November 21, 2012.
The European Parliament has rejected calls for a moratorium on shale gas extraction across the Union, but says caution must be exercised and "robust" regulation should be in force. Each member state has the right to decide on whether to exploit shale gas, according to the Energy Committee resolution, prepared by Niki Tzavela and adopted with 492 votes in favor, 129 against and 13 abstentions. (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+COMPARL+PE-486.123+01+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN)
Recall that in September 2012 the Assembly Committee on the Environment, Public Health & Food Safety adopted a resolution which stated that the shale gas and oil extraction in EU should be regulated by strict compliance with environmental standards.
In the judgement of the EU management shale gas and oil extraction will play a key role in energy import relief action and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. According to the International Energy Agency shale gas reserves in Europe is 16 trillion cubic meters. Countries like Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom are among the European leaders for shale gas reserves. Due to the low concentration of the gas in the shale core the main technology of its extraction is the drilling of the dense drill hole spacing and hydraulic fracturing fracking.
A lot of environmental experts consider that fracking damages the environment, subsurface, ground waters and human health. Fracking involves pumping millions of liters of fracking fluid, i.e. water mixed with sand into a well in order to create cracks in shale formations, which then allows the gas to escape from these impermeable rock formations. A wide range of chemical additives (1-2 % of the total volume) are added to this fracking fluid in order to improve the operation of the well. A first environmental problem is the water-intensity of fracking operations: large-scale development of shale gas can lead to a shortage of water. Secondly, a number of the chemicals used in the fracking fluid are toxic: some are known carcinogens; others can affect the skin, eyes, the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, the brain/nervous system, and so on. Thirdly, fracking fluids can pollute underground aquifers as a result of the fissures created by the fracking process or errors in the construction of the well. Apart from the water-related problems, there are a whole host of other environmental problems related to the practice of fracking: traffic congestion, noise, airborne pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
Following today's vote in the European Parliament, Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "I welcome the Parliament's vote today on the report on Environmental Impacts Of Shale Gas and Shale Oil Extraction Activities. It is clear that the future development of shale gas will depend on the extent of public acceptance of fracking. Addressing health and environmental risks will be of paramount importance for the industry to gain broad public acceptance and a “public license to operate” in Europe. Our challenge is to make the right and balanced choices. Studies carried out indicate that there are a number of uncertainties or gaps in current EU legislation and the Commission intends to deliver next year a framework to manage risks, address regulatory shortcomings, and to provide maximum clarity and predictability to market operators and citizens across the EU." http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-885_en.htm