The chances of the European Union taking tough new action to regulate controversial Shale Gas projects received a major boost late last week, with the publication of three new in-depth reports that raised serious concerns about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" as it is more commonly known.
The chances of the European Union taking tough new action to regulate controversial Shale Gas projects received a major boost late last week, with the publication of three new in-depth reports that raised serious concerns about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" as it is more commonly known.The EU-commissioned reports from the EU Joint Research Centre and environmental consultancy AEA assessed the risks shale gas projects pose to the environment and human health, their likely impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and their effect on gas markets and energy security.
The reports argue that projections for the development of the shale gas industry in Europe are dogged by uncertainty, but they also warn that fracking presents a "high risk" to human health and the environment and as such the sector is badly under-regulated.
The EU Joint Research Centre said the study on the impact on gas markets predicted that even under a best-case scenario, for shale gas in the EU an increase in domestic natural gas production would only "help the EU maintain energy import dependency at around 60 per cent", adding that there is "considerable uncertainty about recoverable volumes, technological developments, public acceptance and access to land and markets".
Similarly, the report on climate change impacts raises questions about predictions from the shale gas industry that the sector could help deliver deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, calculating that shale gas produced in the EU "causes more GHG emissions than conventional natural gas produced in the EU, but - if well managed - less than imported gas from outside the EU, be it via pipeline or by LNG due to the impacts on emissions from long-distance gas transport".
Finally, the report on the environmental impacts of fracking identifies eight areas in which the practice could pose a "high risk" to the environment, raising concerns over air pollution, ground water contamination and biodiversity impacts.
"We've drawn together all the literature on shale and environmental risks in one place," report co-author and AEA analyst Mark Broomfield told BusinessGreen. "None of the issues are new, but by bringing the research together we can highlight where there are questions that still need answering.
"One of the main issues is that the risks are cumulative as shale gas reserves can cover a very wide area. The industry has made good progress with multi-head wells at single sites, but for a large area you will still need a significant number of drilling sites and then you get issues with the amount of traffic and infrastructure you need."
Significantly, the reports raise questions over the legislative and regulatory framework governing shale gas projects in the EU, highlighting how legislative gaps could leave the sector under-regulated.
Currently, there are no specific EU-level regulations governing shale gas projects in the same way that there are directives governing other forms of fossil fuel extraction. Member states are developing their own regulatory approaches with some countries, such as France, imposing a moratorium on shale gas projects while others - including the UK, Germany and Poland - are planning to move forward with projects.
However, the reports detail how shale gas projects could risk running foul of the existing Water Framework Directive and the Mining Waste Directive, and notes that projects are currently under no EU legal obligation to provide detailed Environmental Impact Assessments.
Broomfield said the report outlined a series of options for the EU to improve the regulatory framework, ranging from extending existing regulations or applying them in a different way through to introducing entirely new regulations.
Source: The Associated Press.