The Hunt for Fossil Fuel on Anticosti Island

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. Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE WATCH NEXT - Meeting the Bros of Fracking: http://bit.ly/1XW29YJ Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideos Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our Tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice Check out our Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/vicemag