Fracking
Fee Berry writes about an environmental concern
Fracking is a subject that, for many members of the public and even some Friends, is complex and confusing. There is much misunderstanding about the practice. It involves pumping toxic chemicals and water into the rock in order to release the gas trapped within. ‘Fracking’ refers to how the rock is fractured apart by the high pressure mixture. The chemicals stay in the ground, and may contaminate water tables or poison the land. They don’t attempt to recover the stuff they pump in.
The injection of fracking wastewater and other waste and production water, even from non-fracking wells, has caused some regions in the US of experience frequent earthquakes – regions that have not had many earthquakes in the past. There are claims that it has also poisoned aquifers and caused environmental damage to land in the US and Australia.
The UK is a much smaller country, with people living in close proximity to the places where fracking is proposed. We have a completely different geology, too, which may be damaged irretrievably by fracking. It seems that the government has given money for fracking exploration that is payable whether or not gas is found. This means that people investing in companies that are exploring will benefit from fracking even if the rest of us do not receive cheap gas.
Worst of all, the release of gases is uncontrolled. Any gas that cannot be captured is released into the atmosphere. There is mounting evidence that is causing a large number of health problems in the US and Australia, apart from being very wasteful.
We live on a finite planet with a finite supply of fossil fuels. Is it right that we should use them all up in pursuit of cheap energy, instead of considering the possible needs of our grandchildren and great grandchildren? To bracket together renewable forms of energy like solar and wind with fracking, as though they are all equally beneficial forms of energy, is deceptive. Even the environment agency in the US has now conceded that hydraulic fracturing has caused some contamination to drinking water resources across the country.
We have been given a beautiful planet to live on. Apart from the risks of earthquakes and contamination from toxic chemicals, the despoliation of the US countryside is self-evident. Don’t take my word for any of these things. Research for yourself. I run a Facebook group called ‘I don’t vote for frackers’, which was my attempt to raise awareness of the issue. We have collected a lot of links to reports from around the world about the effects of fracking, that are available to all.
We should be learning from the experiences of the Americans and Australians and looking at the real consequences of fracking in other countries, rather than accepting the word of the companies involved that the environmental concerns are unfounded. I have contact with a lot of people through the group who have experienced firsthand the devastation caused by fracking and I am doing everything I can to prevent those consequences from affecting people here in the UK.
I suggest that anyone who feels strongly about the positive aspects of fracking should look equally closely at the negative aspects of the real cases all over the US and Australia before they propose to allow it here.
Comments
Persuasive, but the claims about ill-effects seen in US and Australia lack references. Access to the sources of these claims would be helpful to me in making up my mind.
When we make a case about an issue like this it is vital in the interest of truth that we look at the evidence on both sides of the argument and don’t rely on assertion.
By Roger Sturge on 23rd March 2017 - 11:47
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