French Government Poised to Ban Fracking nationwide

[Divernan]

(also posted in latest breaking news)

French Lean Toward Ban of a Controversial Gas Extraction Technique

Source: New York Times

PARIS — French lawmakers opened debate on Tuesday on proposals to ban a method for extracting oil and gas deposits from shale because of environmental concerns, throwing up the first serious stumbling block to firms that want to use the practice.

Looking with alarm at the experience in the United States, where shale gas is booming, even members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservative party have come out against the practice, known as hydraulic fracturing, in which water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep underground under high pressure to free scattered pockets of oil and gas from dense rock formations.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, “is not something we want to use in France,” Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the environment minister, said on RMC Radio.

“Shale gas is the same as any other gas,” said Ms. Kosciusko-Morizet, who in February announced a halt in all exploration, pending the results of a study. “What poses a problem is the technology used. Today there aren’t 30 technologies, there’s only one for extracting shale gas — hydraulic fracturing.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/business/energy-envir...


Credit for the French's negative opinion of fracking is given to the award winning documentary, "Gasland" and news of the recent spill in Pennsylvania by Chesapeake Energy which polluted farmland and streams with fracking chemicals.

Fracking is going on in some 30 states in the US. Even if it is not on your land, realize that if it's on neighboring lands, or even some distance away, it forces toxic chemicals into your underlying water tables, which in turn is absorbed into the food grown or animals grazing on lands relying on such water tables. The fumes from the operation poisons the air you breathe. Is it any surprise that people who leased their mineral rights find they cannot sell their properties? Nor can their neighbors, because (a) what fool would buy land which is uninhabitable due to toxic water and air, and (2) the banks/lenders will not provide mortgages for such properties.

I thought I was conversant with the dangers of fracking, but watching Gasland shocked me at the extent of the devastation of health and environment in states where fracking has been going on for some years. The only comparable sickening experience was the day I spent touring a concentration camp in Germany. This process - fracking - destroys and devastates both human health and our environment. It literally lays waste to huge areas of our country.

As posted earlier in the PA forum,

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Chevron Corp. agreed to purchase 228,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale from Chief Oil & Gas LLC and Tug Hill, Inc., the companies said Wednesday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acreage is primarily located in southwestern Pennsylvania. The transaction will give San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron an additional 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in its Marcellus leasehold.