The revelation that the Liard Basin, which cuts across the Yukon’s southeast corner, is Canada’s second-largest shale gas resource is not cause for celebration, critics say.

“We’re skeptical of the enthusiasm,” NDP Leader Liz Hanson said in an interview Thursday.

“Echoing what citizens are saying, given climate change, it’s time to move toward renewable energy.”

According to a joint assessment conducted by the National Energy Board and agencies from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and British Columbia released Monday, the Liard Basin contains an estimated 219 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of “marketable, unconventional natural gas.”

To put this in perspective, Canada used 3.2 Tcf of natural gas in 2014.

Chemically, shale gas and “conventional” natural gas are the same.

However, unlike oil and natural gas, which flow freely and collect in pools underground, shale gas is contained in tiny pores inside fine-grained rock and does not move easily into wells.

Shale gas is considered “unconventional” because extracting it requires a controversial technology: hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

Fracking is a process by which large amounts of water mixed with chemicals are pumped deep into the ground at a high pressure, fracturing the surrounding rock to stimulate the flow of natural gas.

“Hydraulic fracturing uses tremendous amounts of water – astronomical amounts of water, and creates tremendous amounts of waste,” said Sebastian Jones, an energy analyst with the Yukon Conservation Society.

“There is no end of negative consequences: aquifer pollution (the contamination of an underground water source), induced earthquakes.”

Jones noted that there is “massive opposition” to fracking in the Yukon, and that “every First Nation in Yukon has come down against fracking.”

A natural gas processing plant at the Kotaneelee gas field, located in the Yukon portion of the Liard Basin, began operations in 1979, but has laid dormant since 2012. A pipeline links the plant to Fort Nelson, B.C.

The Kotaneelee Gas Project generated $45.4 million in royalties for the territory between 1993 and 2012, according to government records.

Production peaked in 1999, when 22 billion cubic feet of gas was processed, producing a little over $10 million in royalties, according to government records.

After 2012, the gas supply petered off and extraction was no longer cost-effective.

EFLO Energy Yukon Ltd., which owns the Kotaneelee gas plant, made an application to resume gas extraction at Kotaneelee in 2014.

But opponents to gas developments at Liard say it’s about more than just fracking.

“If we (Canadians) have any hope of meeting climate change goals, there can be no new developments,” said Jones.

At December’s climate conference in Paris, Catherine McKenna, the minister of Environment and Climate Change, supported a goal to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees.

To achieve the goal endorsed by the federal government, Jones said, “it is illogical to develop new fossil fuels.”

“The Yukon goverment is very quick to jump to the conclusion that this is going to be a boom commodity, dreams that this government seems to hitch its wagon to,” said Hanson.

“To believe this is going to be a miracle is somewhat misguided.”

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Scott Kent could not be reached for comment for this story.

When the study was released earlier this week, Kent said in a statement: “This resource assessment is an important step in fulfilling the Government of Yukon’s commitment to increase its knowledge and understanding of Yukon’s shale gas potential.

“With a limited land base available for oil and gas development, this assessment demonstrates the enormous energy potential in southeast Yukon.”