Karoo Anti Hydraulic Fracturing Action Network

Fracking talk

2011-10-14T14:11:00.002+02:00

Fracking

Implications for South Africa

Jonathan Deal
Chairman of Treasure the Karoo Action Group

UCT Middle Campus

Kramer Lecture Theatre 1
Thursday 20 Oct 2011
18h00 for 18h30

All welcome, please RSVP to Robyn: admin02@treasurethekaroo.co.za

2011-09-19T19:02:00.002+02:00

A call to arms

2011-09-14T20:09:00.003+02:00

A CALL TO ARMS

SEPTEMBER 2011

My dear friends and fellow South Africans,

An oft-quoted adage reminds us that evil prospers when good men do nothing.

This is a simple appeal for your help and commitment to be involved in opposing the rapid and ill-considered
approval of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in this country.

Since January this year, TREASURE KAROO ACTION GROUP (TKAG) has developed into the foremost opposition to the
plans of Shell and others to frack South Africa. We have achieved an enviable media profile on the back of a selfless
volunteer effort. My personal contribution has been some R400 000 of my retirement funds and a seven-day a week
commitment that has seen significant impacts on personal and business life.

I have done it willingly, and I will continue to do so.

WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW.

Please create a recurring payment to TKAG on your internet banking profile for any amount that you think fit. No
amount is too small – even R100 per month. All donations will make a big difference. The answer is in continued
support, so please choose a number that you can maintain without even thinking about it.

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
Karoo problem – fracking will spread across the country – and the costs to this country in areas such as, water,
health, roads, tourism, and agriculture will affect every South African.

THE ACCOUNT IS CONTROLLED BY A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT AND YOU MAY REQUEST A BANK STATEMENT BY
EMAIL AT ANY TIME.
TKAG TRUST FUND ACCOUNT
STANDARD BANK FISHHOEK BRANCH 072072849
BRANCH CODE 051001

PLEASE USE YOUR LAST NAME FOLLOWED BY JKD TO IDENTIFY YOUR CONTRIBUTION

Thank you and best wishes,
Jonathan

Chairman

Industry funded watchdog on Fracking will simply not work

2011-08-17T13:20:00.001+02:00

Industry funded watchdog on Fracking will simply not work

By Jonathan Deal,

Treasure Karoo Action Group

TKAG chairman, Jonathan Deal responds to a proposition that Shell fund an independent monitoring group to act as a watchdog over fracking

The questions posed by Prof. De Witt’s paper[1] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

It is inter alia, these questions that the scientists, economists, oil companies, and government appear to be overlooking.

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.

Shale gas burns cleaner. Yes it does. But Jan-Willem Eggink of Shell is on record in Johannesburg on July 19^th 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 Co²emissions in a fracking operation form lethal ozone. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) than the emissions from coal-fired plants.

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.

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:

· 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);

· How long will those jobs last?

· What health effects will be experienced by workers exposed to chemicals and emissions in a fracking operation?

· 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;

· The impact of fracking hundreds of thousands of wells on the country’s rural development program and land tenure act;

· 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?

· By Shell’s own figures 400 producing wells in Wyoming are supervised by only 66 Shell employees.

· 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.

· 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.

So shale gas mining may not the panacea for poverty in South Africa.

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).

There may be much ado about nothing.

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.

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?

Our transport and road infrastructure

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.

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.’

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?

In the interests of brevity, my comment must stop here, with a concluding statement.

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. TKAG 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.

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.

[1] DE Wit MJ. The great shale debate in the Karoo, S AFR J Sci. 2011;107(7/8), Art. 791

Aus farmers stand up to fracking

2011-08-14T21:32:00.000+02:00

Farm gate gas protest gathers steam

Updated: 12:01, Sunday August 14, 2011

Thousands of farm gates across Queensland and NSW bear a yellow triangle with the words 'lock the gate'.
The triangle hangs like a talisman, desperately trying to ward off a great evil.
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).
So far farmers swear by it, believing their efforts are hampering the companies.
The situation has forged an unlikely alliance, with farmers and environmental activists alike willing to stand in front of bulldozers.
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.
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.
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.
In the United States, fracking has contaminated aquifers with some residents able to set their water on fire.
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.
England, France, New York and South Africa have banned fracking because of environmental and health issues.
Australian farmers fighting the industry have attracted high profile support from Olivia Newton-John, Alan Jones, Bob Irwin and Senator Barnaby Joyce.
Gas leases in Queensland and New South Wales already cover an area ten times the size of Tasmania, the campaigners say.
They want a moratorium on CSG mining until all health, social and environmental risks have been fully explored.
But despite the groundswell of support for the farmers, they face one major hurdle.
In tricky economic times, state and federal governments are banking on the gas rush to boost the economy.
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.
CSG wells are spreading like bushfire across Queensland, a state struggling to regain its AAA credit rating, reduce debt and create more jobs.
It's mainly affecting agricultural land, including the major food bowl area of the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane.
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.
'It's a critical part of the economic policy we've pursued,' Mr Fraser said.
'We committed to delivering this industry at the last election and that's what we're doing.
'It's a whole new export industry for the state.'
Mr Fraser said he understands the concern over fracking but argues that Queensland has 'world class regulation'.
'There's more than 1700 conditions on these projects,' he said.
'It's also not a new industry.
'Coal seam gas exploration and extraction has been conducted safely now for more than a decade (in Queensland).'
The government has also banned the use of cancer-causing chemicals, collectively known as BTEX, in fracking fluids.
But a group of medical experts, including 1996 Nobel Prize winner for medicine Professor Peter Doherty, argue this doesn't go far enough.
Their submission to a Senate inquiry into CSG says fracking itself can release BTEX chemicals that naturally exist in the coal seams.
'The fracking process itself can release BTEX from natural gas reservoirs, allowing them to escape into aquifers or the surrounding air,' the submission says.
'BTEX chemicals have been found after at least two fracking operations in Queensland.'
The experts say long-term exposure to the chemicals can cause leukaemia, affect the reproductive system and harm unborn children.
'BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) are frequently found together in petroleum compounds,' they write.
'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.
'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.'
But CSG companies say there's no proof fracking will contaminate aquifers.
QGC, a subsidiary of global gas giant BG Group, says 99 per cent of the fracking fluid is sand and water.
'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.
'Ketchup has some guar gum in it. Potassium chloride is a salt substitute.
'The chemicals are used in such small dosage it is immeasurable once we're done.'
Mr Knudsen said the chemicals allow the gas to flow more easily and limit the number of wells needed.
He said good design of pipes or wells would stop groundwater contamination.
But his assurances give Lock the Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton no comfort.
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.
'The next election will be won and lost on this issue,' Mr Hutton said.
'We are going to put pressure on the political parties and will campaign against anyone who won't install the appropriate protections.'

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Shell battles to stem North Sea oil leak

2011-08-13T16:38:00.001+02:00

Have a look at this, so much for cutting edge technology:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/oil-leak-detected-on-north-sea-platform-2337102.html

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5c47c8f2-c508-11e0-ba51-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UuKwzK00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8698916/Shell-battles-to-stem-North-Sea-oil-leak.html

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/251652/shell-battling-north-sea-oil-pipeline-leak

Brothers in Arms - Cape Town Anti Fracking March, 9 Aug 2011

2011-08-10T17:02:00.000+02:00

Fracking demonstration in Cape Town

2011-08-09T18:12:00.000+02:00

Fracking demos take to streets

2011-08-09 15:49

kalahari.com

Destination - Cape Town
Was R156.95 Now R149.10

BUY NOW

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"A lot of the waste water from fracking may be discharged into rivers and the chemicals may leach up radioactivity under ground.

"Water becomes your blood plasma and spinal fluid.

"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."

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".

"I'm a musician and I'm going to write a song about this," one of the older male protesters said.

"You know they have the slogan 'go well go Shell', well my lyrics will be 'go well go to hell'."

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.

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".

- SAPA

Read more on: shell | cape town | fracking | environment

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Frack Attack music video

2011-07-28T18:11:00.001+02:00

The Karoo is to valuable

2011-07-28T18:10:00.001+02:00

We are being as fractured as the shale beneath our feet.

2011-07-20T17:34:00.001+02:00

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.

Royal Dutch Shell to be tasked over fracking at shale gas conference

2011-07-14T14:15:00.001+02:00

A senior Shell General manager Jan-Willem Eggink, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"This form of fracking — horizontal fracking — is relatively new. Shell cannot state categorically that its action will not have a deleterious impact 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."

Deal said that Shell needs to understand that its actions could irrevocably damage the Karoo. He recently 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".

"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.

"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."

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 includes experts from the Departments of Water and the Environment.

Shell and the ANC

2011-05-27T17:16:00.001+02:00

From this video it is CLEAR that Shell and the ANC has come a long way together.

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.

Exactly what is the relationship between Shell and the ANC??????

Another well blow-out

2011-05-23T20:00:00.001+02:00

Dalby well blow out sent gas 90m in air: landholder

By James Nason23 May 2011

UPDATE:

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.

A statement from Arrow said the well had been capped and secured.

Arrow said it had commenced an investigation into the cause of the incident which is expected to take approximately a fortnight.

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
ensure a better understanding of the incident and measures in place which aim to prevent the risk of re-occurrence."

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.

Tom O’Connor runs an irrigated and dryland grain and cattle growing operation, including a feedlot, at Daandine west of Dalby.

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.

He said the incident occurred when contractors were trying to bring a CSG well into production.

“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.”

“I didn’t see it at the start but they tell me it was going 80 to 90 metres in the air.”

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.

Saline water can render agricultural country unproductive.

“It is still going on, they have had a few attempts to stop it,” Mr O'Connor said at 10:30am.

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.

“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.

“They are talking about changing pumps and hoses to try and stop it.

“They have got health and safety here, they have got ambulances here, they just have to stop it somehow.”

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.

“We have had lots of incidents with Arrow Energy, don’t start me,” he said.

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.

Mr O'Connor expressed frustration at the apparent lack of regulatory controls over the industry and protections for landholders.

“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.

“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.”

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.

“There are no Government standards for drilling gas wells in Queensland, which is hard to believe,” he said.

“Apparently they are being developed, but it is another case of everything being done too late.”

“It just shows a total lack of care and consideration of the gas industry

“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.

“As far as this goes, there is obviously a serious lack of safety standards in this process.”

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.

http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/95

Aus feeling strain, 60 day moratorium imposed there over land use.

2011-05-22T18:59:00.001+02:00

State freezes exploration licences for new mining.

Sean Nicholls; Ben Cubby

21 May 2011

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The first of them will target conflict hotspots such as the Hunter Valley and Upper Hunter, Liverpool Plains and the southern highlands.

Mr Hazzard said the new policy would be ''fair dinkum, honest and transparent'' but described its development as a ''balancing act''.

He said business might ''wonder'' about the new policy but it would provide business with greater certainty.

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.

''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.

''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.''

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.

''It is not clear what this moratorium will achieve and we will be seeking further information from the NSW government,'' she said.

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.

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.

''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.

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.

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.

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.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-freezes-exploration-licences-for-new-mining-20110520-1ewos.html

Fracking Fluid in River

2011-05-21T20:30:00.000+02:00

Fracking Fluid Drums Found In Arkansas Creek

May 20th 2011By Michael_Hibblen

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Hydraulic fracturing fluid being reclaimed at a natural gas well site near Burlington, Pa. (AP)

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.

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.

“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.”

He says a fisherman discovered the barrels, which emergency crews then removed.

“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.”

Authorities are trying to determine if they contained the chemicals identified on the labels and whether Clinton's water has been contaminated.

“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.

“We are going to be taking samples of the water and testing specifically for those contents.”

Mayor Rorie alleges that there has long been misconduct by companies involved in natural gas drilling in the area.

“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.

He said the barrel labels contain lot numbers and other data that can be used to trace where they came from.

“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.”

The ADEQ spokeswoman says the barrels might not have been intentionally dumped.

“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.”

The Arkansas Department of Health will determine whether Clinton's drinking water has been compromised.

http://www.kuar.org/kuarnews/23773-fracking-fluid-drums-found-in-ark-creek.html

Utica shale video

2011-05-21T20:19:00.001+02:00

French ban on shale gas drilling

2011-05-12T16:13:00.000+02:00

French ban on shale gas drilling passes lower house

PARIS | Wed May 11, 2011 1:51pm EDT

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.

The bill will be considered by France's Senate in June.

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.

Opposition has centred over potential pollution from the large amounts of water and some detergent used in the process.

The bill, introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, forbids hydraulic fracturation and revokes existing shale gas permits.

In March, the government extended its moratorium on research and drilling for shale oil and gas, pending commissioned reports to establish their environmental impact.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said that France will not rule out research to develop new forms of the technology that would be less damaging to the environment.

The authorities have granted exploration permits in southern France for shale gas and oil to companies including Total (TOTF.PA) and GDF Suez (GSZ.PA). (Reporting by Emile Picy, Writing by Alexandria Sage)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/france-gas-shale-idUSLDE74A2AR20110511

2011-05-12T16:08:00.000+02:00

Oom Johannes

2011-05-11T18:36:00.001+02:00

Shale gas drilling contaminates drinking water

2011-05-10T20:24:00.000+02:00

9 May 2011 Last updated at 21:21 GMT

Shale gas drilling 'contaminates drinking water'

By Mark KinverScience and environment reporter, BBC News

Click to play

Rising prices has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction schemes

Shale gas drilling operations increase the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane, a study has suggested.

Researchers found, on average, methane concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drilling sites.

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.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"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.

"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.

The team from Duke University collected samples from 68 private water wells in the north-eastern states of Pennsylvania and New York.

Fire water

"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.

Professor Jackson said he had witnessed contaminated water being set alight

"That sort of concentration is up at a level where people worry about an explosion hazard."

Videos are available on the web that appear to show people setting fire to water pouring out of a tap, and Professor Jackson said that he had witnessed such an spectacle himself.

He agreed that the main concern at present was not from drinking the water, but from the risk of an explosion.

However, he added that the team were calling for a medical review of chronic, low-level exposure to methane.

"I could not find any peer reviewed literature on the health effects of low level methane on people," He observed.

Click to play

The BBC's Roger Harrabin shows how to get fuel from hard rock

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".

"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.

"That is the simplest and most likely explanation.

"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."

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.

As well as the PNAS study, the team has also published a paper outlining a number of research recommendations, highlighting areas they feel needs to be done in order to gain a stronger scientific insight into the impact of the technique.

These include:

Initiate a medical review of the health effects of methane
Construct a national database of methane and other chemical attributes in drinking water
Evaluate the mechanisms of methane contamination in drinking water
Refine estimates for greenhouse gas emissions of methane associated with shale gas extraction
Systematically sample drinking water wells and deep formation waters
Study disposal of waste waters from hydraulic fracturing and shale gas extraction

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.

The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry will also assess what are the risks and hazards associated with drilling for shale gas?

The combination of rising energy prices and concern about future energy supplies has seen the technology being embraced by nations around the globe.

"Ten years ago, people did not really know about this source of gas," said Professor Jackson.

"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.

"it is the combination of energy economics and the emergence of new drilling and fracturing technologies that have made it cheap enough to do."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473

2011-05-10T20:22:00.000+02:00

9 May 2011 Last updated at 21:21 GMT

Shale gas drilling 'contaminates drinking water'

By Mark KinverScience and environment reporter, BBC News

Click to play

Rising prices has led to a sharp increase in shale gas extraction schemes

Shale gas drilling operations increase the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane, a study has suggested.

Researchers found, on average, methane concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drilling sites.

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.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"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.

The team from Duke University collected samples from 68 private water wells in the north-eastern states of Pennsylvania and New York.

Fire water

"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.

Professor Jackson said he had witnessed contaminated water being set alight

"That sort of concentration is up at a level where people worry about an explosion hazard."

Videos are available on the web that appear to show people setting fire to water pouring out of a tap, and Professor Jackson said that he had witnessed such an spectacle himself.

He agreed that the main concern at present was not from drinking the water, but from the risk of an explosion.

However, he added that the team were calling for a medical review of chronic, low-level exposure to methane.

"I could not find any peer reviewed literature on the health effects of low level methane on people," He observed.

Click to play

The BBC's Roger Harrabin shows how to get fuel from hard rock

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".

"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.

"That is the simplest and most likely explanation.

"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."

These include:

Initiate a medical review of the health effects of methane
Construct a national database of methane and other chemical attributes in drinking water
Evaluate the mechanisms of methane contamination in drinking water
Refine estimates for greenhouse gas emissions of methane associated with shale gas extraction
Systematically sample drinking water wells and deep formation waters
Study disposal of waste waters from hydraulic fracturing and shale gas extraction

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.

The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry will also assess what are the risks and hazards associated with drilling for shale gas?

The combination of rising energy prices and concern about future energy supplies has seen the technology being embraced by nations around the globe.

"Ten years ago, people did not really know about this source of gas," said Professor Jackson.

"it is the combination of energy economics and the emergence of new drilling and fracturing technologies that have made it cheap enough to do."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13333473

Reports on Fracking

2011-05-09T17:19:00.002+02:00

How unconventional gas threatens our Health, Water and Climate, by DeSmogBlog Society of British Columbia.

Shale gas: a provisional assessment of climate change and environmental impacts report by researchers at The Tyndall Centre University of Manchester

Addressing the Environmental Risks from Shale Gas Development by Mark Zoback Saya Kitasei Brad Copithorne

Separating Fracks from Fiction by James Northru p

Frack Truck Convoys by Chip Northrup

Fracking news from Aus

2011-05-08T19:12:00.005+02:00

NSW Govt announces tough new mining measures
Posted Thu May 5, 2011 9:00am AEST

The New South Wales Government says a tough new interim assessment regime will now be applied to mining and coal seam gas extraction applications.
The interim policy applies in regional areas to reduce conflict between agriculture and tourism, and the expanding coal and coal seam gas industries.
The Coalition promised a tough transition policy taking a precautionary approach to regional mining, within four weeks of being elected.
The Resources and Energy Minister Chris Hartcher says that policy now applies.
Before the election the Coalition promised agricultural impact assessments, community involvement and protection of aquifers.
But full details will not be made public for another two weeks, when the O'Farrell Government identifies protected areas in regional land use plans accross the state.
Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner says the Government is working on drafting the full legislative reform to ensure mining does not take precedence over agriculture.
"In the meantime these transitional arrangements pick up a lot of our policy to ensure that those protections are in place that where we're considering any form of mining development whether that's gas extraction or whether it's an open cut or underground mine that we are considering properly the impacts on agricultural land, that includes the impacts on water."
Fiona Simpson from the New South Wales Farmers Association says it is about time the process for awarding mining licenses was changed.
"We're very gratified that the Government is going to make good on their promises here, and we look forward to talking to them more about this process," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/05/3208243.htm

Moratorium excerpt from Cabinet meeting.

2011-05-08T19:09:00.001+02:00

http://www.gcis.gov.za/newsroom/releases/cabstate/2011/110421.htm#

Statement on the Cabinet meeting held on 20 April 2011

2. Key strategic decisions by Cabinet included the following

2.2 Cabinet has endorsed the decision by the Department of Minerals to invoke a moratorium on licenses in the Karoo where fracking is proposed. The Department of Minerals will lead a multi disciplinary team including the Departments of Trade & Industry , Science and Technology, amongst others, to fully research the full implications of the proposed fracking. Cabinet has made it very clear that clean environment together with all the ecological aspects will not be compromised.

I will die for water

2011-05-08T16:38:00.001+02:00

2011-05-07T12:32:00.001+02:00

Obama forms panel to improve fracking safety

Thu May 5, 2011 10:01pm GMT

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* Made at request of President Barack Obama

* Panel to identify steps to improve safety in 90 days

WASHINGTON May 5 (Reuters) - After a series of high-profile natural gas drilling spills, the U.S. Energy Department named a panel to recommend ways to improve the safety of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique that has expanded the country's potential to extract the fuel.

President Barack Obama asked the DOE to form the panel of academic and environmental experts to identify any immediate steps that can be taken to improve the safety and environmental performance of fracking, the DOE said on Thursday.

The panel, which includes John Deutch, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Daniel Yergin, the chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, will report those steps within 90 days of beginning their work.

Within six months they will also develop advice for the government on practices for shale extraction to ensure public health and the environment.

"America's vast natural gas resources can generate many new jobs and provide significant environmental benefits, but we need to ensure we harness these resources safely," DOE Secretary Steven Chu said in a release.

In fracking, drillers unlock trapped natural gas by cracking rocks deep underground with blasts of mixed water, sand and chemicals.

Drillers say fracking has opened up vast new supplies of natural gas that will reduce imports of the fuel. Backers also say it could reduce oil imports in the future, if vehicles are converted to run on natural gas.

But residents near drilling wells have complained fracking has polluted ground water supplies. In addition, accidents at wells have led to fires and floods of fracking fluids have reached streams.

Late last month Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N: Quote) suspended fracking operations in Pennsylvania after thousands of gallons of drilling fluid used in the process spewed from a well after a blowout.

And early this year a Congressional probe found a dozen energy companies used diesel in their fracking fluid without permits.

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying fracking practices, but initial results are not expected until late 2012.

The other members of the panel are Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, Kathleen McGinty, a former secretary of of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Susan Tierney, a managing principal at Analysis Group, which does economic and financial consulting, and Mark Zoback, a geophysics professor at Stanford University. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0517394420110505?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

2011-05-05T17:36:00.001+02:00

Fracking: Vat jou goed en pak, vrak

by Janine Stephen
5 May 2011
Advertising

Imagine: You’re a small activist group, just a few months old and relatively unknown. You’re up against a multinational oil company with limitless resources and a formidable spin machine. What to do? Turn to a diverse, irreverent group of advertising students switched on to the power of social media for advice, of course.

Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) did just this as one aspect of the fight against Shell’s plans to use hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ to uncover natural gas deposits in the pristine Karoo. Post-graduate students at Cape Town’s Red&Yellow School of Logic & Magic were given a clear brief: create awareness of the threat, build support for and knowledge of the TKAG as a middle of the road, factual, socially responsible activist organisation and get the public involved – fast, with a minimal budget.

An additional incentive was that musician David Kramer, himself a vocal opponent of fracking, had said he might end up singing any viable jingles or ditties the students produced. The students had three weeks to come up with the goods, and this week presented a variety of campaigns to TKAG national co-ordinator and spokesperson Jonathan Deal and its legal advisor, energy sector attorney Dr Luke Havemann.

Not in my Country
Clad in customised T-shirts sporting slogans such as ‘Frack is a dirty word with even dirtier consequences’ and ‘I [heart] Karoo’, the students concentrated on less traditional media to promote awareness, from Do It Yourself stickers that could be downloaded and printed out, to unusual outdoor marketing techniques that would fire up curiosity and send the public to the web for more information.

Viral marketing techniques and ‘vigilante advertising’ that would help ‘initiate a groundswell of an almost revolutionary nature’ against Shell and allow the public to help spread the word via Facebook and Twitter were also a strong feature.

Some of the most innovative ideas included sheepskin mirror socks tagged with the slogan ‘It’s our Karoo, Let’s Treasure it’ as well as an idea to use white-washed rocks on Karoo hillsides along the N1 to spell out anti-fracking slogans such as ‘Not in my Karoo’ (a play on the squeamish ‘Not in my backyard’).

A logo of a cartoon sheep wearing a gas mask was the unifying factor of another presentation; one out-there method suggested to raise awareness included putting charcoal in public loos (an accompanying sticker or poster would note that pollution caused by fracking could not be ‘flushed away’.)

One team suggested getting a supermarket and clothing store well-known for its ‘green’ stance on board – and suggested that they use Karoo locals rather than the usual models in their advertising campaigns along with pithy comments made by such locals such as, ‘Dis maar net bliksems mooi’. This would be a way of honouring a culture under threat (a documentary that would ask locals how they would ‘say goodbye to the land they knew and loved’ was also suggested).

Another proposal included a model of a black sheep that would travel the country on the back of a bakkie – and stop at places where supporters could write messages of support on it in white marker pen, thus cleansing it.

Ideas to be unleashed
‘The campaigns were magnificent,’ Deal said later. ‘I believe that … we will end up with a campaign that incorporates elements from a number of the groups. We’re going to make use of this, there’s no doubt it will be pivotal in the opposition to fracking.’

Havermann agreed the ideas were strong. ‘[The message] is grassroots, it’s young, it’s passionate, it’s all the things you want it to be… it just needs to be unleashed.’ He felt elements could be used in the international fight against fracking, and would be ‘lapped up’ in countries like the UK.

John Cooney, Red & Yellow MD, noted that the strength of viral and digital marketing was that it is so believable. ‘It’s not, with respect, the chairman of Shell reading a beautifully prepared statement which the spin doctors have been working on… these young people are talking about what they really believe in. It’s from the heart, it’s not sanitised. It adds credibility to the message. And it’s the least expensive.’ By involving the public, ‘people themselves can become ambassadors for the cause and spread things very quickly.’

So pak, vrak
The TKAG has some breathing space now that government has placed a moratorium on fracking to give a task team time to investigate the issues. But don’t be surprised if, in the months to come, you switch on the radio to hear David Kramer crooning English and Afrikaans lyrics along the lines of: ‘Vat jou goed en pak, vrak /Jou geldjies in jou sak, vrak /ons almal staan nou saam teen jou / jou skelm ou /so pak, vrak.’

For more information, visit: http://www.treasurethekaroo.blogspot.com/

2011-05-04T17:00:00.001+02:00

2011-05-04T16:59:00.002+02:00

2011-05-02T19:50:00.000+02:00

Over 100 Homes Evacuated, Roads Closed After Natural Gas Well Explosion

Posted: Apr 27, 2011 11:07 AM by Kate Durio
Updated: Apr 27, 2011 12:56 PM

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Topics: Over 100 Homes Evacuated,Roads Closed After Rig Explosion

Louisiana State Police say that over 100 homes have been evacuated following the natural gas well explosion at 1142 Bourque Road in Lafayette near Duson. The rig is still spewing mud.

Police are shutting down the following roads:

Golden Grain Road and Fieldspan Road, Odessa Road and Sellers Road,
Monte Road and Lagneaux Road, Denais Road and Leblanc Road.

Police say these roads will be closed for hours.

Any residents with questions are asked to go to Judice Middle School located at 2645 South Fieldspan Road, Duson, LA. The Red Cross and the Office of Emergency Preparedness are set up there to answer questions.

Alexander day care also evacuated.

Moratorium

2011-04-21T14:47:00.000+02:00

Igesund gives up on Modise

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Cabinet Endorses Decision On Moratorium On Fracking Licences

Thursday, April 21, 2011 | Comments: 0

Cabinet has endorsed the decision by the mineral resources department to invoke a moratorium on licences in the Karoo Basin where "fracking" is proposed.

"Fracking" is hydraulic fracturing, a technique for extracting shale gas from deep underground by pumping a pressurised mixture of water, sand and chemicals down drill holes.

The department would lead a multi-disciplinary team, including the trade and industry and science and technology departments, to fully research the full implications of the proposed fracking, government spokesman Jimmy Manyi told a media briefing following Cabinet's regular fortnightly meeting.

"Cabinet has made it very clear that [a] clean environment together with all the ecological aspects will not be compromised," he said.

On Wednesday, it emerged that there was little chance that oil giant Shell's plans to prospect for shale gas in the Karoo using the "fracking" method would have an impact on South Africa's bid to host the square kilometre array (SKA) radio telescope.

In written reply to a question in the National Council of Provinces, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said an application for prospecting had no impact on South Africa's bid to host the SKA.

"An application can only have impact if granted," she said.

"If the Shell application is granted, and if Shell uses communication systems with frequency ranges that interfere with radio telescope operations, the prospecting will affect radio astronomy."

However, the South African SKA project office (SASPO) had proactively met with Shell and Golder Associates to indicate communications restrictions.

"All operations in the Karoo will be comprehensively addressed through regulations under the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act 2007, which are expected to be finalised in the 2012/13 financial year, following consideration of the outcomes of the public consultations on the astronomy regulations," Pandor said.

The Act gives the sole right to regulate the zone in which the SKA will operate to the minister of science and technology.

South Africa and Australia were shortlisted in 2006 as locations for the SKA project.

The SKA will cost about EU2 billion to build, and require between EU150 million and EU200m a year, for 50 years, to maintain and operate.

An announcement on who has won the bid will be made early next year.

In a statement later on Thursday, the Democratic Alliance welcomed Cabinet's endorsement.

"The DA appreciates that common sense has prevailed," DA spokesman Gareth Morgan said.

The DA also welcomed the announcement that a strategic environmental assessment would be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team.

The endorsement was also welcomed by the Treasure Karoo Action Group (TKAG) in another statement.

"Cabinet clearly realised what other countries have realised -- the issue of fracking is too complex to be decided on by one single authority or one single department."

A multi-disciplinary team should look at an issue of this magnitude.

"From our side, we will now make sure we co-operate with and give all the assistance we can to government as they make sure that every aspect of the environmental impact assessment is taken care of," TKAG said.

Sapa

Nice videos

2011-04-20T21:28:00.001+02:00

http://www.vimeo.com/groups/88772

2011-04-20T21:17:00.001+02:00

Stop Hydraulic Fracturing in the Karoo. from Happy Handgrenade on Vimeo.

Cool Videos

2011-04-20T21:16:00.001+02:00

http://www.vimeo.com/groups/88772

Gas well blowout releases fracking fluid into environment

2011-04-20T21:07:00.002+02:00

Gas well blowout releases fracking fluid into environment

STAFF REPORT

Published: April 20, 2011

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A natural gas driller in Bradford County lost control of a well early this morning, releasing fluids into the environment.
The Atgas 2H well operated by Chesapeake Energy in Leroy Township blew out at around 2 a.m., according to Bradford County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Skip Roupp.
The well was in the process of being hydraulically fractured and Roupp characterized the spilled fluid as "mostly water ... with some contaminants" but he did not know the exact composition of the fluid.
"Evidently the crack is in the top part of the well below the blowout preventer," he said, referring to a device used in emergency situations to choke off flow from a well. "They don't really know what happened yet because they don't have it controlled yet."
Personnel from the Department of Environmental Protection, Bradford County EMA and Chesapeake Energy are on scene, he said.
Roupp said the well site is in a remote area on a mountain top and that the fluid had reached a small stream but had not yet reached any larger streams.
"It was released to the environment," he said, adding that it did not pose a risk to neighbors because of its remote location. "It may be a bigger problem to the environment than people."
No one has been reported injured, he said, and he was not aware of any people being evacuated or any livestock being quarantined as a result of the release.
Gary Wilcox, the county's director of public safety, said the material went into the containment area, a field, a tributary of Towanda Creek and into Towanda Creek, he said. Towanda Creek is a tributary of the north branch of the Susquehanna River.
LeRoy Township is about 75 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre.

PASA and Shell Oil alone will not authorize fracking in SA

2011-04-16T08:03:00.002+02:00

TREASURE KAROO ACTION GROUP PRESS RELEASEFriday April 15, 2011

“PASA and Shell Oil alone will not authorize fracking in SA”
In reaction to a media report today (TimesLive) in which PASA CEO Mthozami Xiphu confirmed that chances favoured Shell getting a green light to frack, TKAG coordinator Jonathan Deal said: “Shell, through it’s local CEO seeks to create the impression that its (Environmental Management Plan) EMP, is the definitive document on which the question of fracking in South Africa will hinge. This debate is far bigger than one company, and involves the introduction of a controversial technology into South Africa which is presently under fierce environmental, scientific and judicial scrutiny in the US, UK, Canada, France and Germany.”

“The dearth of legislation and knowledge in SA in respect of this technology and the many unanswered questions surrounding real and documented fracking pollution incidents in other countries establish a cast-iron case for application of the precautionary principle by our ministers. We applaud the Minister of Water Affairs for her no-nonsense approach to speculation about fracking in SA, and trust that PASA, Shell and its co-applicants and the Department of Minerals are more informed as to the fact that others also have a voice in this issue,” he said.

“At the very minimum, TKAG, in support of other organizations such as Wildlife Environmental Society of SA - WESSA, Centre for Environmental Rights -CER, World Wildlife Fund - WWF and Earthlife are calling for an over-arching Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to fully consider all of the factors involved in a decision of this magnitude – before any exploration licence is issued. We do this on the basis that there is no point in issuing a license for a process that may never happen in South Africa. Our government has the mechanisms to halt this process until the issue has been thoroughly assessed, debated and commented on by local and international scientists and all of the stakeholders in SA.”

“The indecent haste of Shell, through their multi-million rand PR campaign proves that they are focused on short-term gains for their shareholders, rather than the interests of this country, and places undue pressure on many of our Ministers who have yet to comment on this issue of critical national importance,” concluded Deal.

[About TKAG – Treasure the Karoo Action group is the coordinating body, representing a broad range of stakeholders who are concerned with the plans of Oil and Mining companies to extract shale gas from the Karoo basin. Popular support can be followed and joined on Facebook and at treasurethekaroo.blogspot.com]
Issued by HWB Communications on behalf of TKAG.For information, please contact:
Jonathan Deal
National Coordinator – Treasure Karoo Action Group
076 838 5150/ natcoordinator@treasurethekaroo.co.za
Or
Martin Slabbert
HWB Communications
Tel: 021 462 0416/ 079 500 1503martin@hwb.co.za <mailto:martin@hwb.co.za>

Karoo Anti Hydraulic Fracturing Action Network

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Gas well blowout releases fracking fluid into environment

Gas well blowout releases fracking fluid into environment

PASA and Shell Oil alone will not authorize fracking in SA