Fracking: Is it a threat to the UK?

03 Dec Fracking: Is it a threat to the UK?

Fracking is a very controversial topic in the UK, which has become more common throughout the years. Because of that, there are a lot of doubts going round, and one of them is the question of whether it is a threat to the UK, writes Rafaela Sousa

Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, has been frequent in North Sea oil and gas fields since late 1970s, and it has been used in about 200 British onshore oil and gas since the early 1980s. However, fracking in the UK was not very popular until 2007 and 2008, when the use of it was proposed for onshore shale gas wells.

Fracking was interrupted in the UK between June 2011 and April 2012, as two small earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.2 magnitudes hit the Blackpool area back in 2011. Earlier this year, the European Union has allowed an approval for fracking, under certain conditions.

Fracking is allowed in the UK, regardless of huge public opposition. Tisha Brown, one of the main coordinators of ‘Frack Off London’, an anti-fracking group says, “what industries don’t say is that they are moving to fracking or more in dangerously an environment to extract oil and gas, because the easy to get stuff is ran out, it’s running out, we need to make a transition, but it’s not possible to switch to renewable energy, so the corporations are just deciding to switch to fracking.

“It doesn’t sound right, they are just going to go down into the earth and set off these minor explosives and try to turn out this gas that comes, but then they have to do it so frequently because they are not even getting good qualities of gas, the industries are just so desperate, that’s why they are moving to fracking”.

Brown also mentioned that fracking has been found dangerous for many people due to water contamination, especially for the people who live near it and who have been getting sick because of it.

Fracking has many of its pros and cons, such as; because of fracking generating electricity with natural gas is almost the same cost as generating electricity with coal, which means that the natural gas will release two to three times less carbon into the atmosphere than coal. Natural gas plants are also quite cheap, and it can be scaled very easily so it can meet with the energy requests.

However, its cons are that fracking can cause small earthquakes, where it can lead to damaged homes. Although, according to the YoungPetro website, these earthquakes are ‘relatively small’, and experts believe that it helps out in the future as it relieves pressure that could have caused larger earthquakes. Fracking also has a huge amount of water that contains chemicals and other environmentally damaging materials, which can cause a massive environmental harm and people also believe that the current regulations doesn’t prevent enough of this harm. Furthermore, fracking causes a lot of land rights issues, which means it normally disputes whether a fracking company has the access to certain parts of a land underground.

Some people seem to think that we, as human, have to at least consider fracking, as even though it’s not the best way, it’s a way to get energy, and clean water can be getting anywhere. Tisha Brown responded to that affirmation by saying that water contamination is the one of the biggest problem with fracking, as it has chemicals and gas migrating to water supplies, followed by people getting sick around the area and the climate changing, which can affect everyone lives. Therefore if fracking is continued, their loved ones will be getting high chances of getting sick.

Fracking is a very controversial topic, and according to BBC, researches from the University of Nottingham asked 3,657 people to take a survey earlier this year, which showed that less than 50% percent (49.8 percent) of people in the UK were in favour of fracking, meaning just 31.4 percent were against shale gas extraction, while 18.4 percent were undecided.

Professor Dorrik Stow, the Head of Institute of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, has said that he doesn’t want to give an opinion whether fracking is a good thing or a bad thing. “I don’t really, particularly, want to come down in this saying, ‘I think this is a good thing’ or ‘I think this is a bad thing’,” he says.

“However, I think with all these arguments it has their pros and cons.

“I think there are pros and cons, and you have to look at the issues involved very carefully before making any generalization.”

Since the large amount of use of fracking in the US has created many environmental concerns, the UK has decided to be more careful when it comes to extracting shale gas. “In terms of shale gas exploration and fracking associated with that, the US has been leading the way in that, whereas the UK has not been doing it,” Stow says.

“The US has a very different regulatory system for encouraging shale gas exploitation by fracking, and the UK has not yet developed that system”.

He mentions that in his point of view the US has gone “too quickly” when it comes to fracking and therefore they have created problems because of rapid drilling, slightly unsafe practices, and many other dangerous causes.

“The UK should take a much longer and more measured approach to the whole business of shale resource exploitation, including the process of fracking in order to be more environmentally sensitive,” he explains.

“I believe if we do our research in advance we can maximize the production from one single project, and minimize the number of wells that are needed, so it’s a plead for more money by companies and by government to be put in the research in advance of carrying out this process.”

Stow has said that whether or not there are still unknowns and concerns about fracking, the reason on why gas companies continue to use the process is because the concerns are not particularly scientifically valued, which means that the concerns have been expressed by the media, but not necessarily based on anything scientifically, and the fact that fracking has been going on for decades without people noticing or knowing about it, also makes these gases companies continue to use the process. Additionally, he also mentioned that the demand by society, mainly “rich western consumer”, for more and more energy and also for environmentally safer energy, such as decreasing reliance on coal and to less extent oil, and whether you agree with fracking or not, they go on and do it because it is a big demand for a slightly cleaner fuel gas.

Speaking to Polly Boiko, a Russia Today (RT)  journalist,  she explained that there is a huge difference between fracking in Britain and fracking in the United States. “In the US there is a lot more space, and some areas are a lot more sparsely populated,” she says in the interview.

“You will have people that own a large amount of land, and unless they say they are happy to allow fracking near their homes, they will have a drilling well that will be in their land.

“However they will also be making money of that activity, the energy company will have to pay them a share of the profit from that well, and the difference is that in Britain, they are not densely populated and most importantly is that the people in the UK don’t own the rights to the energy underneath their land, because everything that is underneath your house belongs to the government.

“This means that, the only thing that the people from the UK gain from fracking is a promise that the government holds, which is that the energy prices will go down, however, a very few people find that hard to believe, also, unlikely the US, even if the people did have drilling wells in their lands, they will not receive any money out of it.”

Polly Boiko mentioned that the fracking during the construction phase can cause a few problems with local communities. “During the construction phase many people from local communities get gripped by fear that their house prices will go down,” she says.

“I’ve spoken to so many people that can’t sell their house, but not because fracking started but because there are plans to have an exploratory drilling site in that local area, and people say we can’t shift our house, and the government doesn’t acknowledge that’s something that people will need compensation and that’s the problem.

“I think if people were reassured that all the negative potential problem from local fracking sites would be negated or compensated by the company, by the local council, then they wouldn’t be as worried.”

Boiko also mentions that people see stories on the news all the time, saying it will reduce energy prices, nothing is going to happen with them, their houses will be fine, but that is not what is happening and people are getting very suspicious.

 

Copyright image from http://riskinnovationlab.com/hydraulic-fracturing/