At least 328 residents from Premier Darrell Pasloski's Mountainview riding have signed a petition urging the government to ban hydraulic fracturing and liquified natural gas (LNG) in the territory, says Julie Frisch.

Frisch is a member of the group Yukoners Concerned about Oil and Gas Exploration/Development.

The group has been collecting signatures over the past couple of weeks, continuing downtown today, before the petition is handed over to the NDP to be tabled in the legislature.

Frisch said the group wouldn't know the total number of signatures collected until later this afternoon.

The petition reads that the proposed switch from diesel back-up generation to LNG in the territory "ties Yukon to the pursuit of fossil fuels which leads to hydraulic fracturing in Yukon and to pollution of water, land and air resources which threatens healthy ecosystems.”

It continues to argue that the switch would delay the needed transition to renewable energy and exacerbate climate change.

The petition argues that the switch to LNG would not lead to long-term cost savings because more demand for LNG would cause the gas price to rise, which in turn would lead to fracking in the Yukon to secure local sources.

Fracking in the territory, it concludes, would lead to more pollution and undermine public social health and safety, tourism, and built infrastructure such as highways.

"Therefore, the undersigned ask the legislative assembly to urge the Government of Yukon to ban LNG use by Yukon's utilities for electricity generation or distribution,” it reads.

Frisch gathered signatures in Hillcrest, which falls within Paskloski's riding.

"I'm still going to go out in Hillcrest, even though we're handing them in, and hand out information because I haven't done even half of Hillcrest, so we haven't totally covered his riding yet,” she told the Star this morning.

Most people Firsch encountered said they don't have enough information to decide whether they're for or against hydraulic fracturing.

"It's come upon them so quickly, they don't know, a lot of people don't know the connection between liquefied natural gas and fracking, so a lot of people have asked for more information,” she said.

Yukoners Concerned's petition comes in reaction to Yukon Energy's proposal to build a $42-million LNG generating plant beside Robert Service Way.

The utility company says it needs to replace its 46-year-old diesel generators because they've become unreliable.

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) recommended approval of the project in its draft screening report, which was released March 19 for public review. The comment period for that report closed last week.

YESAB has not yet released its final decision. (See separate story, p. 5)

The Yukon Utilities Board, which has the authority to determine whether the cost of the project can be passed on to ratepayers, requested an extension of its mid-April deadline to report back to the government. The board now has until the end of May to reach its decision.

The premier was unavailable for comment on the petition this morning.