Nothing
to warn about? UK may legalize fracking under homes without prior
warning
Hydraulic
fracturing may soon take place under thousands of homes across the
United Kingdom without their owners’ knowledge. Based on a proposed
law change the burden of notifying homeowners will be lifted from
energy companies, the Guardian reports.
RT,
18
December, 2013
Planning
Minister Nick Boles said a change in UK law will allow gas companies
to put in drilling applications without notifying those in the area
whose property could be affected, the Guardian reported. Companies
will instead have to post notices in local newspapers and erect site
displays in local parishes.
Many
opposed to fracking cite potential health risks, air pollution and
water contamination, as well as possible earthquakes. Nevertheless,
the government portrayed alerting all those possibly impacted by
localized fracking as too much of a burden for companies to weather.
It
would require a “disproportionately large number of individuals and
businesses” to receive notice, said Boles in a statement to MPs.
Hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking, is the highly controversial process of
injecting water, sand and various chemicals into layers of rock in
hopes of releasing oil and gas deep underground. Because it takes
place far below ground, the gas companies themselves may not
understand exactly where they are drilling.
“The
associated underground extraction takes place very deep below the
Earth's surface, over a wide geographical area,” Boles said. “As
a result, it is often not possible to identify the exact route of any
lateral drilling.”
“Without
the changes to the secondary legislation, the widely drawn area on
planning applications for onshore oil and gas projects would require
the notification of a disproportionately large number of individuals
and businesses. This would be unnecessarily excessive when other
forms of complimentary notification exist.”
Ministers
have dismissed any safety or environmental concerns posed by
fracking, instead touting the economic benefits while saying any
drilling will be done responsibly. Other MPs are nervous about the
new edict, The Guardian reported, based on high-profile protests in
areas where drilling has been proposed.
An
anti-fracking sign is displayed at the protest camp by the entrance
to a site run by Cuadrilla Resources, outside the village of Balcombe
in southern England August 6, 2013.(Reuters / Luke MacGregor)
On
Tuesday the Conservative-led government issued a 49-page energy
roadmap outlining ways in which oil and natural gas, including shale
deposits, could be exploited in the country.
Britain’s
Department of Energy and Climate Change identified new areas across
the UK thought to hold rich, untapped stores of shale gas, The Daily
Telegraph reported. As part of a new initiative by Westminster, these
areas may become subject to test drilling, which could pave the way
for fracking if large deposits of shale gas are found.
“The
government is keen to explore the potential for shale gas in the UK
which could bring major benefit in terms of growth, jobs and energy
security,” British Energy Minister Michael Fallon said in a
statement. “However we must develop shale responsibly, both for
local communities and for the environment.”
In
a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made
public on Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron warned that European
Union regulations could stifle investment in Britain’s shale gas
industry.
“I
am not in favor of new legislation where the lengthy timeframes and
significant uncertainty involved are major causes for concern,"
Cameron wrote in the letter dated December 4, Reuters reports. “The
industry in the UK has told us that new EU legislation would
immediately delay imminent investment.”
Fracking
has met widespread opposition in the UK, with local communities
taking to the streets in protest. In the city of Salford, Greater
Manchester, activists blocked access to a test drilling site on
Monday, placing a 1.5-ton wind turbine blade in front of the Barton
Moss facility in what they called a “symbolic” act of protest.
Friends
of the Earth campaigner Tony Bosworth called the government’s moves
on fracking objectionable given the drilling technique has been
identified by officials as having "potentially significant local
impacts.”
“People
should be notified personally if firms want to drill or frack for oil
and gas under their homes. Removing that right is a further blow to
local communities who are rightly concerned about the impacts of
fracking,” he said. “Ministers should be strengthening rules to
protect local people, not weakening them in yet another sop to an
industry that wants to keep us hooked on dirty fossil fuels.”
A
new report published in the latest edition of the journal
Endocrinology shows a dozen chemicals used regularly in fracking are
suspected of being endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs —
chemicals that can interfere with the human body’s endocrine
functions and have been linked to heightened risks of cancer, low
fertility rates and decreased sperm quality.
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