Controversy over shale gas fracking continues
The environmental impact of shale gas extraction continues to be a source of controversy. France officially banned the use of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) in May 2011 due to concerns about environmental pollution and the impact on groundwater. The Vale of Glamorgan Council similarly voted to ban test drilling in the county in October 2011 and drilling in Lancashire has been suspended following 2 earthquakes in the Blackpool area which are believed might be linked to this activity.
Similar concerns have been expressed by many groups in the US, a country that hosts some of the world’s largest shale gas reserves, and which has changed from being a large net importer of gas to being self-sufficient in a very short space of time as a result.
The Federal government is now seeking to address some of these concerns by imposing an uniform standard for wastewater disposal across the country. However, this is meeting stiff resistance from some of the states which host gas extraction activity, giving rise to concerns that varying standards for environmental compliance will lead to groundwater pollution and environmental damage.
The fracking process involves the injection of chemicals, including diesel oil and heavy metals, into rocks, of which up to 50% may not be recovered and will remain in the ground as a pollutant. In addition, shale gas contains a much higher proportion of methane than natural gas. Methane is 100 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and can also leak into groundwater as a result of the fracking process, giving rise to claims from some parties that shale gas is more damaging to the environment than burning coal.
Shale gas is being seen increasingly as the “fuel of the future”, with reserves identified in countries such as the US, Russia, China, Algeria and Poland sufficient to meet global demand for centuries to come.
However, the environmental cost of shale gas extraction is an unknown quantity at present. Whether developing countries such as Russia and China, and even developed countries such as the US, take the full environmental impact into account in the rush for cheap, plentiful energy remains to be seen.
Source: Argus Media
