Vested Interest Fun

Nice to see a whole shed load of Vested Interest groups sticking their oars in at the BBC:

The UK government should put a moratorium on shale gas operations until the environmental implications are fully understood, a report says.

Inevitably, the article kicks off with a 'should'.

"We are aware that there have been reports from US of issues linked to some shale gas projects," a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) told BBC News, "However, we understand that these are only in a few cases and that Cuadrilla (the firm testing for shale gas in Lancashire) has made it clear that there is no likelihood of environmental damage and that it is applying technical expertise and exercising the utmost care as it takes drilling and testing forward."

Regulator takes regulated's word for it. Nice.

The Tyndall report also expresses concern that the exploitation of shale gas is bringing new greenhouse gas sources into play. It says: "This will further reduce any slim possibility of maintaining global temperature changes at or below 2C (3.6F) and thereby increase the risk of entering a period of 'dangerous climate change'."

All things being equal, the amount of 'greenhouse gases' and other pollutants created per unit of energy consumed in a building is probably lower with domestic shale gas than e.g. importing gas from Russia or the Middle East.

... there have been reports of problems with the technology in the US, such as cattle dying after drinking water from the fracturing process that found its way to the surface.

Possibly true, that all depends on whether cattle drink water which has recently fallen as rain or which trickles out of rocks. But the overall safety record of European oil and gas producers is vastly better than in the USA, so I'm not sure that's relevant.

In Pennsylvania, some residents can now set fire to their drinking water after methane leaked into wells. They are blaming shale gas extraction.

Possibly true. Safety tip: if you turn on your water tap and smell gas*, then open a couple of windows and leave the tap running until the gas dissipates, and most importantly, don't hold a lighted match under a running tap.

The Tyndall report says that gas drilling in Lancashire will give rise to a range of local concerns including noise pollution, high levels of truck movements and land use demands.

Ah... the NIMBYs making a late guest appearance. As a rule of thumb, where there's a Greenie there's a NIMBY not far behind.

The Decc spokesman said: "We support industry's endeavours in pursuing energy sources (like shale gas), provided that tapping of such resources proves to be economically, commercially and environmentally viable...

If it weren't 'economically viable', then no private company would want to do it, short of there being massive subsidies. The reason why we can't rule out the government subsidising this is hinted at earlier in the article: "Experts say the technological breakthrough increases energy security worldwide and reduces the diplomatic power of gas-rich nations, such as Russia."

The article concludes:

"All onshore oil and gas projects, including shale gas exploration and development, are subject to a series of checks, including local planning permission before they are able to move ahead with drilling activities."

Not going to happen then, is it, short of energy companies merrily greasing a few palms. So it's in the interests of local politicians to stoke up Greenie and NIMBY opposition because that enhances the amount of bribes they can demand.

*The problem being that apparently you can't smell natural gas, but hey. More to the point, UK water companies are very much geared up to separating out methane from water pumped into the system, that's what sewage works are for.

It can't be rocket science to separate a heavy liquid (like water) from a light gas (like methane). From here: "Methane can also migrate from coal seams into sandstone aquifers. If methane is present in an aquifer, it will likely exist as a dissolved gas in the water. When the well is pumped, the water level is drawn down. The draw down will lower the pressure in the well and allow more gas to be released from the water. Methane will readily move from the water phase to the gas phase when water pressure is reduced to atmospheric pressure at the ground surface."