Fracking for shale gas hits a raw nerve in Europe
Source: CNBC
The huge success of drilling for shale gas via "fracking" in the U.S. has led to claims that a new industrial era helped by cheaper fuel prices is dawning. But in Europe, with different planning laws, population density and limited infrastructure, the technology is causing growing controversy and anger.
On Monday, 29 people including a member of Britain's parliament, were detained in the tiny U.K. village of Balcombe as police broke up a demonstration against plans to drill test wells for shale gas, just 40 miles south of London.
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"Nobody knows if fracking is damaging the groundwater supply," Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, press officer at the German Brewers' Association told CNBC Tuesday. "You have to compare the U.S. with Germany and you see that they are in many places where nobody is living, and here people are living very close by."
Part of the opposition has been driven by Europe's belief that the real solution to the region's energy needs should come from renewable energy. The European Union aims to derive 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020 and governments have been spending billions of dollars on supporting wind and solar power.
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100974003
Quick warning, the author of this piece does nothing to hide that he believes fracking is an awesome thing for the US. I am posting this, because it is the first real description of protests/actions dealing with fracking I have seen in Europe.
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1. Water intensive, and often you are using fresh water (very valuable and scarce).
This means that even fresh water that isn't used for human consumption becomes scarce even for other parts of the industry that do use this water. So why should a fracking operation gobble up the lions share of the water? They are not the only industry that uses fresh water. And then there is the fresh water used for human consumption that is often used by fracking operations. If there is a drought then the local populace is in deep trouble and will have to obtain water from other sources. Of course, NESTLE loves that idea...
So, the local economy takes a hit as well as sources for human consumption become very costly in a hurry.
2. Instability with the strata as a result of this fracking.
Each region of the world is different but what is true is that under extreme pressures the properties of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks radically change. When you are using fracking you are disturbing this strata in a way that is not predictable.
That is why sinkholes are in the rise in areas of fracking and possibly earthquakes (still debated). Also, if there is an aquifer system nearby it pollutes that aquifer system or causes damaged from the aquifer from recharging if it is a confined aquifer.
I could go on and on but suffice it to say fracking is bad news.
