Shale Gas threat for French Riviera Schuepbach Energy LLC?
Now Playing: Gaz de schiste: faut-il redouter le pire sur la Cote d Azur?
Topic: Politics
Var Mayors May Boycott Ballot over
Schiste shale gas french riviera var
March 07th, 2012
Local Mayors in the Var département – angry at ongoing threats from shale gas concessions – warn they may not put up the physical wherewithall to enable voters to cast their ballots in the forthcoming presidential elections
Schuepbach Energy LLC Dallas Texas
Schuepbach Energy LLC, a U.S. registered drilling company in Dallas, Texas has since 2008 held a license to explore for shale gas over 6785 km2 around the town of Brignoles, and covering three quarters of the Var and part of the Alpes Maritimes
source: naturalgaseurope.com
Gaz de schiste: faut-il redouter le pire sur la Côte d'Azur?
Dans l'ouest des A.-M., la crainte d'une exploitation du gaz de schiste, très polluante pour l'environnement, est en train de resurgir. À tort, comme le soutient le pétrolier concerné, ou à raison comme l'affirment les opposants ?
Juillet 2011: la loi Jacob interdit la recherche et l'extraction du gaz par le procédé controversé, et pour l'instant unique, de la fracturation hydraulique. De Vence à Saint-Auban, du Cannet à Gréolières, le soulagement est général.
L'ensemble de la zone figure, en effet, dans le périmètre de la demande de permis d'exploration dit de "Brignoles", permis déposé par un groupe américain et toujours à l'instruction. La mobilisation, qui n'avait cessé de s'amplifier, retombe. Elle avait fédéré de nombreux habitants, ainsi que des élus ulcérés d'avoir appris par la presse l'existence de projets de forage.
Plusieurs signaux « inquiétants »
Avec la loi Jacob, le lobby pétrolier marque le pas. Il a perdu une bataille, mais pas la guerre. Prompt d'ailleurs à rebondir, il multiplie les actions de communication sur cette"énergie du futur, susceptible de rendre la France autonome".
Le 22 mars dernier, une mission interministérielle rend son rapport.
Elle préconise un programme de recherche scientifique sur la fracturation hydraulique et ses impacts environnementaux. Elle réclame une fiscalité plus avantageuse pour les collectivités concernées. Bref, ses conclusions sont perçues comme une incitation à reprendre les prospections.
Soure: nicematin.com
Related 2011
Shale gas exploration just outside Brignoles in the Var
Provence & Côte d’Azur: In a special report The Riviera Times investigates how close the Var has come to having a monster living on the doorstep
What’s fracking: Shale gas saga bubbles over the surface
Last month the French parliament passed a bill that banned the controversial hydraulic fracturing method of extracting shale gas.
Fracking = contaminated water sand to push out gas
Although the energy companies maintain the line that 99.5 per cent of the 'fracking mix' is sand and water, the remaining 0.5 per cent consists of up to 596 different chemicals. A list of 85 chemicals released by the Pennsylvania department of environmental protection named kerosene, hydrochloric acid and methanol as just some of the products used by the energy companies.
Tracy Bank, a geologist at New York State University found whilst studying the Marcellous shale reserve, which stretches from Ohio to upstate New York, that uranium could be found in wastewater. "Even though at these levels, uranium is not a radioactive risk, it is still a toxic, deadly metal," Bank said. Schuepbach Energy affirms that all wastewater is treated and cleaned before being released back into the eco system.
If you want to learn more about protests against shale gas here in the French Riviera, you can take a look at these 2 blogs (in french):
http://gazdeschistes-collectif-06.over-blog.com/
Reader comment:
There's a host of issues with drilling and fracking that have shown up here in Pennsylvania. A lot of disruption on the highways, with dozens - sometimes hundreds - of heavy trucks carrying in water. Water itself is an issue, with each well requiring millions of gallons for the fracking process. Where will that come from? About 15-20% of the water they pump into the ground comes back up. We've had spills and also the problem of where to dispose of it.
Drinking water appears to be contaminated not by fracking, which takes place thousands of meters underground. But in the course of drilling down to there, it appears methane has been disturbed that found its way into drinking water wells.
In short, it appears that the industry has a lot more work to do before this process is "safe," or at least as trouble-free as possible.
All this is not to mention the stain these drilling rigs, with their 24-hour lighted towers, make on the landscape, or the disruptions caused by an influx of workers.
source: rivieratimes.com
Posted by solarlife
at 8:32 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 6 April 2012 9:19 AM EDT