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UK fracking protest; photo credit: Jacques-Jean Tiziou

Ground zeroCivil protests are increasing in size and frequency around the world against fracking, coal trainsand oil trains, gas and "dilbit" pipelines, LNG and coal terminals; in cities, corn fields and IndianReservations. Public mobilization grows with news reports of spills, explosions, derailments, andunjust City Councils, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Parliaments, Congress and Federal Agencies.

Douglas Grandt

Rex Tillerson , David Rosenthal

Ground Zero - across the pond

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Fracking for shale gas continues to fail in winning the publics heart

Ione Bingley | April 15, 2014 | http://bit.ly/Frack15AprUK

Despite David Camerons push for the exploitation of shale gas reserves, fracking fails to charm the public.

The public perception of fracking has been tracked over the last two years using a series of surveys conducted by

Nottingham Universitythrough the website YouGov. The surveys involved over 25,000 respondents and indicate a

downward spiral of public support since 2012.

The question remains whether the rejection of fracking springs from the ignorant and the uninformed making a

big noise, as NuTechs Chris Hughes speaking atAppexs 2014 oil and gas summitput it, or whether there is a

real cause for concern.

The hydraulic fracturing processReserves of natural gas trapped deep underground between layers of shale rock have been know about for many

years, but it is only recently that engineers have developed cost-effective extraction technology.

Shale gas is the same as gas found in traditional reserves, it is the unconventional extraction method that is novel.

It involves drilling vertically down and horizontally along the shale bed that in the UK is very deep, below

conventional gas reserves and below the coal beds.

To release the gas, water mixed with sand and other chemicals is pumped into the shale which causes the rock tofracture releasing the gas into the borehole where it can be pumped out.

Cuadrilla are the only energy company in the UK to have used hydraulic fracturing, but in the US the method has

become commonplace.

Environmental ConcernsThe researchers cite what they term The Balcombe Effect as a turning point for the decline of public support

following the high profile protestsat Cuadrillas Balcombe site in 2013.

Managing Director of Global Energy Consultants Ltd, Ted Clutterbuck, outlined two types of environmental issues

at the Appex conference; real and conceived. He believes: the shale [issues], which have got a lot of media

attention, and a lot of activist attention [are] focussing on things which are extremely unlikely to happen. In Mr

Clutterbucks opinion, the public are against fracking because inaccurate information has been fed to them by

activists which is proving a major hurdle for operators and governments.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/10254924/Fracking-protest-at-Balcombe-People-just-seem-to-be-looking-for-a-party.htmlhttp://frackthisshale.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/companies-drill-uk-shale-for-gas/http://frackthisshale.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/video-introduction-to-hydraulic-fracturing-fracking/http://www.appexlondon.com/2014/index.cfmhttps://yougov.co.uk/opi/http://www.scribd.com/doc/131787519/public-perceptions-of-shale-gas-in-the-UK-January-2014-pdfhttp://bit.ly/Frack15AprUKhttp://frackthisshale.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/fracking-for-shale-gas-continues-to-fail-in-winning-the-publics-heart/http://frackthisshale.wordpress.com/author/ionebingley/http://bit.ly/Frack15AprUK

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fracking licences have already been granted. They consider it to be one of the most important wildlife sites in

Europe, which hosts hundreds and thousands of wintering birds.

Drilling of any kind on a commercial scale will to some degree disturb the surrounding wildlife and alter their

habitat. Hughes says that, at the moment, lack of data is a key limiting factor for fracking in the UK and to

accurately estimate the size of gas reserves within the shale bed, many more exploratory wells need to be drilled.

Climate worriesWith half the carbon footprint of coal, natural gas provides cleaner energy than other fossil fuels. Bird claims that

fracking for shale gas is the only way to provide cheap energy in a low hydrocarbon future and will bridge the

energy gap between fossil fuels and renewables. He believes that is it uneconomical and unrealistic to skip from

the heavy reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy in the face of climate change.

Ward says: [Gas] is far cleaner and less dangerous than burning coal in the way that we do now. He hopes that

at some point we will replace coal with natural gas from fracking.

However, concerns have been raised that the focus will be taken off investment in alternative green energy

options with the Governments peaked interest in shale gas. The Department for Energy and Climate Change

(DECC) claim that the legally binding commitment to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 will stop this from

happening.

Despite hanging around in the atmosphere for a shorter time, methane gas is more efficient at trapping heat than

carbon dioxide, making it a worse offending greenhouse gas. According to the International Panel on Climate

Change(IPCC), the leakage of methane from the fossil fuel industry accounts for 30 per cent of global methane

emissions.A report compiled by the RSPB suggests that the low hydrocarbon benefits provided by gas can only

be warranted if methane leakage is kept to a minimum.

Financial gainsCuadrilla claims that the exploitation of Britains shale gas reserves has the potential to reduce the UKs

dependency on expensive foreign energy sources and to lower gas prices as it has done in the US. However, the

Energy and Climate Change Select Committee (ECCC) concluded that fracking was unlikely to be the game-

changer that it was in the US with regard to energy prices.

Barkham concurred with this view explaining that being part of the European energy market meant that potential

decreases in energy bills would be diluted unless fracking became commonplace across Europe.

Prime minister David Cameron claims that the shale gas industry will create 74,000 jobs and reduce Britains

reliance on Russia for gas. Local communities are also set to benefit as local governments will receive all of the

tax from fracking businesses in their authority instead of the usual 50 per cent. However, the public perception

report suggests that this is generally believed to be the Government buying support rather than actively helping

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25705550http://frackthisshale.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/fracking-for-gas-unlikely-to-lower-our-energy-bills/http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/shale_gas_summary_tcm9-365778.pdfhttp://www.ipcc.ch/https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change

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