ter info (en indien gewenst, in te vullen en te gebruiken) Dear MEP [NAME], member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, I am writing to ask you to support the inclusion of all unconventional fossil fuels (UFF) activities in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive which is currently being reviewed. On Thursday 11h July, the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament will vote on the proposals made by MEP Andrea Zanoni. His proposals aim to adapt the EIA Directive to a number of new realities, which notably include the potential development of UFF activities in Europe, known for their serious environmental, health and climate impacts. I respectfully ask you to: Please support the Amendments 50 adding the production (exploration and exploitation) of unconventional fossil fuels (shale gas, tight gas, shale oil, coal bed methane) in Annex I of the Directive: “(12b) In Annex I, the following points (14a) and (14b) are inserted: “14a. Exploration, evaluation and extraction of crude oil and/or natural gas trapped in gas-bearing strata of shale or in other sedimentary rock formations of equal or lesser permeability and porosity, regardless of the amount extracted. 14b. Exploration and extraction of natural gas from coal beds, regardless of the amount extracted.” Please support the Amendments 462, 463 and 464 which add activities requiring the use of hydraulic fracturing in Annex I. These amendments follow strong and clear recommendations, which received broad political support in the vote on last year’s European Parliament resolutions on shale gas: In the own-initiative report on the “ HYPERLINK "europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2011/2309(INI)"Environmental impacts of shale gas and shale gas oil extraction activities”, the European Parliament called “for the inclusion of projects including hydraulic fracturing in Annex I of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive” (§24). In the own-initiative report on the “ HYPERLINK "europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2011/2308(INI)"Industrial, energy and other aspects of shale gas and oil”, the European Parliament recommended “mandatory environmental impact assessments” in the licensing and authorisation process (§31) which is the “best way of ensuring the meaningful and timely engagement of local communities” (§34). These amendments are crucial as they would close an important regulatory gap identified by several legal studies, including those commissioned by DG ENVI and HYPERLINK "ec.europa.eu/energy/studies/doc/2012_unconventional_gas_in_europe.pdf"DG Energy. The current version of the legislation does not indeed guarantee such systematic and mandatory EIA before new UFF projects: Because they have a maximum daily production rate of between 115,000 and 250,000 m3, they will never meet the 500,000m3/day threshold mentioned in the existing legislation. As a consequence, no mandatory and systematic EIA for UFF projects can currently be guaranteed. Because deep drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques are used all along the process, including during the exploration phase, several important environmental damages can already occur during the exploration phase. This is why not only the extraction operations should be targeted in Annex I, but also the exploration activities. The poor environmental record of the development of this industry in the United States has taught us that: It is essential to engage in a systematic gathering of baseline data – with samples of air, water and soil quality – in order to prove the causal link between UFF operations and air and/or water contamination around drilling sites. Such industrial developments cannot take place without properly consulting the communities living around potential drilling sites. If large-scale UFF operations are allowed to go ahead in an unregulated way, this industry will repeat the same mistakes as in the United States, with the same dramatic impacts for the climate, environment and public health. I believe it is absolutely vital that this recommendation receives strong support, and I look to you to represent my views in this matter for the good of our constituency and for the rest of Europe. Yours sincerely,
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:08:33 +0000
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