11 Comments

1. 

   Costin Andrieş

   9 October 2013

   Telegraph: EU red tape threatens future of fracking

   The European Union has been accused of killing off the prospect of cheap energy from shale gas by trying to impose with expensive and “reckless” regulation of fracking.

   The European Parliament on Wednesday voted for new EU laws requiring that exploration for potential deposits of shale gas to face the same environmental regulation as a full-scale oil drilling.
   Struan Stevenson, a Conservative MEP who sits on the European Parliament’s environment committee, warned that the plan could strangle the nascent fracking industry in Britain.
   Fracking, which involves fracturing rocks deep underground with water, sand and chemicals to extract natural gas, has dramatically cut energy bills in the US, and Conservatives ministers hope that it could do the same in the UK.
   With as many as 40 permits for fracking expected to be granted in the next two years, ministers are also anticipating significant tax revenues from operators.

   Mr Stevenson warned that all those hopes could be dashed if the European Parliament’s demand for full Environmental Impact Assessments for fracking projects is met.
   “This would be a huge burden and will prevent the exploitation of Britain’s massive shale reserves,” he said.
   “Targeting exploration in this unnecessary way amounts to stifling the potential benefits at source. We must stop this over-zealous attempt to place a dead hand on the process of exploration before it even gets going.”
   The MEPs’ plan to regulate fracking will be discussed by Europe’s environment ministers next week.
   The use of fracking technology means that the United States is paying half the European price for wholesale gas, driven up by expensive imports at a time when state subsidies for renewable energies are pushing up energy costs across Europe.
   The average household energy bill in Britain is now £1,300 a year, twice what it was 10 years ago and shale gas exploitation is regarded as crucial to pushing prices down.
   Alessandro Torello, of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, said the MEPs’ rules would create a costly and cumbersome regulatory process that would make industry think twice about exploration.
   “The text adopted today would require undertaking long and complex environmental studies at a very early stage in the exploration phase, undermining – without bringing additional environmental benefits – the efforts to develop domestic oil and gas opportunities, such as gas from shale,” he said.
   “This would erode EU attempts to encourage future economic growth and create new jobs while simultaneously depriving policy makers of one key tool they could use to reduce Europe’s dependence on energy imports.”
   François Hollande, France’s Socialist president, has banned fracking his country. The MEPs’ vote was welcomed by Greens and Socialists.
   “While this would not prevent permits from being granted, it will help prevent risky shale gas projects being bulldozed through in spite of environmental concerns,” said Sandrine Bélier, a French Green MEP.
   Later this year, the European Commission is expected to propose tough regulations for fracking amid fears in Brussels that cheap shale gas could wipe out heavily subsidised and less efficient renewable energies such as wind farms.
   Jos Delbeke, the director-general of the commission’s “climate action” department, hinted that the EU would use the regulations to defend renewable energy against cheaper shale gas.
   “A minus scenario is that shale gas then drives out renewables,” he said, last week. “If ever shale would become as cheap as in the US, we really would have a problem. We are strong defenders of renewables. It is very important we keep investing in renewable technologies.”

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2. 

   Pataphyl

   9 October 2013

   Întrebare naivă: credeți că animatorul verde-roș ClăCrăciun se va mînia pe Europa în urma acestei știri? Cred că la urma-urmei tot Băsescu va fi găsit vinovat, normal, nu?

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3. 

   emil borcean

   9 October 2013

   Uniunea Europeana a Cretinilor, la ce poti sa te astepti… un NU hotarat la gaze prin fracturare, un DA fara echivoc la panouri solare in Sahara!

   Ati auzit de Desertec?

   Reply

4. 

   Costin Andrieş

   9 October 2013

   acum sa vedem ce fac rosmontanistii. Toti, adica

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5. 

   Anca Cernea

   9 October 2013

   O altă chestie, colaterală, dacă vreți, dar importantă, care reiese din știrea dată de Niezalezna.pl, este aceea că nu a existat până acum niciun fel de poluare din cauza forajelor efectuate în Polonia; a fost ceva gălăgie, e adevărat, dar s-au pus ecrane, și s-a rezolvat.
   Dacă asta e singura problemă, la noi ea va fi soluționată prin instalarea unor stații de mare putere care să emită încontinuu manele, acoperind zgomotul produs de lucrări.

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6. 

   Costin Andrieş

   9 October 2013

   Telegraph: UK fracking ambitions threatened by EU warning over methane emissions

   The EU authorities have opened a new front in efforts to clamp down on shale gas, warning that the carbon footprint from methane emissions may be high enough to call into question the whole future of fracking in Europe.

   “Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2,” said Jos Delbeke, director-general of the European Commission’s climate divisions.

   

   “The level of methane emissions tilts the balance for or against the development of shale: it is the central issue. We don’t want to copy and paste what happened in the US. We will do things differently in Europe,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
   Mr Delbeke said drilling firms will have to come up with plans to track methane emissions or face EU legislation forcing them to do so. “Either the companies put it on the table or a regulation is going to come at the European level,” he said.
   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says methane is 86 times more damaging than CO2 over a 20-year period, and risks triggering a dangerous “feedback loop” for global warming. (IPCC, foarte cunoscut pentru onestitatea lui)
   Mr Delbeke’s warnings come as Brussels draws up its framework law for shale by the end of the year, shaping rules that could make or break the industry in Europe. A tough code risks a cathartic showdown with Britain just as the country gears up for a referendum on EU membership. Any sense that Brussels was obstructing the UK’s economic revival could prove the last straw for many voters.

   Britain has no veto on EU environmental laws, which are decided by “qualified majority vote” and are often used as a backdoor way to override national energy policy.
   Adding to the concerns, euro MPs voted for an amendment this week that obliges frackers to carry out environmental audits, even at the exploration stage. “The key point is that this covers every phase and every site, however small,” said Andrea Zanoni, an Italian Green MEP and author of the text.
   The legislation requires the assent of EU governments but Mr Zanoni said a majority will back the tougher rules. “I am very confident. A lot of countries are now against shale,” he said.
   It is far from clear whether Britain can muster a “blocking minority” to prevent measures that threaten to eviscerate the Government’s shale strategy. Owen Patterson, the Environment Secretary, quietly met with Polish counterparts in August to help forge an Anglo-Polish alliance backed by Romania.
   Debate is highly polarised. France, Bulgaria, Denmark and the Czech Republic have either banned exploration or plan to do so, as has Spain’s shale-rich region of Cantabria. The German people are deeply hostile.
   The Commission itself is divided. Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani is pushing for light-touch rules, warning of a “systemic industrial massacre” in Europe unless energy costs are brought down to nearer US levels. “We need a new energy policy. We have to stop pretending, because we can’t sacrifice Europe’s industry for climate goals that are not realistic,” he said last month.
   Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies said the EU elites are waking up to the danger of a quixotic energy policy that renders Europe uncompetitive. “There are now a lot of people who know we can’t afford to handicap Europe’s recovery, and that it makes no sense to import gas from Russia,” he said.
   EU spokesman Joe Hennan said Brussels had been flooded by 13,000 submissions on shale gas. “There is a lot of concern that fracking may be dangerous. There is no question of us banning shale but we have to know what the risks are,” he said.
   The Environment Directorate is taking the lead role in drafting the law. It is relying on expert reports that have been even-handed so far, concluding that CO2 emissions from shale are less than relying on imported Russian gas. However, the new concern about methane changes the picture, providing a potent case for those who want to stop fracking altogether.
   Scientific opinion is deeply divided. A report by Cornell University relying on aircraft measurements concluded that the methane leakage was 3.6pc to 7.9pc of gas produced, a level that renders shale gas more harmful than coal.
   A conflicting study by the University of Texas drawing on ground data found that the leakage is just 0.42pc, and that the carbon footprint from shale is even lower than first thought by the US authorities.
   Jason Nisse, from the UK Onshore Operators Group, said Britain’s drillers can handle anything likely to be imposed by Brussels. “The UK already has the most stringent fracking rules in the world. We haven’t seen anything yet from the EU that really frightens us,” he said.
   The snag is that Britain’s rules are voluntary guidelines. The EU rules will almost certainly be legally-binding, and the enforcement watchdog may not be so friendly.

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7. 

   Emil

   9 October 2013

   Dacă mai țineți minte, apropo de metan, acum vreo 15-20 de ani nişte păşunişti considerau vacile din Australia ca principalele responsabile de încălzirea globală.

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8. 

   Costin Andrieş

   9 October 2013

   save the planet, kill everything

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9. 

   Costin Andrieş

   9 October 2013

   DOE study: Fracking chemicals didn’t taint water

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10. 

    Alin Dumitrescu

    9 October 2013

    despre ecologisti:
    http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/07/28/the-energy-revolution-4-hot-planet/
    despre rusia:
    http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/07/08/the-energy-revolution-part-one-the-biggest-losers/

    Reply

11. 

    Costin Andrieş

    9 October 2013

    Victorie de etapa pentru companiile extractoare in UE: Proiectele privind gazele si petrolul de sist scapa de evaluarea “la sange” a impactului pe mediu
    de Claudiu Zamfir HotNews.ro
    Luni, 23 decembrie 2013, 15:57 Economie | Energie

    Protest anti – gaze de sist in Romania
    Protest anti – gaze de sist in Romania
    Foto: Vremea Noua
    Proiectele referitoare la gazele si petrolul de sist nu vor fi supuse procedurilor sistematice si repetate de evaluare cu implicarea institutiilor publice si a comunitatilor locale, au decis reprezentantii permanenti ai statelor membre la Uniunea Europeana.
    ….
    au decis sa nu ia in considerare doua amendamente aduse de europarlametari la proiectul de directiva initiat de Comisia Europeana.

    Primul amendament prevede ca “in conformitate cu principiul precautiei”, proiectele referitoare la gazele de sist si petrolul de sist, gazele din formatiuni compacte si metanul din straturile de carbune “sa fie supuse in mod sistematic evaluarii impactului asupra mediului”.

    http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-energie-16270136-victorie-etapa-pentru-companiile-extractoare-proiectele-privind-gazele-petrolul-sist-scapa-evaluarea-sange-impactului-mediu.htm

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