The possibility of more fracking woes seems to be spreading faster than a big oil spill. Low energy prices along with deflation worries are only a couple of many facing the industry.
Hydraulic fracturing in shale for oil and gas should be put on hold in the U.K. because of risks to public health and the environment, a panel of lawmakers said.
A moratorium on fracking is needed to prevent the U.K. from missing its carbon targets and allow time to stiffen regulations for the industry, Parliament’s cross-party Environmental Audit Committee said in a report Monday.
It called for measures including a ban on venting methane, public disclosure of chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing, and a regulatory regime to be written specifically governing fracking.
“Fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate-changing emissions unless full-scale carbon-capture-and-storage technology is rolled out rapidly,” Committee Chairwoman Joan Walley, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said in a statement. “There are also huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on water supplies, air quality and public health.”
The Conservative-led government has promoted fracking by Cuadrilla Resources Ltd., IGas Energy Plc and other companies by cutting taxes and opening up swathes of the countryside to bidding for drilling licenses.
The Bowland basin in Lancashire alone is estimated to hold as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to meet U.K. demand for half a century.
Lawmakers will debate Monday an Infrastructure Bill that would allow fracking companies to drill deep under land without the owner’s permission.
‘Profoundly Undemocratic’
Six thousand residents of a small northern Montana town recently awoke one morning to find that their tap water smelled and tasted like hydrocarbons.
That turned out to be a good call as a pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River has sprung a leak and contaminated their water. Officials had to truck in bottled water.
Make no mistake in the UK and other places there's a huge egotistical political war being waged with huge goodies at stake. Besides some innocent folks like you and me the real victim will turn out, as usual, to be the truth.
What's interesting about the cited article is the phrase, "Profoundly undemocratic."
We like it. It sounds a lot like what the ECB and Super Duper Mario did just last week--endanger peoples' future without their permission.
So if you want to do your part to bring back higher energy and gasoline prices at the pump, grab your cardboard sign with the witty slogan and join the protestors. We know more than a few speculators who will thank you profusely for it once prices start back up.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/01/25/u-k-lawmakers-urge-fracking-moratorium/
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