The government and opposition critics have responded to internal government documents — released accidentally last week — that suggest the territory plans to pursue hydraulic fracturing in the wake of a divided committee and inconclusive evidence on the controversial gas extraction method.

The Department of Energy, Mines and Resources sent Nancy Thomson of CBC Yukon the draft of a PowerPoint presentation — intended for the assistant deputy minister to deliver to caucus — and a speech bound for the minister’s desk.

The internal presentation discusses “moving forward” on “multi-stage horizontal fracking,” particularly in the Eagle Plain and Liard oil and gas basins.

The speech, ultimately intended for public ears, does not directly reference that prospect, however,

Caucus nor the minister had seen the internal briefing documents — a response to last January’s report by a select committee on fracking — when an Energy employee pressed send to the wrong email address last week.

The government sent out a press release Sunday — weekend releases are extremely rare — noting the leak was accidental and that the Energy department “regrets the error.

“The Yukon government acknowledges that this is an important issue for Yukoners and it is moving forward to complete an approved response to the suite of recommendations in the select committee’s report,” the release states.

NDP Leader Liz Hanson saw the documents lifting a curtain on back-room policy.

“It’s really clear that they’ve quietly been planning to bring fracking to the Yukon. It’s an open secret except with the Yukon public,” she said in an interview this morning.

Hanson added that while the drafts may not yet have been approved by higher-ups, a government department would not prepare documents of this sort “without having clear directions that’s what the minister and cabinet are wanting to consider.”

The PowerPoint presentation from March 4 states: “We can assure the public that we will proceed with caution and transparency to learn more about the risks and benefits of hydraulic fracturing in Yukon.”

In January, the select committee — composed of three government MLAs and three opposition MLAS — was divided on whether “social licence” was required before fracking could go ahead.

Sandy Silver, the Liberal leader who sat on the committee from its formation in May 2013, was unequivocal.

“Committee members heard overwhelmingly from Yukoners that the social licence for hydraulic fracturing is not there,” he said in a release today.

The Klondike MLA said the government is taking “great creative licence” by supposedly reading the select committee’s report as “implying support” because it does not ban fracking outright.

“The Yukon Party government is making it clear that they intend to go forward with hydraulic fracturing....I am disappointed by this decision, but not surprised.

“As with the Peel, the Yukon Party went through the motions and are now planning to do what they wanted to do from the beginning,” he added, echoing the NDP’s concerns.

The draft documents both argue that environmental protection and human safety are already considered in “robust, modern” legislation, like the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESAA).

The territorial government has proposed several changes to YESAA via a federal bill which may pass final reading this year.

Hanson said there was a “certain irony” in citing legislative safeguards that the government itself proposes to “erode.”

The changes would allow a federal or territorial minister to dictate policy to the independent assessment board and would institute end-to-end assessment timelines.

“There is no consensus on the safe way of doing fracking, nor is there any demonstration that there are any regulatory regimes in place in North America that have proven to be without challenges,” Hanson said.

Don Roberts, head of Yukoners Concerned About Oil and Gas Exploration/Development and a former health minister in the Liberal government, was taken aback at the PowerPoint presentation and speech drafts.

“It’s shocking. This whole thing is shocking,” he said today.

“They’re not listening to Yukoners and they’re disrespecting them. The honesty is not there at all.

“The Yukon Party wants to massage all of us into believing that fracking can be regulated.” he added.

The PowerPoint presentations state the territory will “work government to government with First Nations to determine what support might look like for any proposed oil and gas development projects that might arise in the future within their traditional territories.”

The select committee’s report, meanwhile, documents unanimous opposition to fracking by the Yukon First Nations who participated in the public hearings process and who supported an anti-fracking resolution passed unanimously by the Council of Yukon First Nations.

The committee also summarized gaps in knowledge and scientific understanding of hydraulic fracturing, as it heard over the last year during public hearings, community meetings and individual submissions.

“Impacts on groundwater quality are generally not predictable using established scientific analyses because such impacts would likely be gradual, over decades or longer,” states the final 25-page report from Jan. 19.

EFLO Energy is planning to restart production at one of two wells in the Kotaneelee gas field and test the other for future potential in a different geological zone.

The project description insists the work does not include hydraulic fracturing.

Some of the comments received, however, suggest the proposal involves work that is commonly used while conducting fracking.

The Liard First Nation has raised several concerns with the project, including the lack of an arrangement between the First Nation and EFLO that would ensure benefits flow to members of the Liard First Nation.

Liard is also concerned about the link to ongoing dependency on fossil fuels and the impact it is having on climate change which ultimately affects the environment.

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to release natural gas trapped within the shale rock.

Since 2011, several major studies have suggested that over its entire life cycle, shale gas production is dirtier than coal because of the oversized greenhouse gas footprint left by leaking methane.

Others argue that fracking is a much cleaner process than coal mining due to shale gas extraction’s lower CO2 emissions.

Fracking has proved one of the most controversial issues in local and global discussions around resource development, water contamination and climate change.

Last September, Nova Scotia announced it would ban hydraulic fracturing techniques in the province. The Energy minister cited numerous uncertainties around health and environmental impacts listed in a report by an expert panel.

France and Bulgaria, which have the largest shale-gas reserves in Europe, have outlawed fracking.

The select committee was established by the Yukon Legislative Assembly on May 6, 2013.

Members included Yukon Party MLAs Patti McLeod (chair), Currie Dixon and Darius Elias, NDP MLAs Lois Moorcroft (vice-chair) and Jim Tredger, and Silver.

The committee held 13 community hearings across the territory, more than 40 committee meetings, four days of public proceedings featuring presentations by energy interests and environmental authorities, and received 435 written submissions.