/Lakeshore Road area during this type of drilling on April 19. This disturbed pocket of gas leaked into a home about 100 metres away. When the homeowner noticed the sump pump bubbling like a milkshake, Union Gas and the Oakville Fire Department were notified. It led to a frenzied search by the fire department and Union Gas for the source of the gas leak. The borehole was eventually discovered and potential disaster averted. In the aftermath, Oakville Fire Chief Lee Grant said the development of new techniques for installing geothermal energy systems, particularly vertical drilling had created a regulatory gap in Ontario. Grant said that while there are regulations and safety protocols concerning drilling for oil, natural gas or a well, there are none for digging a deep hole for any other purpose. The provincial government move to close that gap was Continued from page 1 3 · Thursday, May 24, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com applauded this week by Oakville's public servants. "Oakville council is pleased that Minister (Jim) Bradley and the McGuinty government have listened to our concerns and the concerns of The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs in acting to strengthen the requirements on borehole drilling for geothermal energy installations," said Burton. "The Town supports the Province's commitment to promote renewable energy sources in a way that protects the health and safety of our community." Flynn agreed. "It makes a lot of sense obviously given the circumstances. I'll be the first to admit I had no idea there was natural gas under Oakville. With that knowledge in hand it would only make sense if you took a look to see if there was a need for regulation. "In this case, with the circumstances in Oakville, the evidence is quite clear there is a need for regulation," the MPP said. Ted Kantrowitz, vice president of the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC), said his organiPartial Delivery: "Oakville council is pleased Minister (Jim) Bradley and the McGuinty government have listened to our concerns and the concerns of The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs in acting to strengthen the requirements on borehole drilling for geothermal energy installations." Mayor Rob Burton zation is urging its industry to review the new requirements and to take full responsibility to implement them immediately on all job sites. Kantrowitz said clarification is needed with regard to who the new regulations will apply to. "As we said earlier, it is clear this was not a geothermal-specific incident, but could have happened with any non-petroleum driller engaged in drilling a shallow borehole in the area. "This includes water-well drilling, foundation pile drilling, routine construction drilling, test hole or other types of exploratory drilling, all of which are equally routine in Ontario. "CGC has records of thousands of geothermal boreholes in Ontario as of this writing; there are tens of thousands of other types of shallow boreholes throughout the province," wrote Kantrowitz in an e-mail. "As gas pockets may be found across southern Ontario, and are already anticipated in drilling industry best practice as well as existing regulation, we at CGC will specifically seek clarification regarding whether all Ontario drillers who drill shallow boreholes in southern Ontario will now be required to enforce this temporary regulation -- i.e. hiring geotechnical engineers for construction drilling approvals -- as we would expect. Given the Town and the Province's quick and severe reaction on this, I have to believe that these other drillers are just as much in danger of finding natural gas unexpectedly even though they execute due diligence as our geothermal driller did." Kantrowitz said the CGC would publicize the new regulations to more than 4,000 Ontario stakeholders on its mailing lists. The Ontario Ground Water Association (OGWA) supported Burton's concerns about drilling of vertical boreholes for geothermal heating systems. The organization issued a statement after the incident in Oakville resulted in the evacuation of a home near the drilling site. The OGWA called for regulation. The Ministry of the Environment will consult with industry stakeholders in the coming months on the new regulations and will also be conducting inspections to ensure installers are meeting safety standards. 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