France Nature Environnement and its member associations have discovered with astonishment the huge number of exclusive licenses to search for unconventional hydrocarbons, especially shale gas, issued by the previous Minister for the Environment Borloo on huge areas without any information being given to the public and associations, in contradiction with the Aarhus Convention [1].
Hydrocarbons my love hot!
Rising oil prices makes it very competitive hydrocarbon resources called unconventional, hitherto neglected, too expensive and too dangerous to operate. Alas, if the rise in oil prices makes renewables desirable, it also pushes the man into a corner as it has become in an age dependent on hydrocarbons. matter that these hydrocarbons are responsible for global warming that threatens our survival ! No matter that France's commitment divide by four gas emissions greenhouse gases? Whatever the risk of water pollution for which we are committed, with all Europe, to achieve "good status" from 2015, so tomorrow?
Shale Gas: micro-earthquakes and severe pollution
Hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to date to exploit shale gas deposits in the United States and Canada, is of great violence since is to create micro-earthquakes to fracture the rock, sending thousands of cubic meters of water, sand and various chemicals (over 500), including carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins in order to recover the gas. In addition, each well could drain a small amount of gas, we must dig a very large number, very close to each other, with the footprint and the induced impact on the landscape. These wells have already caused pollution of ground water made unfit for consumption in the United States, to fossil aquifers where water was untouched for thousands of years.
Open debate about the risk
Under these conditions, FNE questioned the wisdom of going to this technique. Bruno Genty, president of France Nature Environnement "Clearly, once the exclusive license to search distributed, once the investments made by industrialists to find exploitable areas, operations will go ahead if the discoveries are profitable regardless of the environmental risks . So before you begin the research it begs the question of possible exploitation by assessing the likely consequences. "
face of scant information on permits granted exclusive research during 2010 for non-conventional hydrocarbons, the federation France Nature Environment (FNE) is asking ministers for the environment and energy to enter the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) before any decision to operate and take a moratorium on permits already issued. She also asked to Europe expertise on the coherence of EU policies in order to verify whether the possible exploitation of oil threatens the implementation of directives water and energy and climate change.
1] Aarhus: Aarhus Convention covers access to information, public participation in decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
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