So a few folk at the weekend asked me whats the deal about this whole fracking thing anyway, so here for your light reading pleasure is what I have learned in my own words over the last few months and at the excellent Friends of the Earth workshop at the weekend...I thought it might be helpful to post here with a view to folks sharing elsewhere; Fracking relates to the onshore extraction of unconventional gas. It has been heralded by the Gov and Corporations as the solution to our reliance on foreign imports of gas and a clean fossil fuel. Opponents state that there are catastrophic environmental and health implications! The word fracking is shorthand and used interchangeably for shale gas (deep underground) and coal bed methane (just under the surface). Shale gas requires a deep well to be drilled and gas released by forcing in water, chemicals and sand to open up fissures in rock and release gas CBM (coal bed methane) is the licensing that companies have been encouraged to apply in Scotland (by the Westminster Gov), across the Central Belt in its entirety, yes including under your house in Edinburgh, through to E.Lothian, Fife, Angus, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway CBD is not technically fracking (or so the companies would have us believe), but importantly uses fracking technology, eg wells and chemically laden water to drill and relies on depressurising coal seams (extracting water) to release gas. Unlike shale gas this is close to the surface, eg people, livestock, arable land and water courses...there is still the issue of what to do with the cocktail of chemicals and radioactive water, partly man-made and partly found naturally (in unsafe quantities) in the rock! Why the sudden interest in fracking? The US has seen a huge sudden economic boom from fracking rather than relying on unstable oil supplies from half way round the world. Last Dec Westminster via House of Lords removed energy powers held by Scottish Gov to oppose fracking & reduce their ability to push the renewable agenda, whilst offering fracking companies incl the likes of Sir Ian Wood (remember him, the oil baron who suddenly changed his tune about how much oil was in the North Sea during the indy ref) tax breaks to frack, encouraging a rush of applications for licenses..in you guessed it...Scotland, including Loch Lomond National Park Westminster consulted over 40,000 people regarding to the right to frack under their houses...99% overwhelmingly said Frack Off...the Gov ignored this in the interests of the Nation (more like the interests of the fat cats fracking companies) Independent advisors that sit on the advisory panels to the Gov have been shown to have a conflict of interests, many of them also sitting on the boards of big oil buisnesses, added to which George Osbournes father-in-law Lord Howell has been quoted saying drilling should occur in the desolate North - you get the picture of how little WM cares about the impact of this to peoples lives In the US where fracking is more established a mere 10% of underground gas can be safely extracted. Independent geologists have stated that the complex geology of Scotland could mean as little as 1% can be extracted, this is equivalent to barely enough gas for a few years - fracking is a short term buck, and not a sustainable industry, hundreds and hundreds of wells would need to be drilled and fracking has never been undertaken in such a heavily populated area as the Central Belt of Scotland, there is no precedent to compare the massive increase in risk to. With Climate Change and temperatures already rising dangerously close to the supposed safe 2C rise we need to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewables before we get to the point of no return. Climate Change will kill the most vulnerable people in the most fragile of habitats, those living on the fringes of our planet. We need to limit our use now. The dash for gas is not the solution when we should be investing in renewables. Further Issues; In US 50% of wells have been proven to fail in their lifetime as a result methane and toxic chemicals have been found in water courses. Companies do not have to stipulate what chemicals are in their thousands of gallons of drilling fluid and contaminated water, those that have been identified have been proven to cause cancers and disrupt the endocrine system, alter hormone levels, cause mutations and harm unborn babies, to name but a few hazards. Since the industry is still relatively new, the real accumulative effects are still largely unknown, but what has been evidenced so far is truly scary. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic water need to be disposed of safely - in other countries this has seen companies throw it on fields, roads or into water courses. Water course and water table pollution is a huge and very real risk. Dart Energy are already pumping effluent from exploratory wells into the Forth. The massive infrastructure, including transport, roads etc is hugely disruptive for local communities, noise, dust pollution, tremors and falling house prices have all been reported in other countries. Last week the Scot Gov took the step to recall in the application to drill in Airth near Falkirk (the only company to be currently trying to establish test wells), following successful lobbying and public enquiry at Community Council level, citing that this was a case of national interest. Whilst Scot Gov have no control over licensing, they can oppose fracking on the ground of planning, and whilst condemning fracking under peoples houses, they have been cautious in banning fracking outright at this stage. FoE have stated that the Airth case will be a real test piece and are optimistic that the Scot Gov may reject the planning for Airth, if only as motivation to use it as a political vote winning football vs WM and to bolster the cause to lobby for more energy powers. This combined with the estimated 1% extraction rates, and the long protracted process of gaining planning where communities protest and force public enquiries could make fracking in Scotland uneconomic forcing companies to abandon their quest for a quick buck, as has been seen elsewhere in the UK and Worldwide. Fracking has been banned outright in the likes of France and Belgium with moratoriums being enforced in other EU countries. Its time for us to be as much as a pain in the butt as possible to hold up the fracking process and encourage the Scot Gov to ban this outright; write to MPs, lobby, march and when invited participate in direct action so the companies get the message. At best fracking will be a quick buck, at worst it will destroy our water, folks’ livliehoods; agriculture, eco-tourism, whiskey industry and our communities. Oh and be in no doubt about the sweeteners Ineos for example is offering communities (talk of 10% of profits etc). These companies are under no obligation to pay out, if after 5 years of exploratory drilling and destroying the land around them they decide its not worth their while they can walk away, with no money exchanging hands. Talk of shares of the profits are no more than bribes and scant compensation for the destruction to environment and health of the nation. Time to get busy eh? More info can be found here; frack-off.org.uk/fracking-scotland-a-third-threat/ Theres also a march on Ineos from the Kelpies, date tbc due to recent postponement https://facebook/events/548042081993627/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:59:38 +0000
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