‘Fracking’

24 Jan 2012

If you ask the average person on the street what ‘Fracking’ is I’d guess that 9 out of 10 people wouldn’t be able to tell you what it is. However, as the applications start to flood in to test drill for gas in the UK, more and more people are being made aware of the issues regarding this process.
So what is it you ask? Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) is a method of extracting gas from underground using the process of fracturing the rock strata which contains the gas. A mixture of a large amount of water, sand and chemicals are blasted at high pressure to create cracks in the rocks allowing the gas to escape.

The worry with the process is that there have been many reported negative consequences to ‘fracking’. These have been prevalent especially in the US where hydraulic fracturing is now taking place extensively all over the country. Environmental issues such as gas spills, pollution of air and contamination of water have been reported which has subsequently lead to the documentary ‘Gaslands’[1]. This film highlights many of the aforementioned issues.

Hydraulic Fracturing particularly came to my attention early this year when an application was made at Llandow Industrial Estate in the Vale of Glamorgan to test drill for the presence of shale gas.

After reading more about hydraulic fracturing, particularly regarding operations in the US, it worried me that the UK government have not as yet undertaken extensive scientifically based studies into the possible consequences of ‘hydraulic fracturing’.

Soon after the Llandow application was submitted, The Vale Says No campaign [2] consisting of residents, business owners and political party members was formed. This has since snowballed into the No Fracking UK campaign. [3] Furthermore, through the help of work undertaken by the aforementioned campaigns, the Co-operative group have announced the ‘Frack-Free’ strand to their ‘Toxic Fuels’ campaign which was launched on the 23rd September at Bridgend College.[4]
All over the UK, more and more companies are placing applications to test drill, and more and more people are forming local campaigns because of the worry about what ‘fracking’ could mean for their local community.

These campaigns show the level of support against hydraulic fracturing and also the worries people have regarding the process. From a large proportion of the people I’ve spoken to, the least they expect is a moratorium called by the UK government. Thus, enforcing a halt to all applications and operations while investigations into the issues regarding this process are undertaken.

Blackpool is the first and only place so far in the UK where actual shale gas fracking operations have taken place and there have been earth tremors [5] which have yet to be explained. Understandably, leaving local residents anxious about how ‘fracking’ could affect them in future.
One thing you can guarantee is that UK awareness of what hydraulic fracturing is will continue to increase as more and more companies submit applications to test drill.

However, you can also guarantee that local communities will continue to want answers into what effects hydraulic fracturing can and will have.

Mark Gabb
Wales Green Party

[1] www.gaslandthemovie.com
[2] http://thevalesaysno.com
[3] http://www.nofrackinguk.com
[4] http://www.co-operative.coop/fracking
[5] http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/earthquakes/BlackpoolMay2011.html