tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27086718026309500972024-03-13T15:59:16.978+02:00Karoo Anti Hydraulic Fracturing Action NetworkInfo on Hydraulic Fracturing planned in the Karoo.Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-79047801378864627312012-06-10T20:23:00.000+02:002012-06-10T20:24:39.141+02:00<br />
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Pro-fracking Prof does U-turn</h1>
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June 1 2012 at 12:33pm </div>
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INLSA</div>
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'We cannot allow a blessing to lie fallow... If shale gas is one of the blessings, we are going to go fo it' - Energy Minister Dipuo Peters</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Melanie Gosling</strong></div>
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Environment Writer</div>
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ONE of SA’s leading geohydrologists supported fracking for gas in the Karoo and said it posed no problem for underground water.</div>
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Now Professor Gerrit van Tonder, of the University of the Free State, has warned that his new research shows that there is a high risk that fracking in the Karoo could lead to one of the biggest water pollution problems in the world.</div>
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“This is serious stuff. There will be trouble, and Shell and the other companies involved must take note,” Van Tonder said yesterday.</div>
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In July last year Van Tonder, of the university’s Groundwater Institute, wrote in the Landbouweekblad that Karoo farmers need not fear water pollution from fracking. He was quoted expressing the same opinion in the Farmer’s Weekly.</div>
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But that was before he and his doctoral student, Fanie de Lange, had completed their latest research – still to be published.</div>
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“Now we are 100 percent certain there will be trouble,” Van Tonder said. Essentially they have established “one hundred percent” that the underground water in the Karoo basin flows upwards. They have also established that because of the Karoo’s unique geology, there are vast numbers of natural “pathways” along which the water can flow upwards. And with the upward flow, the water will carry the toxic cocktail of fracking chemicals up to the freshwater underground aquifers nearer the surface.</div>
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This is the water that most of the Karoo towns and farmers depend on.</div>
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One of these natural pathways is created by underground dolerite dykes. “One of the biggest problems is that the Karoo has many dolerite dykes underground. That region is unique because of that, other regions don’t have this. Now these dolerite dykes create “pathways” around which the water moves upwards. All the hot springs in the Karoo are associated with these dykes. About 80 percent of the holes that Soekor drilled in the Karoo in the past hit dolerite dykes.”</div>
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But as well as these natural pathways, there will also be thousands of new artificial pathways created by each fracking borehole. Once they come to the end of their 20-year lifespan, each borehole will provide a conduit to transport the cocktail of hazardous chemicals used in the fracking process, at very deep levels underground, upwards. This contaminated water could take several years to reach the freshwater aquifers – or it could take only days. “Once polluted, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to clean up the pollution. Given enough time, the effects that fracking chemicals will have on the environment will be detrimental,” Van Tonder said.</div>
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He said this had already happened with fracking in Pennsylvania, in the Marcellus shales, where the underground water also flowed upwards.</div>
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It is not known how many fracking boreholes there will be in the Karoo, but Van Tonder said if only half of the Karoo basin were fracked, there would be around 178 000 boreholes, drilled over a period of about 10 years. If more than half of the Karoo was fracked, this could increase to as many as 400 000 boreholes.</div>
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Van Tonder said he strongly recommended that before any licences were handed out by the government to allow fracking, all companies must disclose what kind of fracking chemicals they would use and in what volumes. “There is the added</div>
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problem that these chemicals are used at great depth, where there is high pressure and high temperature. These factors will cause the chemicals to change and create other chemicals – but we don’t know what they will change into because the companies do not disclose what chemicals they are using,” Van Tonder said.</div>
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His recommendation was that “under no circumstances must companies be allowed to include hazardous chemicals into the fracking fluid cocktail”, but use other “green” options. However, he said these were apparently uneconomical, so no companies would use them.</div>
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Several chemicals include those that are known to cause cancer, such as benzene, which is a human carcinogen in water at levels greater than five parts per billion.</div>
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Although fracking companies point out that chemicals make up only around 0.5 percent to 2 percent of the total volume of water used, experts say because many millions of litres of water are used, the amount of chemicals is large. For example in the US, a four-million gallon (15 million litre) operation could use 80 to 330 tons of chemicals.</div>
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The Department of Mineral Resources has commissioned a specialist report on fracking from a government-appointed task team, which has been completed. The Cape Times was unable to establish if the team were aware of this new research as the spokesperson was not available.<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></strong></div>
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<a href="http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/pro-fracking-prof-does-u-turn-1.1309893#.T9Tk89WomSo">http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/pro-fracking-prof-does-u-turn-1.1309893#.T9Tk89WomSo</a>
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</div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-42987307277447857402012-06-10T20:20:00.002+02:002012-06-10T20:20:47.345+02:00Karoo Fracking - Model for fluid migration<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r5eCl9oHh1c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-89649153349703834342012-03-15T18:55:00.000+02:002012-03-15T18:55:44.941+02:00antiFRACK: Protest on HUMAN RIGHTS DAY<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Earthlife Africa Cape Town are planning another anti-fracking protest on Human Rights Day, Wednesday 21 March, from 9h30 to 12h00 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Greenpoint</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>. As 22 March is World Water Day, our protest seeks to highlight the threat that fracking poses to our basic human right to <span class="textexposedshow">clean water.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Fracking uses water to extinction - the vast quantity of water needed in the fracking operation is permanently removed from the water cycle, and the waste water that is generated is so toxic to all life that it has to be permanently contained. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region> can ill afford to squander its scarce resources in this way – our water demand could outstrip available supply between 2025 and 2030, and experts warn that increasing demand for water will place severe strain on our country's ability to supply this finite resource. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Gas companies do not have a safe way to clean and dispose of fracking waste water, and this has been the cause of more than a 1000 documented cases of contamination in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Municipal water plants are not equipped to deal with it. Vast volumes of frack flowback, combined with AMD and our already stressed waste water plants, spell potential disaster for this country.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="textexposedshow"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/351789151526579/">https://www.facebook.com/events/351789151526579/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">antiFRACK: Protest on HUMAN RIGHTS DAY<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">Wednesday, March 21, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="fcb"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;">9:30am</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> until <span class="fcb">12:00pm</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Point-Park/178357882186930">Green Point Park</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cape Town</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="textexposedshow"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-73735624151845580982011-10-14T14:11:00.002+02:002011-10-14T14:11:23.031+02:00Fracking talk<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 36pt;">Fracking<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 18pt;">Implications for South Africa<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 22pt;">Jonathan Deal</span></b><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
Chairman of Treasure the Karoo Action Group<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt;">UCT Middle Campus<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt;">Kramer Lecture Theatre 1<br />
Thursday 20 Oct 2011<br />
18h00 for 18h30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">All welcome, please RSVP to Robyn: </span></b><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><a href="mailto:admin02@treasurethekaroo.co.za"><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">admin02@treasurethekaroo.co.za</span></b></a></span><b><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-56905252937703852542011-09-19T19:02:00.002+02:002011-09-19T19:02:23.215+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9qdcSCViTXgC01_tLKfOwXNwk2eo7yWkndPxVarl-kMsn2pw3p1AVRGheRq_blQVuwHqk8gREVoAieaEDrB60EoGY-F-JwidyTRyoU21UBlLGvPd7amshf4eOgYvtyMSwif9bgQjjH7as/s1600/TKAG+add+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9qdcSCViTXgC01_tLKfOwXNwk2eo7yWkndPxVarl-kMsn2pw3p1AVRGheRq_blQVuwHqk8gREVoAieaEDrB60EoGY-F-JwidyTRyoU21UBlLGvPd7amshf4eOgYvtyMSwif9bgQjjH7as/s640/TKAG+add+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-55244468185844431192011-09-14T20:09:00.003+02:002011-09-14T20:11:37.985+02:00A call to arms<span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><b>A CALL TO ARMS<br /></b></span></span></span> <blockquote><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><b>SEPTEMBER 2011<br /></b><br />My dear friends and fellow South Africans,<br /><br />An oft-quoted adage reminds us that evil prospers when good men do nothing.<br /><br />This is a <b>simple appeal for your help and commitment</b> to be involved in opposing the rapid and ill-considered<br />approval of <b>hydraulic fracturing (fracking)</b> in this country.<br /><br />Since January this year, TREASURE KAROO ACTION GROUP (TKAG) has developed into the foremost opposition to the<br />plans of Shell and others to frack South Africa. We have achieved an enviable media profile on the back of a selfless<br />volunteer effort. My personal contribution has been some R400 000 of my retirement funds and a seven-day a week<br />commitment that</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 13px; "> has seen significant impacts on personal and business life.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><br />I have done it w</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 13px; ">illingly, and I will continue to do so.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span><span><br /><b style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW.<br /></b><br /><b style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Please</b><span class="Apple-style-span" > create a recurring payment to TKAG on your internet banking profile for any amount that you think fit. No</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >amount is too small – even R100 per month. All donations will make a big difference. The answer is in continued</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >support, </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">so please choose a number that you can maintain without even thinking about it</b><span class="Apple-style-span" >.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >I am going to ask you to send this on to your friends and associates or take it to your workplace. This is not just a</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >Karoo problem – fracking will spread across the country – and the costs to this country in areas such as, water,</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >health, roads, tourism, and agriculture will affect every South African.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >THE ACCOUNT IS CONTROLLED BY A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT AND YOU MAY REQUEST A BANK STATEMENT BY</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >EMAIL AT ANY TIME.</span><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >TKAG TRUST FUND ACCOUNT</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >STANDARD BANK FISHHOEK BRANCH 072072849</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >BRANCH CODE 05100</span></b></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >1</span></b></blockquote><blockquote><span><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >PLEASE USE YOUR LAST NAME FOLLOWED BY JKD TO IDENTIFY YOUR CONTRIBUTION</span><br /></b><br /><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >Thank you and best wishes,</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >Jonathan</span><br /><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdI8-5uPjAwNlPp6HiKbmsleb-bfNl781PnzVfTrISuDgkCNzaYTKoGo4wVSMVubPuB96QrjY86zE24hIF2DCdFzkGfO72IbDZlGrPyOeojw8e2NlWC0Cs5O4QjtDE60AT-6S7S1uOso9/s320/j+sig.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652279406818165794" style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 98px; " /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Chairman<br /></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAEZ4zZTwNJ15QImezxSd7GKxMscl7_DL2L7ABJz9sAIAD3ZyZ_69pivGI-miCASSzCmFUzTgR8vNZXq9pG9lW1ZAzn6_tfJ50AyZ4KnLdl_dmE3TPZFTfb_OXl0vAUa04bie4n5bLIugl/s320/tkag.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652279270866721010" style="cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 98px; " /><span><span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10pt; "><br /> <br /></span></span></span></blockquote>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-3264263200588072582011-08-17T13:20:00.001+02:002011-08-17T13:22:14.106+02:00Industry funded watchdog on Fracking will simply not work<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Industry funded watchdog on Fracking will simply not work<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">By Jonathan Deal,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Treasure Karoo Action Group<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">TKAG chairman, Jonathan Deal responds to a proposition that Shell fund an independent monitoring group to act as a watchdog over fracking<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">The questions posed by Prof. De Witt’s paper<a href="file:///C:/Users/WR/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/EYY04DVT/Response%20to%20self%20funded%20watchdog.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> are in the circumstances reasonable and rational. The framework within which the facts are presented is well researched, capturing the nexus of a debate between those who pin their hopes on shale gas mining and those who don’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">The idea that a completely independent body, paid for by industry, be appointed to regulate the industry will not work. Any group of people funded by a profit-making institution cannot escape a degree of loyalty and bias in favour of their funders. Consider the inherent conflict of interest experienced by our own Petroleum Agency (PASA) and Department of Minerals (DMR) who are in the position of having to encourage exploitation of our mineral resources and also adjudicate on the licensing process. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">A workable modification of professor De Witt’s idea, which may have merit would be for the proposed body to be funded by government and not have any industry connection whatsoever. The suggestion, however, is ahead of itself in the current scenario because it bypasses larger and unresolved issues running through the debate. These well-documented points militate against the very concept of extraction of the shale gas in the absence of more facts.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">The argument is far bigger than simplistically saying that if the gas is there, we must mine it because the gas will create energy capacity and the mining will create work. The basis of my argument against shale gas exploration at this time, is a complete lack of thorough research of the technology. When juxtaposed against the broad environment in South Africa, such research would clarify positive or negative aspects arising from shale gas mining and must afford attention to the potential of solar and wind power – not only to generate energy but as an alternative to create sustainable and non-polluting jobs. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">In essence, my point is that with the information at hand, and given the international bad reputation of the technology, our country has not conducted a thorough strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the benefits and costs of fracking in South Africa. It follows that an assessment of this nature would be of no use until and unless it includes every relevant environment, and, by implication, the associated government departments and relevant ngo’s together with the hundreds and thousands of people that they represent. It is trite to say that despite the unusual press enjoyed by fracking, many people, even those in towns who have access to media and internet are unaware of the term (fracking), and most of those who are aware, regard the problem as ‘something to do with the Karoo’.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">If this is the benchmark in suburbia, we can prove that farm workers, that group most dependent on clean water and a safe, healthy environment, who are least able to pack up and move away, are in fact the least informed about something that will have a marked impact on their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">It is inter alia, these questions that the scientists, economists, oil companies, and government appear to be overlooking.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Consider, in this context, some of the better known points for and against fracking, which it is submitted lend weight to the call for a more thorough investigation before we even consider licencing exploration in any form.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">Shale gas burns cleaner. Yes it does. But Jan-Willem Eggink of Shell is on record in Johannesburg on July 19<sup>th</sup> as stating that his company cannot measure, nor contain fugitive gas emissions during the drilling, fracking, extraction, flaring and piping process. These gasses when combined with the Co</span><sup><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">2 </span></sup><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">emissions in a fracking operation form lethal ozone. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) than the emissions from coal-fired plants. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Fairly credible reports have recently emerged that point to a far higher contribution to ghg from shale gas mining than the industry would have us believe. Naturally, the oil and gas lobby has the money to commission voluminous reports and opinions trashing opposing papers, but the fact remains that they damage their case by not counting these emissions. And so, the gap between extracted and burned methane and the emissions from coal may be narrower than the figures quoted by Shell et al – and perhaps then not a reason to rush headlong into the production of gas turbines.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span">De Witt refers to the ability of shale gas to assist with the 2015 UN Millennium Development goal of poverty reduction. This underscores the need for a SEA to consider and determine:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">How many local jobs will actually be created by fracking? (Prof Philip Lloyd makes the nonsensical claim of employment on a scale never before seen in South Africa);</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">How long will those jobs last?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">What health effects will be experienced by workers exposed to chemicals and emissions in a fracking operation?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">How many actual jobs will be interrupted and lost due to fracking? – in farming and agriculture, tourism and the satellite industries dependent on those activities;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">The impact of fracking hundreds of thousands of wells on the country’s rural development program and land tenure act;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">The negative downward impact (already a fact) on land prices in an area comprising 52% of the Karoo and 18% of our country – who will buy a Karoo farm at present – and for the next nine years during which the applicants can exercise their right to explore? And who will buy a farm that has been fracked knowing the risk that as cement corrodes and steel rusts, the toxins released in fracking can find their way into the irreplaceable underground water?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">By Shell’s own figures 400 producing wells in Wyoming are supervised by only 66 Shell employees.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">Recent reports indicate that shale gas wells last for an average period from 12 to 90 months. This may provide good returns for operators but hardly makes a case for sustainable income and employment.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:38.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria">The Global Climate Network in March 2010 released a report on South Africa, amongst other countries and projected 145000 new jobs in SA by 2020 if we pursued renewable energy as a priority. Even if this figure is half of that – the jobs are sustainable and non-polluting. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">So shale gas mining may not the panacea for poverty in South Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">The point is made, or at least there is speculation about the shale gas reserves under the Karoo. Two sources, amongst others, the US Geological Survey and the International Energy Agency first floated figures of 1000tcf (trillion cubic feet). Their latest estimates (now less than half), widely proclaimed by Prof Philip Lloyd and Shell are in the order of 450 to 480tcf, and are 90 times more than the estimates of PASA’s geologist, Ms. Jennifer Marot. Meanwhile, Dr. Billy De Klerk, a geohydrologist and paleontologist presented a paper in Grahamstown during a debate on fracking, which made a strong case for there being very much less than any of these estimates. And of ten core samples from Soekor in the 1960’s, only three showed faint traces of shale gas (Shell’s figures). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">There may be much ado about nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Water, of course, is probably the central issue. Shell doesn’t know where they will find it. Even were they able to extract and use water from deep saline aquifers, they would still have to drill through the underground water sources of the Karoo. Their own engineers have admitted that the Karoo is criss-crossed by dolerite sills and dykes – not an environment that stimulates easy drilling.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Once the water (if obtained from underground) has been used as fracking fluid, it contains not only the chemicals that the drillers add to it, but almost certainly technologically-enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM). Where will this be disposed of? Into rivers, quarries, the sea, evaporated into our air to return as acid rain or perhaps sprayed on to our roads as in the US? Certainly, the wastewater facilities in Pennsylvania have refused to accept any more frackwater – how then do we imagine that our own municipal plants will have the technology and management expertise to deal with this? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Our transport and road infrastructure<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">If not drawn from underground, the water will presumably come from the sea or the Orange River. Has anybody done the sums of exactly how many trucks are needed to lubricate one well at 20 million litres per frack? And what that volume of trucks will do to our already crumbling road network. This discounts the fragile dirt roads in the Karoo and the vast dust clouds that follow even one truck on the powdery surface.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Although much of the focus is on what happens underground, there is a staggering amount of activity above ground. Figures from the Pennsylvania Dept of Environment show 1667 truckloads to service one well (there are potentially 8 – 12 wells on one pad). Add to this, the noise, dust, gas emissions and light pollution 24 hours a day, and consider the effects on a uniquely biodiverse region – a surface that cannot be rehabilitated and as Shell claims ‘left better than it was found.’<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">Regulation and law enforcement are also not an area in which South Africa has great capacity. And if the Americans are battling to police the drillers how is it planned that South Africa will regulate the industry in the absence of applicable laws and enforcement capability. This point is supported by the thorough mining mess in Gauteng and Mpumalanga and begs the question – even if we can regulate, monitor and enforce, who will pay for this? The costs of training, vehicles, buildings, communication, burden on courts and municipalities?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">In the interests of brevity, my comment must stop here, with a concluding statement.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">As an environmentalist I am frequently accused by proponents of fracking of being ‘emotional.’ My assertion is that there is a difference between emotional and committed.<span> </span>TKAG<span> </span>is also well informed. Prof. De Witt on national radio stated that ‘No one in their right mind would trust Shell to police their own operation’ and explained this by referring to the distortion of data by the oil and gas industry. I agree. And so does the Advertising Standards Authority. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria">It is our position, as an ngo, representative of interested and affected parties and as a campaigner for the rights of many people who know nothing of fracking, that South Africa has a long way to go before it can be conclusively proved that fracking is the only – and best option to sustainably supply South Africa’s energy needs and create work. Until these questions are answered, there is no justification to issue any form of exploration licence.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
<br /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <!--[endif]--> <div id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/WR/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/EYY04DVT/Response%20to%20self%20funded%20watchdog.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><span> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt">DE Wit MJ. The great shale debate in the Karoo, S AFR J Sci. 2011;107(7/8), Art. 791</span></p> </div></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-33617959983000757502011-08-14T21:32:00.000+02:002011-08-14T21:33:00.625+02:00Aus farmers stand up to fracking<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium; "><h1 style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">Farm gate gas protest gathers steam</h1><h2 style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; ">Updated: 12:01, Sunday August 14, 2011</h2><div><img src="http://202.58.40.60/elements/img/article/638x359/skynews_650024.jpg" alt="Farm gate gas protest gathers steam" width="637" height="358" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-bottom: 15px; " /></div><h3 style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Thousands of farm gates across Queensland and NSW bear a yellow triangle with the words 'lock the gate'.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">The triangle hangs like a talisman, desperately trying to ward off a great evil.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">It's part of a campaign to stop mining giants from walking on to properties and drilling in the search for coal seam gas (CSG).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">So far farmers swear by it, believing their efforts are hampering the companies.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">The situation has forged an unlikely alliance, with farmers and environmental activists alike willing to stand in front of bulldozers.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">More than 2000 land owners in Queensland and New South Wales have adopted the lock the gate signs, and some are prepared to roll up to protests.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">They're concerned that fracking - the injection of chemicals, water and sand at high pressures to crack rock and release gas - will poison underground water, contaminate good agricultural soil and cause serious health problems.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">CSG companies are yet to provide proof fracking won't impact on ground water farmers use on crops, animals and in some cases for their own consumption.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">In the United States, fracking has contaminated aquifers with some residents able to set their water on fire.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">The US department of environmental protection has found dangerously high levels of methane, iron and aluminium in the drinking water of residents in Dimock, Pennsylvania, where shale-gas drilling and fracking takes place.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">England, France, New York and South Africa have banned fracking because of environmental and health issues.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Australian farmers fighting the industry have attracted high profile support from Olivia Newton-John, Alan Jones, Bob Irwin and Senator Barnaby Joyce.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Gas leases in Queensland and New South Wales already cover an area ten times the size of Tasmania, the campaigners say.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">They want a moratorium on CSG mining until all health, social and environmental risks have been fully explored.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">But despite the groundswell of support for the farmers, they face one major hurdle.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">In tricky economic times, state and federal governments are banking on the gas rush to boost the economy.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Just one of the three CSG export projects approved in Queensland is expected to earn the governments $1 billion a year in taxes and royalties.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">CSG wells are spreading like bushfire across Queensland, a state struggling to regain its AAA credit rating, reduce debt and create more jobs.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">It's mainly affecting agricultural land, including the major food bowl area of the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser says the CSG to liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry will generate more than 20 million tonnes per annum and, crucially, create 18,000 jobs.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'It's a critical part of the economic policy we've pursued,' Mr Fraser said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'We committed to delivering this industry at the last election and that's what we're doing.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'It's a whole new export industry for the state.'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Mr Fraser said he understands the concern over fracking but argues that Queensland has 'world class regulation'.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'There's more than 1700 conditions on these projects,' he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'It's also not a new industry.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'Coal seam gas exploration and extraction has been conducted safely now for more than a decade (in Queensland).'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">The government has also banned the use of cancer-causing chemicals, collectively known as BTEX, in fracking fluids.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">But a group of medical experts, including 1996 Nobel Prize winner for medicine Professor Peter Doherty, argue this doesn't go far enough.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Their submission to a Senate inquiry into CSG says fracking itself can release BTEX chemicals that naturally exist in the coal seams.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'The fracking process itself can release BTEX from natural gas reservoirs, allowing them to escape into aquifers or the surrounding air,' the submission says.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'BTEX chemicals have been found after at least two fracking operations in Queensland.'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">The experts say long-term exposure to the chemicals can cause leukaemia, affect the reproductive system and harm unborn children.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) are frequently found together in petroleum compounds,' they write.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'They are in a class of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds which easily vaporise so people can be exposed through drinking water, bathing or breathing in vapour.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'Long-term exposure to benzene for instance, even in very small amounts, can affect the bone marrow, causing anaemia and increasing the risk of leukaemia, and can affect unborn children.'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">But CSG companies say there's no proof fracking will contaminate aquifers.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">QGC, a subsidiary of global gas giant BG Group, says 99 per cent of the fracking fluid is sand and water.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'If I went into the kitchen I could find many of those chemicals (used in fracking),' QGC senior vice-president Jim Knudsen told a Rural Press Club address in July.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'Ketchup has some guar gum in it. Potassium chloride is a salt substitute.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'The chemicals are used in such small dosage it is immeasurable once we're done.'</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">Mr Knudsen said the chemicals allow the gas to flow more easily and limit the number of wells needed.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">He said good design of pipes or wells would stop groundwater contamination.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">But his assurances give Lock the Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton no comfort.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">He's driving the resistance in the bush and is vowing to up the ante at the next Queensland election due by March next year.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'The next election will be won and lost on this issue,' Mr Hutton said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; ">'We are going to put pressure on the political parties and will campaign against anyone who won't install the appropriate protections.'</p></h3><div id="SM_Share" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; 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overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 450px; height: 24px; "></iframe></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-18413284847041952402011-08-13T16:38:00.001+02:002011-08-13T16:40:20.411+02:00Shell battles to stem North Sea oil leak<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(192, 161, 84); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span>
<br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Have a look at this, so much for cutting edge technology:</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">
<br /></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/oil-leak-detected-on-north-sea-platform-2337102.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/oil-leak-detected-on-north-sea-platform-2337102.html</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">
<br /></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5c47c8f2-c508-11e0-ba51-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UuKwzK00">http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5c47c8f2-c508-11e0-ba51-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UuKwzK00</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">
<br /></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8698916/Shell-battles-to-stem-North-Sea-oil-leak.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8698916/Shell-battles-to-stem-North-Sea-oil-leak.html</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">
<br /></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/251652/shell-battling-north-sea-oil-pipeline-leak">http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/251652/shell-battling-north-sea-oil-pipeline-leak</a></div></span></span></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-61142692895881300862011-08-10T17:02:00.000+02:002011-08-10T17:03:07.336+02:00Brothers in Arms - Cape Town Anti Fracking March, 9 Aug 2011<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F103288823148891936274%2Falbumid%2F5639240783283335665%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-1348236174977755042011-08-09T18:12:00.000+02:002011-08-09T18:13:20.222+02:00Fracking demonstration in Cape Town<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-pPtN08yLhHRnVjOhfs9NrQHnuHNke0eyKCFvd5sfKr3jul0-OchCa1MQkdPCIuV_AoOnxVf4psX-BIznJ1pdfMR9NALQf6CK5d7dLZkeGrejYDXLwTEIjqpQ5QwyyOase3mULGkCug/s1600/Fracking+demo+CT.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-pPtN08yLhHRnVjOhfs9NrQHnuHNke0eyKCFvd5sfKr3jul0-OchCa1MQkdPCIuV_AoOnxVf4psX-BIznJ1pdfMR9NALQf6CK5d7dLZkeGrejYDXLwTEIjqpQ5QwyyOase3mULGkCug/s320/Fracking+demo+CT.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638889545684250626" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: bold; ">
<br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: bold; ">Fracking demos take to streets</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><div class="article col626" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; width: 626px; "><span id="spnDate" class="block datestamp" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; 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<br /><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; display: inline; ">Was R156.95 Now R149.10</p>
<br /><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; display: inline; "><a id="lnkBuyNow" class="buynow" href="http://etrader.kalahari.net/referral.asp?linkid=5&partnerid=9113&sku=30737034" target="_blank" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; 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border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; float: left; width: 310px; "><p class="left" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; float: left; "></p></div><p class="clr_left" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; clear: left; "></p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Cape Town - Demonstrators wearing gas masks, lab coats to emulate scientists from oil company Shell protested in Cape Town on Tuesday against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Shell SA is punting shale gas as an affordable alternative to coal, nuclear and renewable energy industries and wants to explore 90 000km² of the Karoo.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">The protesters included a man dressed up as a cane wielding silent film actor Charlie Chaplin, claim that fracking is causing massive contamination of water supplies and is mostly affecting women and children who live in the areas where it occurs.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"Fracking will not affect just the Karoo. It may affect about half of South Africa's landmass including areas in the Drakensberg," said Marina Louw, an organiser from Climate Justice Campaign which took part in the demonstration with environmental organisation Earthlife Africa.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"A lot of the waste water from fracking may be discharged into rivers and the chemicals may leach up radioactivity under ground.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"Water becomes your blood plasma and spinal fluid.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"The most vulnerable people are rural women and children because they live in these areas and many get their water from where fracking water is dumped."</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">The protesters who had gathered outside the Natural History Museum in the Company's Gardens in the Cape Town city centre held up banners reading, "Stop fracking with our water", "Frack off" and "Fracking poisons".</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"I'm a musician and I'm going to write a song about this," one of the older male protesters said.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">"You know they have the slogan 'go well go Shell', well my lyrics will be 'go well go to hell'."</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">The protester impersonating Chaplin did not answer when asked about the significance of his costume, but instead raised his cane and mimed a choking motion.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He then pulled a gas mask over his face and coughed before joining the protesters who marched into Cape Town shouting repeatedly: "Fracking no... Clean energy now and forever".</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; "></p><div id="_htmlAccreditationName" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">- SAPA</div><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; "></p><div id="divKeywordsListing" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><b style="font-weight: bold !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: gray; ">Read more on: </b><b style="font-weight: bold !important; font-size: 14px !important; "><a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/Companies/shell" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(14, 46, 94); text-decoration: none; ">shell </a></b>| <b style="font-weight: bold !important; font-size: 14px !important; "><a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/Places/cape_town" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(14, 46, 94); text-decoration: none; ">cape town </a></b>| <b style="font-weight: bold !important; font-size: 14px !important; "><a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/Topics/fracking" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(14, 46, 94); text-decoration: none; ">fracking </a></b>| <b style="font-weight: bold !important; font-size: 14px !important; "><a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/Topics/environment" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(14, 46, 94); text-decoration: none; ">environment</a></b></div><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; 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<br /></div></div></div></span></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-29162912562997164552011-07-28T18:11:00.001+02:002011-07-28T18:11:35.759+02:00Frack Attack music video<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IlcNX0XxGhk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-52897936416993236282011-07-28T18:10:00.001+02:002011-07-28T18:10:44.952+02:00The Karoo is to valuable<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dga5mH6TmCg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-6462467609087573082011-07-20T17:34:00.001+02:002011-07-20T17:36:38.834+02:00We are being as fractured as the shale beneath our feet.<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rq03w2bZSPQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />There was a two minute time limit, and this guy speaks quickly, but he doesn't go over the time limit. He tells about how his family's property has been negatively impacted by Marcellus Shale operations. The operator is Shell Appalachia. It is their first instance of thermogenic methane migration since purchasing East Resources. He says that predrill tests showed his family's well water used to be pristine and that now it has thermogenic methane in it. Also, his family's pond was contaminated and he said over two dozen amphibians died in his pond. He states that the DEP currently has the authority to order the leaking wells to be fixed then plugged, but will not act on its authority. This was at the (federal) Dept of Energy Subcommittee on Natural Gas hearing in Washington County, PA, on 13 June 2011.Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-65683272412411050502011-07-14T14:15:00.001+02:002011-07-14T14:15:34.209+02:00Royal Dutch Shell to be tasked over fracking at shale gas conference<span ><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></i></b><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">A senior Shell General manager Jan-Willem Eggink<i>, </i>will be confronted over Shell's plans to frack for shale gas in the Karoo when he speaks at a conference in Johannesburg next week.<br /><br />Shell's proposals to use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will be challenged by Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) and other concerned organizations at the 2011 Africa Gas and LNG Summit in Johannesburg on 19 - 22 July.<br /><br />Eggink is expected to champion his company's continued pursuit of the right to use hydraulic fracturing technology despite the South African government's moratorium on its use.<br /></span></span></span><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><b><br /></b></span></span><b><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Fracking is controversial: France has banned it completely while the US Senate has requested the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to re-investigate the environmental and social impacts of the technology. The EPA report is expected in 2012.<br /><br />TKAG Chairman Jonathan Deal - who will attend the Santon conference to confront Shell in a public forum - said that fracking technology needs a rigorous evaluation that takes into account a number of technical, environmental, social, cultural and economic considerations.<br /><br />"This form of fracking — </span></span></span></b><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">horizontal<b> fracking — is relatively new. Shell cannot state categorically that its action will not have a deleterious i</b>mpact on the Karoo's fragile underground water supplies because they simply do not know. The decision to frack is irreversible — if damage occurs, it cannot be undone."<br /><br />Deal said that Shell needs to understand that its actions could irrevocabl<b>y damage the Karoo. He rec</b>ently met with Vuyisile Booysen, Chairman of the Karoo Shale Gas Forum (KSGF), the mandated representatives of the local Karoo community, and the two parties have agreed to approach the issue of fracking in a spirit of "mutual co-operation".<br /><br />"We intend to work with KSGF to investigate these issues on behalf of all the people of the Karoo, too make sure that the voice of the community is heard and that the future of their children are not threatened," said Deal.<br /><br />"There have been too many examples of environmental degradation and social health issues linked to areas where fracking has occurred," said Deal. "We cannot just rush into this. If Shell and other oil and gas companies are granted licences to explore or to produce without a comprehensive cost vs benefit evaluation of fracking's affect, we could face a social and environmental disaster that would devastate the Karoo and its people."<br /></span></span></span><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><b><br /></b></span></span><b><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">TKAG has asked that the Department of Energy take the EPA's report into account and has requested that the Department make public the committee members' names appointed to examine the impact of fracking. It also requests that the committee incl</span></span></span></b><span ><span ><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">udes experts from the Departments of Water and the Environment.<br /><br /></span></span></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-70436244041213402882011-05-27T17:16:00.001+02:002011-05-27T17:24:26.076+02:00Shell and the ANC<div><br /></div><div>From this video it is CLEAR that Shell and the ANC has come a long way together.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></div><div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Since the government is mainly ANC members, and since the government is going to make the call on this issue, we must be sure that the decision will be made on a 100% FACTUAL basis, and not on a LOYALTY basis.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Exactly what is the relationship between Shell and the ANC??????</p></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sBOvYRYy_Js" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-80808896008726515672011-05-23T20:00:00.001+02:002011-05-23T20:00:51.232+02:00Another well blow-out<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><h1 style="font-size: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(140, 38, 19); ">Dalby well blow out sent gas 90m in air: landholder</h1><div class="inner-tools-top" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div class="social" style="float: right; "><ul style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; "><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><span class="st_facebook_custom"><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-facebook.gif" alt="Facebook" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><span class="st_twitter_custom"><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-twitter.gif" alt="Twitter" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><span class="st_sharethis_custom"><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-share-this.gif" alt="Share This" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><span class="st_email_custom"><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-email.gif" alt="Email" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/print" class="sooji-print-content" style="color: rgb(140, 38, 19); text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; "><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-print.gif" alt="Print" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></li></ul></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; font-weight: bold; ">By James Nason<span class="date" date="23 May 2011 3:03:41" style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; color: rgb(122, 122, 122); white-space: nowrap; ">23 May 2011</span></p><div class="clear" style="clear: both; "></div></div><h3 style="font-size: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(140, 38, 19); "><img alt="The leaking gas well pictured on Monday morning. Picture: BSA" src="http://www.beefcentral.com/s/image/resize/u/lib/cms/gas-blow-out.jpg/320x240/85" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; float: left; width: 180px; height: 240px; " />UPDATE:</h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Arrow Energy has this afternoon advised that it has successfully stemmed the flow of water and gas from a leaking well on the property of Tom O'Connor on its Daandine field.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">A statement from Arrow said the well had been capped and secured.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Arrow said it had commenced an investigation into the cause of the incident which is expected to take approximately a fortnight.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Arrow said it would also assist in any Government review of the incident. In addition, and would ensure that a summary of its investigation will be shared with stakeholders "to<br />ensure a better understanding of the incident and measures in place which aim to prevent the risk of re-occurrence."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Earlier, the property owner at the centre of the Coal Seam Gas well blowout told beefcentral.com the leak was causing gas and CSG water to shoot 40 metres into the air.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Tom O’Connor runs an irrigated and dryland grain and cattle growing operation, including a feedlot, at Daandine west of Dalby.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">He said Arrow Energy had constructed 12 gas wells on his property since 2006, and this was the fourth time a gas well incident had occurred on his property. None had been of this scale though.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">He said the incident occurred when contractors were trying to bring a CSG well into production.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“The pressure beat them and blew the top off it, and gas and salty water has been going in the air since 9am yesterday morning.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“I didn’t see it at the start but they tell me it was going 80 to 90 metres in the air.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">The blowout occurred on cleared grazing country that was recently cutter-barred. An exclusion zone had been established around the area, and he had not been able to get close enough to see where the water was going or how large an area it had covered.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Saline water can render agricultural country unproductive.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“It is still going on, they have had a few attempts to stop it,” Mr O'Connor said at 10:30am.<br /><br />Western Downs Regional Council mayor Ray Brown was at the scene and Mr O'Connor said the premier Anna Bligh had also been calling “every hour” to stay abreast of the situation.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“The priority is getting it stopped. They have all trucks and rigs trying to stop it, they have had three or four goes but I think the pressure is beating them.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“They are talking about changing pumps and hoses to try and stop it.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“They have got health and safety here, they have got ambulances here, they just have to stop it somehow.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Mr O’Connor said this was the fourth incident involving a gas leak from a CSG well on his property, but none had been on this scale.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“We have had lots of incidents with Arrow Energy, don’t start me,” he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">He had also previously been involved in a court action against Arrow Energy involving a dispute over the placement of a pipeline on his property.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Mr O'Connor expressed frustration at the apparent lack of regulatory controls over the industry and protections for landholders.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“It is up to the Government to make sure they do it properly. I run cattle and grow crops. This is not my job to be talking to the media and working out how to fix a gas and water leak.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“It is not my job to make sure they are doing it right, it is the Government’s job, and this industry is about to explode all over Queensland.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Basin Sustainability Alliance chairman Ian Haylor told beefcentral.com the incident reinforced the BSA’s view that the coal seam gas industry was beyond the control of State and Federal regulators.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“There are no Government standards for drilling gas wells in Queensland, which is hard to believe,” he said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“Apparently they are being developed, but it is another case of everything being done too late.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“It just shows a total lack of care and consideration of the gas industry</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“This farmer has had a number of incidents on his property, leaking gas wells, fittings blowing off, a pipeline that had a mixture of gas in it.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">“As far as this goes, there is obviously a serious lack of safety standards in this process.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; ">Arrow Energy is currently conducting CSG community consultation sessions with landholders around southern Queensland and will hold its next session at Cecil Plains on Wednesday.</p><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/s/image/resize/u/lib/mob/6e5122cf41e516b2a5685f4bef83fc2f/gas-blow-out.jpg/1600x900" rel="news-gallery" class="fancybox" title="The leaking CSG well pictured at Tom O'Connor's property this morning. " style="color: rgb(140, 38, 19); text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; "><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/s/image/resize/u/lib/mob/6e5122cf41e516b2a5685f4bef83fc2f/gas-blow-out.jpg/90x90/1x1" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/s/image/resize/u/lib/mob/6e5122cf41e516b2a5685f4bef83fc2f/gas-blow-out.jpg/1600x900" rel="news-gallery" class="fancybox" title="The leaking CSG well pictured at Tom O'Connor's property this morning. " style="text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; "></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/95">http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/95</a><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/s/image/resize/u/lib/mob/6e5122cf41e516b2a5685f4bef83fc2f/gas-blow-out.jpg/1600x900" rel="news-gallery" class="fancybox" title="The leaking CSG well pictured at Tom O'Connor's property this morning. 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border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><span class="st_email_custom"><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-email.gif" alt="Email" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></span></li><li style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 4px; "><a href="http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/95#" style="color: rgb(140, 38, 19); text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; "><img src="http://www.beefcentral.com/u/beef-central/assets/images/icon-print.gif" alt="Print" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /></a></li><div><br /></div></ul></div></div></div></div>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-35467035870004514842011-05-22T18:59:00.001+02:002011-05-22T18:59:55.630+02:00Aus feeling strain, 60 day moratorium imposed there over land use.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: small; "><div id="previewbody" style="font-size: 17px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-left: 0.2em; display: block; "><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span">State freezes exploration licences for new mining.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Sean Nicholls; Ben Cubby</span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span">21 May 2011<br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; "></span></span><span style="line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">A 60-DAY freeze on new exploration licences for coal, coal seam gas and petroleum has been announced by the NSW government in a push to resolve the escalating conflict between farmers, miners and conservationists over land use.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The need for a moratorium was questioned by the state's mining industry, which said billions of dollars in investment were at stake, but it said it broadly supported the development of a new approach to avoid conflict over valuable land.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard, announced the initial stage of the government's strategic regional land use policy yesterday, which was promised before the state election.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Under transitional arrangements, exploration licence applications after the moratorium will need to be exhibited for public comment for the first time and applications for extraction licences must be accompanied by an agricultural impact statement.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">An 11-member reference group comprising representatives of business, agricultural, environment and Aboriginal groups will be established to advise on the development of the final policy.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">It will be based on the establishment of regional strategic plans to set out a ''tailored approach'' for each region, to be established within 12 months.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The first of them will target conflict hotspots such as the Hunter Valley and Upper Hunter, Liverpool Plains and the southern highlands.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Mr Hazzard said the new policy would be ''fair dinkum, honest and transparent'' but described its development as a ''balancing act''.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">He said business might ''wonder'' about the new policy but it would provide business with greater certainty.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Under the previous policy, exploration licences were granted without a rigorous analysis of their appropriateness, leaving companies open to disappointment when they progressed to applying for an extraction licence.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">''It might have been all right 200 years ago to start whacking in a bit of mining somewhere and a bit of this and a bit of that,'' Mr Hazzard said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">''But as the state grows and as the population grows, the intensity for conflicts is just there every day. We have no choice. I think this will prove to be a policy that will become a blueprint for every other state in the country.''</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The acting chief executive of the NSW Minerals Council, Sue-Ern Tan, welcomed more transparency in the assessment of mining leases, but opposed the 60-day freeze.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">''It is not clear what this moratorium will achieve and we will be seeking further information from the NSW government,'' she said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">But the moratorium was appreciated by some farmers who have been caught up in the mining debate because minerals have been found under their land.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Among them is the Narrabri grazier Tony Pickard, who first heard about a plan for the state's biggest coal seam gas operation when he saw a map on a government website, with red dots indicating the proposed coal seam gas wells on his property.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">''I just saw a map of my land, with dots on it - that was the first I heard of the plan because the company hadn't told me,'' Mr Pickard said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Eastern Star Gas, a company chaired by the former deputy prime minister John Anderson, plans to sink up to 550 coal seam gas wells in the Pilliga Scrub area about 20 kilometres south of Narrabri. Its plan is being scrutinised by the state and federal governments.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">An Eastern Star spokesman, Peter Fox, said a moratorium on mining on agricultural land would not affect the project, because the area spanned by the gas wells covered non-agricultural land and this could be developed first.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Mr Fox said Mr Pickard would be approached with a compensation offer if the plan was approved, but it would not want to force anyone to have their land mined.</p><span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br /><br /><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-freezes-exploration-licences-for-new-mining-20110520-1ewos.html" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); ">http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-freezes-exploration-licences-for-new-mining-20110520-1ewos.html</a></span><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "></p><span style="line-height: 17px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-freezes-exploration-licences-for-new-mining-20110520-1ewos.html#ixzz1N6KjgWXl" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; ">http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-freezes-exploration-licences-for-new-mining-20110520-1ewos.html#ixzz1N6KjgWXl</a></span></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-68535515931255352992011-05-21T20:30:00.000+02:002011-05-21T20:31:41.795+02:00Fracking Fluid in River<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; "><h1 class="page_title" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; ">Fracking Fluid Drums Found In Arkansas Creek</h1><div class="story_stamp" style="padding-bottom: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); color: rgb(119, 119, 119); "><span class="story_date" style="font-size: 11px; padding-left: 5px; float: right; ">May 20th 2011</span>By <span class="story_author" style="font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://www.kuar.org/author/Michael_Hibblen/" style="color: rgb(97, 1, 2); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Michael_Hibblen</a></span></div><div id="box_social_bookmarks" style="color: rgb(119, 119, 119); padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 11px; position: relative; "><strong>Share</strong>: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.kuar.org/index.php?news=23773" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(97, 1, 2); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 5px; 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outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; "><img src="http://www.kuar.org/themes/default/img/icon_text.gif" alt="Plain text" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: bottom; " /></a><div id="email_to_afriend"></div></div><div id="article_body" style="line-height: 1.6em; width: 480px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; margin-bottom: 12px; "><div class="image" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; width: 274px; "><img src="http://www.kuar.org/thumbnail.php?file=fracking_fluid_569893204.jpg&size=article_small" alt="Hydraulic fracturing fluid being reclaimed at a natural gas well site near Burlington, Pa. (AP)" /><span class="image_caption" style="display: block; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Hydraulic fracturing fluid being reclaimed at a natural gas well site near Burlington, Pa. (AP)</span></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">Hazardous materials crews have removed more than 20 barrels labeled as containing chemicals used for natural gas drilling from a creek in the north Arkansas town of Clinton.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">Mayor Roger Rorie is upset because they were in Choctaw Creek, which provides the town's drinking water and were located just a few miles upstream from its water treatment plant.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“It goes straight to our water intake and it's fracking fluids in 55 gallon drums,” Rorie said. “We don't know how much of it has leaked out.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">He says a fisherman discovered the barrels, which emergency crews then removed.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“I'm here at the site right now where they're pulling the barrels out of the water and everyone's here just waiting on another boat to come up,” Rorie said. “The boats are going up and down the stream now picking up more barrels.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">Authorities are trying to determine if they contained the chemicals identified on the labels and whether Clinton's water has been contaminated.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“What is on the barrels or what the labels that we're seeing indicate are surfactants and lubricants and those are commonly used in the drilling operation,” said Cecillea Pond-Mayo, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“We are going to be taking samples of the water and testing specifically for those contents.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">Mayor Rorie alleges that there has long been misconduct by companies involved in natural gas drilling in the area.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“I've been telling people what's been going on here for three years and no one has listened to me. Now we've got proof,” Rorie said.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">He said the barrel labels contain lot numbers and other data that can be used to trace where they came from.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“We don't know what company dumped them in the water,” Rorie said, “but we're going to find out. We're going to prosecute.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">The ADEQ spokeswoman says the barrels might not have been intentionally dumped.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">“There's a possibility that flooding may have contributed to the barrels actually being in the creek," said Pond-Mayo. "We don't know that for certain, but there is a possibility because of rising water, if the barrels were stacked on land, that that could have contributed to that. But that's something we're going to have to look at.”</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; ">The Arkansas Department of Health will determine whether Clinton's drinking water has been compromised.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.kuar.org/kuarnews/23773-fracking-fluid-drums-found-in-ark-creek.html">http://www.kuar.org/kuarnews/23773-fracking-fluid-drums-found-in-ark-creek.html</a></p><div><br /></div></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-10426043613963210442011-05-21T20:19:00.001+02:002011-05-21T20:19:37.149+02:00Utica shale video<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AW2qGewjb7k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-59677286973219071182011-05-12T16:13:00.000+02:002011-05-13T22:33:09.666+02:00French ban on shale gas drilling<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: medium; "><div id="articleInfo" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><span class="location" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: medium; "></span></span></p><h1 style="font-size: 32px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.1; font-weight: normal; ">French ban on shale gas drilling passes lower house</h1><div class="facebookRec" tns="no" style="clear: both; padding-top: 5px; "><iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2F2011%2F05%2F11%2Ffrance-gas-shale-idUSLDE74A2AR20110511&layout=standard&show_faces=false&width=450&action=recommend&colorscheme=light&height=35" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 450px; height: 35px; "></iframe></div><p></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><span class="location" style="font-weight: bold; "><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.6; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><span class="location" style="font-weight: bold; ">PARIS</span> | <span class="timestamp" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Wed May 11, 2011 1:51pm EDT</span></p></div><span class="focusParagraph"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.5; ">May 11 (Reuters) - France's lower house of parliament approved a bill on Wednesday that would ban shale gas drilling due to environmental concerns, as a freeze on the controversial practice remains in effect.</p></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">The bill will be considered by France's Senate in June.</p><span id="midArticle_1"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">The technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into shale rock formations at high pressure to force out oil and natural gas.</p><span id="midArticle_2"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">Opposition has centred over potential pollution from the large amounts of water and some detergent used in the process.</p><span id="midArticle_3"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">The bill, introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, forbids hydraulic fracturation and revokes existing shale gas permits.</p><span id="midArticle_4"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">In March, the government extended its moratorium on research and drilling for shale oil and gas, pending commissioned reports to establish their environmental impact.</p><span id="midArticle_5"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said that <a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/france" title="Full coverage of France" style="color: rgb(0, 110, 151); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">France</a> will not rule out research to develop new forms of the technology that would be less damaging to the environment.</p><span id="midArticle_6"></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; ">The authorities have granted exploration permits in southern France for shale gas and oil to companies including Total (<span id="symbol_TOTF.PA_0"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TOTF.PA" style="color: rgb(0, 110, 151); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">TOTF.PA</a></span>) and GDF Suez (<span id="symbol_GSZ.PA_1"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GSZ.PA" style="color: rgb(0, 110, 151); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">GSZ.PA</a></span>). (Reporting by Emile Picy, Writing by Alexandria Sage)</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; "><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/france-gas-shale-idUSLDE74A2AR20110511">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/france-gas-shale-idUSLDE74A2AR20110511</a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6; "><br /></p></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-36890789850043308212011-05-12T16:08:00.000+02:002011-05-13T22:33:09.609+02:00<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/timfvNgr_Q4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-8385260678079002222011-05-11T18:36:00.001+02:002011-05-30T15:04:37.057+02:00Oom Johannes<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aVFHQuDcu0M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-39642834460509148662011-05-10T20:24:00.000+02:002011-05-10T20:27:20.312+02:00Shale gas drilling contaminates drinking water<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); 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font-size: 1em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; width: 16px; height: 16px; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; background-position: -17px -167px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Twitter</a></li></ul></div></div></div><h1 class="story-header" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 34px; margin-top: 3px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 2.461em; clear: both; position: relative; width: 623px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; ">Shale gas drilling 'contaminates drinking water'</h1><span class="byline" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); margin-top: -1px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="byline-name" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font-size: 1.231em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">By Mark Kinver</span><span class="byline-title" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Science and environment reporter, BBC News</span></span><div class="videoInStoryC" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; float: right; display: inline; clear: both; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 320px; "><div id="emp-12056222-24333" class="emp page-bookmark-link-aware" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; "><object width="0" height="0" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; "></object><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 180px; width: 320px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 180px; width: 320px; position: relative; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50532000/jpg/_50532904_shale.jpg" height="180px" width="320px" alt="" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); 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margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Click to play</p></div></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 320px; height: 1px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "></div></div></div><div class=" bbccom-advert bbccom_visibility_hidden bbccom_companion" id="bbccom_companion_12056222" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 84px; visibility: hidden; margin-top: -1px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 300px; "><div class="bbccom_text bbccom_companion_text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; text-align: right; float: right; height: auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/questions/bbc_online/adverts_general" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; "></a></div></div><p class="caption" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; clear: both; position: relative; float: left; display: block; width: 320px; ">Rising prices has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction schemes</p></div><div class="story-feature related narrow" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; width: 144px; float: right; display: inline; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; clear: right; "><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473#story_continues_1" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; position: absolute; top: -5000px; left: -5000px; ">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 11px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.231em; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; ">Related Stories</h2><ul class="related-links-list" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; clear: both; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; border-top-color: initial; "><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13053040" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas may be worse than coal</a></li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12018009" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas: an energy saviour?</a></li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12056222" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">US energy alternative: Shale gas</a></li></ul></div><p class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas drilling operations increase the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane, a study has suggested.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Researchers found, on average, methane concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drilling sites.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Growing demand for energy has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction around the globe, prompting concerns about the impact of the technology.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The findings appear in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1100682108" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found surprising levels of methane in home-owners' wells that were close to natural gas wells, " co-author Rob Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Change at Duke University, North Carolina, explained.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found that within a kilometre of an active gas well, you were much more likely to have high methane concentrations," he told BBC News.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The team from Duke University collected samples from 68 private water wells in the north-eastern states of Pennsylvania and New York.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; "><strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font-weight: bold; ">Fire water</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found some extremely high concentrations of methane: 64 milligrams of methane per litre of drinking water, compared with a normal level of one milligram or lower," Professor Jackson observed.</p><div class="caption body-narrow-width" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; clear: both; float: right; display: inline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52619000/jpg/_52619886_firewatertapyoutubegrab.jpg" width="304" height="171" alt="Video footage of man appearing to set alight water from a tap (Image taken from YouTube)" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; -webkit-user-select: none; position: relative; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; " /><span style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; width: 304px; ">Professor Jackson said he had witnessed contaminated water being set alight</span></div><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"That sort of concentration is up at a level where people worry about an explosion hazard."</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Videos are available on the web that appear to show <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6G6Ap-mF0k" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">people setting fire to water pouring out of a tap</a>, and Professor Jackson said that he had witnessed such an spectacle himself.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">He agreed that the main concern at present was not from drinking the water, but from the risk of an explosion.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">However, he added that the team were calling for a medical review of chronic, low-level exposure to methane.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"I could not find any peer reviewed literature on the health effects of low level methane on people," He observed.</p><div class="videoInStoryB" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 448px; "><div id="emp-12043213-24334" class="emp page-bookmark-link-aware" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; "><object width="0" height="0" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; "></object><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 252px; width: 448px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 252px; width: 448px; position: relative; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50508000/jpg/_50508203_shale640.jpg" height="252px" width="448px" alt="" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; " /><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 92px; width: 108px; position: absolute; top: 50%; margin-top: -46px; left: 0%; margin-left: -13px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-indent: -5000%; cursor: pointer; z-index: 10; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/1_1_3_0_0_426652_426614_1/img/iplayer-overlay.png); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Click to play</p></div></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 448px; height: 1px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "></div></div></div><div class=" bbccom-advert bbccom_visibility_hidden bbccom_companion" id="bbccom_companion_12043213" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 84px; visibility: hidden; margin-top: -1px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 300px; "><div class="bbccom_text bbccom_companion_text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; text-align: right; float: right; height: auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/questions/bbc_online/adverts_general" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; "></a></div></div><p class="caption" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; clear: both; position: relative; float: none; display: block; ">The BBC's Roger Harrabin shows how to get fuel from hard rock</p></div><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Professor Jackson said that the simplest explanation of how the gas ended up in people's water supplies was down to "leaky gas well casings".</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"If there are cracks or imperfections in the gas well, especially in the vertical section nearer the surface, then methane and possibly fracking fluid/waters," he said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"That is the simplest and most likely explanation.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"There are other possibilities; some people have proposed that methane can migrate to the surface through fissures that are opened in process of fracturing the rock. To me, that is less likely."</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Professor Jackson was keen to point out that the study's drinking water samples revealed no evidence of contamination from fracking fluids, of which about five million gallons are used to unlock the gas in each well.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">As well as the PNAS study, the team has also <a href="http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">published a paper outlining a number of research recommendations</a>, highlighting areas they feel needs to be done in order to gain a stronger scientific insight into the impact of the technique.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">These include:</p><ul style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; "><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Initiate a medical review of the health effects of methane</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Construct a national database of methane and other chemical attributes in drinking water</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Evaluate the mechanisms of methane contamination in drinking water</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Refine estimates for greenhouse gas emissions of methane associated with shale gas extraction</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Systematically sample drinking water wells and deep formation waters</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Study disposal of waste waters from hydraulic fracturing and shale gas extraction</li></ul><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">In the UK, MPs are expected to publish a report shortly that considers the impact of shale gas extraction and what role it can play in terms of delivering future energy security.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/inquiries/shale-gas/" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry</a> will also assess what are the risks and hazards associated with drilling for shale gas?</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The combination of rising energy prices and concern about future energy supplies has seen the technology being embraced by nations around the globe.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"Ten years ago, people did not really know about this source of gas," said Professor Jackson.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"The boom in the United States started in the Barnett Shale (found in Texas, and considered to be the largest onshore gas reserve in the US) and it has only been in recent years that we have realised how much gas is out there and economically available.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"it is the combination of energy economics and the emergence of new drilling and fracturing technologies that have made it cheap enough to do."</p></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 25px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 24px;"><b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473</a></b></span></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2708671802630950097.post-60272152175768172252011-05-10T20:22:00.000+02:002011-05-10T20:23:51.036+02:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; "><div class="story-body" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 464px; "><span class="story-date" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; padding-top: 13px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; 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overflow-y: hidden; background-position: -17px -167px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Twitter</a></li></ul></div></div></div><h1 class="story-header" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 34px; margin-top: 3px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 2.461em; clear: both; position: relative; width: 623px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; ">Shale gas drilling 'contaminates drinking water'</h1><span class="byline" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); margin-top: -1px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="byline-name" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font-size: 1.231em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">By Mark Kinver</span><span class="byline-title" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Science and environment reporter, BBC News</span></span><div class="videoInStoryC" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; float: right; display: inline; clear: both; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 320px; "><div id="emp-12056222-24333" class="emp page-bookmark-link-aware" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; "><object width="0" height="0" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; "></object><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 180px; width: 320px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 180px; width: 320px; position: relative; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50532000/jpg/_50532904_shale.jpg" height="180px" width="320px" alt="" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; " /><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 92px; width: 108px; position: absolute; top: 50%; margin-top: -46px; left: 0%; margin-left: -13px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-indent: -5000%; cursor: pointer; z-index: 10; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/1_1_3_0_0_426652_426614_1/img/iplayer-overlay.png); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Click to play</p></div></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 320px; height: 1px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "></div></div></div><div class=" bbccom-advert bbccom_visibility_hidden bbccom_companion" id="bbccom_companion_12056222" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 84px; visibility: hidden; margin-top: -1px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 300px; "><div class="bbccom_text bbccom_companion_text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; text-align: right; float: right; height: auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/questions/bbc_online/adverts_general" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; "></a></div></div><p class="caption" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; clear: both; position: relative; float: left; display: block; width: 320px; ">Rising prices has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction schemes</p></div><div class="story-feature related narrow" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; width: 144px; float: right; display: inline; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; clear: right; "><a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473#story_continues_1" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; position: absolute; top: -5000px; left: -5000px; ">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 11px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.231em; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; ">Related Stories</h2><ul class="related-links-list" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; clear: both; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; border-top-color: initial; "><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13053040" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas may be worse than coal</a></li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12018009" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas: an energy saviour?</a></li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12056222" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">US energy alternative: Shale gas</a></li></ul></div><p class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; font-weight: bold; ">Shale gas drilling operations increase the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane, a study has suggested.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Researchers found, on average, methane concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drilling sites.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Growing demand for energy has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction around the globe, prompting concerns about the impact of the technology.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The findings appear in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1100682108" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found surprising levels of methane in home-owners' wells that were close to natural gas wells, " co-author Rob Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Change at Duke University, North Carolina, explained.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found that within a kilometre of an active gas well, you were much more likely to have high methane concentrations," he told BBC News.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The team from Duke University collected samples from 68 private water wells in the north-eastern states of Pennsylvania and New York.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; "><strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font-weight: bold; ">Fire water</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"We found some extremely high concentrations of methane: 64 milligrams of methane per litre of drinking water, compared with a normal level of one milligram or lower," Professor Jackson observed.</p><div class="caption body-narrow-width" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; clear: both; float: right; display: inline; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: -160px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52619000/jpg/_52619886_firewatertapyoutubegrab.jpg" width="304" height="171" alt="Video footage of man appearing to set alight water from a tap (Image taken from YouTube)" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; -webkit-user-select: none; position: relative; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; " /><span style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; width: 304px; ">Professor Jackson said he had witnessed contaminated water being set alight</span></div><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"That sort of concentration is up at a level where people worry about an explosion hazard."</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Videos are available on the web that appear to show <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6G6Ap-mF0k" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">people setting fire to water pouring out of a tap</a>, and Professor Jackson said that he had witnessed such an spectacle himself.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">He agreed that the main concern at present was not from drinking the water, but from the risk of an explosion.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">However, he added that the team were calling for a medical review of chronic, low-level exposure to methane.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"I could not find any peer reviewed literature on the health effects of low level methane on people," He observed.</p><div class="videoInStoryB" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 448px; "><div id="emp-12043213-24334" class="emp page-bookmark-link-aware" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; position: relative; "><object width="0" height="0" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; display: block; "></object><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 252px; width: 448px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 252px; width: 448px; position: relative; "><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50508000/jpg/_50508203_shale640.jpg" height="252px" width="448px" alt="" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; " /><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 92px; width: 108px; position: absolute; top: 50%; margin-top: -46px; left: 0%; margin-left: -13px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-indent: -5000%; cursor: pointer; z-index: 10; background-image: url(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/1_1_3_0_0_426652_426614_1/img/iplayer-overlay.png); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Click to play</p></div></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 448px; height: 1px; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "></div></div></div><div class=" bbccom-advert bbccom_visibility_hidden bbccom_companion" id="bbccom_companion_12043213" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; height: 84px; visibility: hidden; margin-top: -1px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 300px; "><div class="bbccom_text bbccom_companion_text" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; text-align: right; float: right; height: auto; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/questions/bbc_online/adverts_general" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font: normal normal bold 10px/23px helvetica, arial, sans-serif !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: transparent; "></a></div></div><p class="caption" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; text-rendering: auto; clear: both; position: relative; float: none; display: block; ">The BBC's Roger Harrabin shows how to get fuel from hard rock</p></div><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Professor Jackson said that the simplest explanation of how the gas ended up in people's water supplies was down to "leaky gas well casings".</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"If there are cracks or imperfections in the gas well, especially in the vertical section nearer the surface, then methane and possibly fracking fluid/waters," he said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"That is the simplest and most likely explanation.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"There are other possibilities; some people have proposed that methane can migrate to the surface through fissures that are opened in process of fracturing the rock. To me, that is less likely."</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">Professor Jackson was keen to point out that the study's drinking water samples revealed no evidence of contamination from fracking fluids, of which about five million gallons are used to unlock the gas in each well.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">As well as the PNAS study, the team has also <a href="http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">published a paper outlining a number of research recommendations</a>, highlighting areas they feel needs to be done in order to gain a stronger scientific insight into the impact of the technique.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">These include:</p><ul style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; "><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Initiate a medical review of the health effects of methane</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Construct a national database of methane and other chemical attributes in drinking water</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Evaluate the mechanisms of methane contamination in drinking water</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Refine estimates for greenhouse gas emissions of methane associated with shale gas extraction</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Systematically sample drinking water wells and deep formation waters</li><li style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 16px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/1_4_13/cream/hi/shared/img/story_sprite.gif); background-position: -1200px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; ">Study disposal of waste waters from hydraulic fracturing and shale gas extraction</li></ul><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">In the UK, MPs are expected to publish a report shortly that considers the impact of shale gas extraction and what role it can play in terms of delivering future energy security.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/inquiries/shale-gas/" style="color: rgb(31, 79, 130); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry</a> will also assess what are the risks and hazards associated with drilling for shale gas?</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">The combination of rising energy prices and concern about future energy supplies has seen the technology being embraced by nations around the globe.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"Ten years ago, people did not really know about this source of gas," said Professor Jackson.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"The boom in the United States started in the Barnett Shale (found in Texas, and considered to be the largest onshore gas reserve in the US) and it has only been in recent years that we have realised how much gas is out there and economically available.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.077em; text-rendering: auto; clear: left; ">"it is the combination of energy economics and the emergence of new drilling and fracturing technologies that have made it cheap enough to do."</p><div><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473</a></div></div><div style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; "><div class="story-related" style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-bottom: 24px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; width: 464px; clear: both; position: relative; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; "></div></div></span>Willem Avenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02560817272157669303noreply@blogger.com0