The Hunt for Fossil Fuel on Anticosti Island
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Anticosti is nestled in the heart of the St-Lawrence gulf but it’s on the front lines of a major environmental controversy. Despite Quebec’s commitment to lowering greenhouse gas emissions at the Paris Climate Change Conference, the province seems rather tempted by the estimated 246 billion cubic feet and 12.3 million barrels of oil that could be extracted each year from Anticosti.
Petrolia has already gotten the green light from the province to begin exploratory fracking in early 2016 to find out if Anticosti really is as lucrative as estimates suggest. Some of the island’s 200 residents are apprehensive that the thousands of wells will destroy their island, but with mounting unemployment and few prospects, many locals see the shale gas and oil project as their only option.
Meanwhile, 200,000 deer are freely wandering the island and adding another layer of complexity to Anticosti’s ecosystem, making it a unique hunting ground in North America. VICE traveled to some of the most isolated drilling sites in Quebec to spend time with locals and find out how promises of gas and glory are affecting the tiny, hunting-based community.
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Anticosti island is so beautiful. The national Anticosti park is truly a gem.
I really like the kind of content that vice has been releasing recently, short, informative, showing multiple points of view...
The very diverse spectrum of subjects and opinions always amazes me, and I really respect your ability to keep a fairly objective stance on things without lessening the relevance of the opinions of those represented
Thanks vice, keep it up
Still extremely biaised
+QuicheDude yes very
+QuicheDude I"m sorry does the truth not support your worldview? Sorry if facts are biased
+QuicheDude Well, maybe it is, but I don't see anybody do an unbiased inquiery. Nobody is unbiased. The 'institution' Vice brings new and interesting subjects to the table.
+Ben Schenten that's the best thing about vice , they almost always show all perspectives
I though I spoke and understood French... And then I watched this.
+Olcay it's the weird backwoods accent. There's plenty of quebecers that are comprehensive but they have a really weird tempo.
+Olcay they don't speak it that bad they just have a "country ish " accent since they live in a remote location.
French is different everywhere you go, this is a harsh Québécois accent, more of a people's talk if you will. If you learned French as a second language, then you were probably taught a type of "universal French". It's just like the difference between English from England and English from Scotland, it's all English but it's different, just like French from all places.
+Olcay it's like the alabama drawl of the french language.
+ReverseVitiligo so its basically similar to us southerners in the us?
i've never been taught to shot a deer in the head. You shot it in the shoulder or just behind the shoulder. That's where the heart and lungs are. Aiming for the head is gruesome and increases your chance of missing
+chaosXP3RT Maybe bad translation ? He did get it in the chest
+chaosXP3RT it was bad translated, I speak french (Quebec) and the hunter said: "don't shot it in the head".
+chaosXP3RT I've hunted on Anticosti this summer. Yes, it's better to shoot in the shoulder in general when you're doing big game hunting, but there's so many deers on the island that you're encourage to aim for the head. It practices your accuracy. If you miss, well ... you'll see another deer in the next 15 minutes :P
+chaosXP3RT when you shoot it in the head you cant mount it on your wall and brag about it to the boys when they're over drinkin'
usually people only shoot does in the head
19:51 Yeah the truth hurts. I appreciate that guy cutting through the politics and telling it like it is.
when we have caught the last fish, chopped down the last tree, and poisoned the last river, only then we we realize we can not eat money.
What do you power your computer and your phone with? Hopes and fucking dreams? Want to make wind energy a more viable solution? You're gonna have to blow a lot harder. Stop bitching and be part of the solution.
If you think Quebecois is hard to understand, try Cajun.
***** Oh i thought Cajun was like 17th century style French.
***** Ah okay that makes sense considering the area. Maybe i'm wrong but i thought Gaelic heavily influenced the language in New Brunswick, considering all the Irish and Scottish immigration.
+fengkorberfer The Cajuns are really Acadians from Acadia (now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), not far from this island. So there are probably more similarities than you would think.
Brad Johnson Mm, interesting indeed.
Some countries have Tea Time, others a Coffee Break. Maybe even Siesta. Canada has: Cigarette.
+Dean Fuller Smoke Break!!!
+Dean Fuller There are smokers everywhere in the world.
+Dean Fuller you have never been to france haven't you !
I've heard some amazing hunting stories about anticosti island from local people I've met . Definitely a shame to see that ecosystem slowly diminish . I need to plan a hunting trip there to enjoy it while it lasts . thanks vice , I had not a clue of its current state .
I think some viewers misunderstand the 'like' system on UA-cam, especially when it comes to news reports. The 'like' and 'dislike' bar, in the case of a news channel, is for you to judge the QAULITY of the content not whether you agree with WHAT's being reported. Your opinions on fracking shouldn't determine whether you 'like' or 'dislike'. It just makes Vice look bad (sometimes they ACTUALLY deserve to be hated on for terrible reporting) when they have effectively reported on an interesting story.
Oil is at at Cdn $37.64 and there are thousands of people laid off in Alberta but they still want to go ahead with frakking on this island?
+crankysmurf ofc, the owner's get more rich.. that's what they want
+crankysmurf We are in a crisis. Like is 2001 and 2008. In 2017-2018 petrol will be $$$$$$$$ again.
Antoine Gagnon OPEC refused again to decrease production in order to drive down the price of oil despite the glut of oil in storage.
www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/07/opec-plan-kill-us-shale-oil-price-down-seven-year-low
I know
+crankysmurf apples and oranges. fracking is for natural gas (shale oil). oil sands are for crude oil.
Fuck that oil things. This island looks gorgeous with nature right at it's place!
"If I'm speaking for myself, yes." This got me... Fuck the environment, animals, plants and next generations...
god damn i love hearing that quebec french accent, makes me miss the place
Good job presenting both sides here Vice, really enjoyed this one.
Vice ahead of their time. If you look back on everything. Especially this. Need a follow up.
C'est un bon reportage et ca fait honneur a la section Québec de VICE. Keep it up!
hey bud, enlighten me how your truck works?
What else is he supposed to drive???? A smart car??? Ha
boom bob you are to simple minded to understand that comment. Whining about fracking, yet you need oil and gas. and they always restore the areas that fracked in goof
+45Boobie45 they do not always restore areas they frack in that's the whole point
The problem here is not that they are drillig for oil or gas. It's the fact that they are doing so on a preserved island that has been so for the last century. They are not planning to restore the drilling areas afterward, that's the problem
+45Boobie45 Yeah hey, you need your soylent green, who cares how it's made.
Michael Cera's twin at a distance.
Ça serait vraiment le fun de ne pas avoir de hard subtitles ...
DRILL BABY DRILL BABY! I have spent a week there. It is beautiful and amazing and it will continue to be.
The point the guy makes about all the money that was used for exploration instead being used to promote tourism, hunting and fishing is so true. Anticosti could have a hunting resort with that deer population. But instead they fund short-sighted oil development projects that are unsustainable for the quick economic gain. The government is supposed to help their citizens not exploit their dying communities.
+Evan Whalen Did you miss the part about the decline in the economy starting in the 80's, and the only new money being invested coming from oil companies? Really, I'm not for fracking, but if it weren't for natural gas/oil, this town will soon be gone...
+bludmakesgrassgrow Vice did a good job, there is no right answer here.
+Evan Whalen they do have hunting tourism . do you even know how much money it costs to go hunt there ? lol there are bucks like that everywhere in quebec . hunting there isnt even a sport , they are everywere . close your eyes for 10 mins and i garantee when you open them there is gonna be a nice one right there to shoot . wheres the fun in that
great reporting
The guy on the cover photo looks like daniel tosh from tosh.o haha
Saw the thumbnail and thought, this is exactly how Jed Clampett made his fortune.
I need to go hunting there. Bucks must be huge
Any updates on this?
land reclamation is easy, I did it for years, ten years and you would never know anyone was there.a couple weeks of work and the rest is growing time.
C'EST LE FUN
"C'EST FUCKÉE" 😂
I've always been intruiged by Anticosti island for some reason...
good show
How do you think you think the truck you drove run ? Fraking NIMB syndrome...
I can't believe they can just walk onto the drilling site. This is a very dangerous security issue i hope the company will correct. These journalists need to be sued for trespassing.
The scare tactics about fracking are sad to me. If done properly, there is no harm from fracking. There is a lot of miss-information and insinuation without any facts in this video.
I don't know where you are taking your "no harm from fracking", but I feel like "if done properly" is a very big "if" considering what we've seen before from oil companies.
I want to live in the forest and live with the friendly animals for like a month.
Quote: "There are risks in everything: No matter what you do, when you go to bed, you don't know if your house is going to burn down. If they do fracking, is something going to happen? We will just cross our fingers and hope nothing will go wrong." - That about sums up the level of IQ.
Considering the current price of fuel they may wish to wait
I don't see them walking to the site. Where did that camera come from, never mind their pants boots, glasses, etc.
That is a gorgeous island... Damn
Will we have another incident on the same scale as the BP incident in the Gulf of Mexico? Better not.
It's disheartening to hear that the only way to bring people and money back into the islands community and economy is to have an oil company take a stagnant resource from the land that hasn't even been confirmed yet for disposable income and a giant ecological scar on and below the islands surface... I sincerely hope the fracking doesn't crack off into fresh water pools, let alone the ocean, but that's a big hope to hope for unfortunately. There are a lot of inland water sources from what I can see on google maps which could potentially be affected by it... If I was a resident on that island I would feel like the province of Quebec has abandoned the islands people for the sole purpose of profit... The money isn't going to go back into the island, it's going back into the province of Quebec, and Anticosti is just a small part of the bigger picture when it comes to corporate plans... It's shit like this that makes it hard to be optimistic, it's like having a bag of shit placed on your doorstep each and every morning to remind you that you're part of a race that continues to find new ways to destroy for a piece of paper with no actual value... Whoop-dee-fucking-doo, hurray for debt, hurray for printed money with no value, hurrah hurray. Fucking race of idiots.
Didn't know Ryan Sheckler was a french Canadian
5:20 - Albert Einstein really cares
lol that quebec accented french is hilarious
+The Valiancy of crows than you speak wrong.
+samsa deniz In fact we speak the real french, the one that was use 350 years ago.
+kamyl chekired exactly people in France are the ones who need to change the way they speak not us
+Oskar Von Reuenthal Fuck you, how would you feel if i insulted the nature of your existance, the way you communicate, what differenciates you from the rest of the world, that gives specificity to the environment that you grew up in?
If you say that its broken, that is an incredibly harsh insult.
Yeah of course. Insulting a nation is clearly ok, and not a big deal. Sorry to offend you. Carry on.
The reporter looks like Michael Cera
Complaining about oil and gas while using oil and gas, its very ironic. Its like an article in a newspaper protesting deforestation.
never understand shooting fawns. find the big boys and let the little ones grow up and have a life
Okay so everyone move to the mainland and give that island back to nature. It's not like there isn't plenty of room in Canada for them. It's more important to preserve that area than to destroy a complete habitat just so that 200 people can make a living in an area they don't HAVE to live.
I live in the Eagle Ford Shale and trust me it is not worth it to have fracking being done in your back yard.
What the hell does shooting a deer have to do with fossil fuel!!
now im trying to figure out how to get up there to go hunting...
+Alex Labonville tabarnac!!
Very interesting. in all honesty i did not even know the island of anticosti existed. I took a Canadian geography class last semester and we examined pretty much every province and their components, although, the island of anticosti never popped up, which makes me wonder how many people are even aware of this; good we got vice. I would not be surprised if the government in Quebec keeps this to a low, suppressing the people in the island and keeping minimum coverage on the issue.
indeed very sad to see for all residents and the island it self.
I know that your comment is 6 yeat old, but everyone in Québec was aware of this and the projects were all cancelled in 2017 (meaning a few months after this video)
6:56 - Eagle Fffferd
Why would he take a head shot that's just stupid
I didn't know they speaked Spanish in Canada.
+Derp DeDerp speaked.
this is Quebec in Canada they speak French.
I can understand why you thought it was Spanish though both languages come from latin
What is the profession of this gentleman activist? I have gotten in and have a feeling this is gasland junior. It is interesting to see people demanding an end to conservationism and to hear the strident calls for humanity to throw in their cards with radical preservationism. OOoohhhh, grave musique!
LOL. He thinks they're gonna use actual barrels to transport the oil.
If he only hit the ashes off the cig the casings wouldn't have fallen haha he's hitting the board
Good place to go during a zombie apocalypse. Too bad I live in europe
Enjoy -9c from December to march
This episode has been sponsored by saudi arabia who want everyone to protest that western countries are no longer reliant on their oil.
it's "Anticosti" , not "Syckscoskee"
I'm not saying that destroying the environment is right because its NOT! But it seems people tend to care more about animals than people these days, like abortion is a woman's choice but its wrong to hunt, or ISIS isn't a problem but climate change is... this is stupid.
+David Miller Damn your logic is flawed
Reinis Miks Explain
+David Miller The taco girl said it best: Why not both?
+Brandon Poirier-Blair Agenda, pure Agenda, that's why Michael Brown and Eric Gardner got attention and Gibert Collard and Dillan Taylor didn't. that's why Christians saying Homosexuality's wrong gets attention but Islam actually killing gays doesn't. Or how George Bush gets blamed for imperialism but Barrack and Hillary don't. If it doesn't fit the agenda then you won't hear about it from local news.
David Miller
Wait a sec buddy get off your high horses and tell me how exactly this affects the world population's views on animal/human rights.
Poor thing...
I think both of those guys at the end are somewhat right, this will destroy their island and at the same time no one gave a shit in the past about the economy on the island and the infrastructure itself.
However if the global economy goes to shit even further then without that whole fracking business in place they will still have wood to burn and warm their homes with, deer to eat, fist to eat, clean water to drink, nature to enjoy while with the fracking they will not be able to ultimately rely on that because those things will slowly go away - there will still be deer or fish but maybe not as healthy, not as many, there will still be water but it won't be as clean and all around one will see a post modernist mess of ugly machines rather than simply nature.
And again it all may fail anyway due to circumstances outside of the island just like it happened with the auto industry in detroit.
You could live on that island and with just an internet connection be a translator, produce content for the web, work in IT, be a writer, sculptor, painter, photographer, you could be an artisan carpenter or an instrument luthier and sell your wares all over the world... so much space there for a workshop of any kind.
I can't see how a few years of cash injection from petrochemical industry could help at all if not only to afford the people on the island to just pack up and move away which is probably what some of the people who support the fracking are probably secretly hoping to do while claiming that it's all good for the community.
You can't have your cookie and eat it too but I think this is exactly what that young good aim guy is hoping for since he wants an easier life but also the freedom of living in such a place.
I get that he wants a different life but then he should just move away - simple as that - living on a remote island is not for everyone - I suspect his struggle is between the values of his family which he wishes to keep and his desire to have a different life but that is practically a trope of a typical story about a remote beautifull place fucked over by big industry fooling the locals with lies and promises.
I see signs of lunacy in anyone that loves oil and money. They look unhinged. "Sure it could kill us all and blows up a ton. But hey Money! MONEY!"
Sink intecosti island in water....
Sheryaar water engineer....
Ali.
Baba Asalaaat Khan ❤️
5:20 Albert Einstein??
only one road , southpark hhh
Antic-esti
Hydraulic fracturing is the future
so is toxic water if we keep it up
+Mogunsforme it's actually pretty safe
+Alec Schmutte not necessarily. do you use mainstream or non mainstream media?
+Mogunsforme bro you're so hipster and in touch!! I bet you don't use mainstream like a badass! The matter of the fact is, it produces less than half of the greenhouse gasses that burning coal produces
I would have loved to hunt Anticosti..but having the chance a shot goes and blows an oil rig up? Nah I'll go somewhere else in Canada.
i have hunted anticosti three times including just three months ago. ITS STILL the best place to hunt deer. The island is still pristine and HUGE. if you get the chance go YOU WILL NEVER forget your trip.
All oil projects were cancelled in 2017 if you're still interested, so there's no chance for your comment to become reality
He just told him he hopes he doesnt have bambi feaver or something then he goes and tells him to shoot a bambi? lmao wtf is this
I just discovered this island.... and already I see the oil companies want to mess it up, ffs. Ya sure, some people make a living from this, but why does everything have to be polluted so you can drive around in a F350, with dead baby seals in the bed?
The arguments made for fracking seem very short-sighted and ill-informed, sadly.
+Kevin Ste-Marie Many of the arguments against it are based on hysteria, not science.
+Kevin Ste-Marie well how ill-informed is humanity when it comes to hydrogen cars which needs only water to run?
The governments got people to believe the governments are saving the planet now..
so people continue to destroy Earth by eating animals and burning fossile fuels.. while lookin for politicians to clean up their mess..
unfortunaly the politicians just wants as many people as possible to kill themselves.. just like they wrote on the Georgia Guidestones.
Politicians knows it's game over for them and most of humanity who has stopped evolving.
Indigoes Moroot™ Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen takes a lot of energy - hydrogen fuel cells aren't as eco friendly as you think.
sanforce
talkin about your belifs like you know that your belifs is the truth..
is the worst threat to real knowledge that ever existed..
since as long as your belif is what your reality is about then you won't ever look at the real reality.
So now you run around retelling lies that the gasindustry has made up so they can kill off the rest of the population on Earth..
good luck but you are only killing yourself with ignorance.
Indigoes Moroot™ hah, if you say so.
Why the hell are is he wearing bright clothes When hunting dear he Will get spotted And spook the dear!
Holy fn shit that guy can shoot
Start drilling baby. People need work
and a shorter life span due to contaminated water!
+Mogunsforme Well, boohoo. Enough water melting on the poles, get there and catch it.
Yeah. Work for about a year for people not even from the area.
@@Mp57navy Yeah just get water from somewhere thousands of kilometres away
Man Canada's really into destroying some of the best land for wildlife in the whole country lol. Good work?
Barely interresting, as it's nothing new and happens all over the world. Watch Discovery Channel for a bit and you'll see enough series based on the same shit.
nah! don't kill the fuckin deers man.
get money or pollute earth?
think anyone this far north speaks Spanish?
+Don L man I hope you are a troll or you are a straight up dumb ass
free Bethlehem been on the internet too long? sounds like it... It's a serious question.
+Don L Well I understand how she can sound spanish because she's speaking French but with a strong spanish accent.
Maxime Poulin man he's trolling
Maxime Poulin what are you talking about?
hunting: sad sad
hydraulic fracturing is killing the environment as a whole.. it's just not worth it
Sheep
66 view
Omg
the language these people speak is bastardized french. I find it hard to understand it. they should start to learn french.
+samsa deniz Sure, every francophone speaks the same way, right? So you'd say that wallons speak incorrect french as well? Or that marseillais do? They all have their own specific accents. I dont know how you could say that an accent is wrong or right in the context of an international language.
Thats specifically the problem with the french mentality. Everything has to be unified. Diversity is no option. You see where the english got it right with how they treated the diversity withing their empire, and how they applied it to their ideology and political ideals. And you can also see how this "intransigeant" french attitude secluded them and precepited their downfall.
The problems theyve had with immigration and social climate are directly linked to this attitude of " this is not the "real" french " when discussing their fellow francophones. French used to be the language of the world, and now it is decaying in its importance. England, on the other hand, doesnt have that dogmatic accent logic, and its language has thrived and has easily surpassed french to become the major language of the world.
Bref, mange d'la marde! ;)
Hhhmmm, let's see. How do you expect Canadians to heat their homes in winter? You can't heat your home with Solar or Wind Power. That leaves wood and fossil fuels. Oh wait, there's also peat moss. Don't forget that. Aaaaaaaand then there's Pixie Dust which is renewable and infinitely efficient. As long as no Pixies are harmed during Pixie Dust harvest then we should all be for it!
;-)
+darkmath100 you can use wind or solar.... Germany uses solar and they're even further north than canada. Wind is also just as feasable... Read a book.
brendan Ladd Please explain how you can heat your house efficiently with Electricity.
+darkmath100 assuming you mean solar or wind electricity. I never said it was efficient, but If you made wind farms or solar farms like we do in New Jersey, or like they do in Germany, It doesn't have feel cluttered with panels or turbines. Coal is almost as inefficient, it's just whether you care about CO2 and global warming over some space on your property. And if that's something that concerns you, hopefully Canada can get some green energy farms going for you.
brendan Ladd I stopped reading at: "I never said it was efficient".....Don't waste my time.
+darkmath100 then you missed an important point bud.. Coal isn't efficient either. Being pretentious won't take you far.
third
friggin french
Team french!!
This channel fell off.
First!!
Early
Late
They speak French so badly, why bother?
amen !