Not even sure if that’s how it’s spelt, but there seems to be lots of presumably Government spun positive news in the media surrounding it, I wondered if it had been discussed here and if there were any experts. It seems the Blackpool earth tremors have been forgotten or ignored in the quest for geo political fuel benefit, but I can’t help but feel a bit unsettled about the whole process, what’s everyone else’s view?

Anyone who’s promoting a higher level of consumption over a reduction has the wrong end of the stick.

After watching Gasland last year, I am not a fan.

Dissapointed that this isn’t a Battlestar Glactica thread…

It seems the Blackpool earth tremors have been forgotten or ignored

…or put into perspective. …this (seismic) activity is also comparable to activity caused by Britain’s substantial mining operations in the past.

I believe that further investigation has shown that the Blackpool earth tremors were nothing to do with frakking, but actually….

over-enthusiastic hen party activity

Minor tremors are the least of our worries. The real concern is the huge pollution from pumping millions of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground, through the water table and then storing the waste in big pools on the surface….

😀 at binners

And thanks to that stupid TOWIE program… that a sight I regularly see in sunny Brentwood …. Grrrr

Can’t walk down the high street without hearing stupid northern birds… get back to Blackpool you stupid cows.

Sorry back on topic

Less reliance on middle east oil can only be…all things being equal… a very good thing for the world.

Gasland was a brilliant documentary but…

The issue of contaminating the water course and being able to set fire to your water really can’t happen here.. there can’t be many who get their water from wells or natural sources and the water remains un-treated.

I’ve been over to Pennsylvania where they have been fracking for years. There are those who love it.. its been great for business. There are those who hate it, a young mum who was close to death because of watercourse poisoning, a man who set fire to his water for us.

I’m fairly sure Fracking caused the problems with the water but as I said I really don’t think it could happen here.
The earthquakes in Blackpool, well again Fracking may have been the cause, it may not..
However we can’t put up windfarms, we can’t build nuclear power stations, we can’t mine anymore coal. coal fired power stations are being De-comissioned as they are pumping out tonnes of co2.
Its getting to a stage we need to work out whats the lesser evil to supply us with the energy we need.
Shale gas would be worth billions to the economy, we need to work out if its worth it…

makes perfect sense to me to pump chemicals into the ground to contaminate the ground water. It is not as though anyone actually drinks the stuff is it.

I wouldn’t dream of even using the stuff for washing, for that i make do with Evian, thought i would do my bit and make some sacrifices what with the econmomic climate.

@MartynS, i think you might be surprised how many people are on boreholes, how many farms extract water for crops, for animals etc. This is before you consider the level of extraction in some areas to supply for human consumption.

Question is where is the gas and where are the abstraction sites. This i dont know.

Isn’t this the same technology that’s created boom towns in South Dakota and Oklahoma – hydraulic fracking for natural gas and – since the gas price has hit the skids in the US – unconventional crude oil?

I guess it is, which begs the question why the US seems to be so happy with it and why, apparently, all the strippers from Las Vegas have made for Williston, South Dakota, because the frakking guys pay muchos cash and the Las Vegas guys are broke.

I’m all about the human angle, me.

Gasland was a brilliant documentary but…

Documentary is stretching it a bit, enetertainment show maybe.

To put it in perspective, the USA, the nationalistic embodyment of a culture built arround car’s and petrol will be a net exporter of energy by the end of the decade, and that’s mostly down to shale Gas.

When it comes to gas supplies I think we need to be looking at who we’re presently getting it off, and their views on using their plentiful resources as an economic and political weapon

Do we really want our energy supplies entirely dependent on the old tiger wrestler

He’s bonkers!

footflaps – Member

Minor tremors are the least of our worries. The real concern is the huge pollution from pumping millions of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground, through the water table and then storing the waste in big pools on the surface….

Maybe you should spec them a waste containment site. Based on your shed it should just about be up to the job for the next few hundred thousand years 😉

Water contamination is a bit of a red herring. Lets be honest. They’re doing it in Lancashire FFS. Its not like we’re short of water, is it? 😉

Mrmo,

I have no idea how many here are on boreholes here.. to have a fracking site near one seems to be bad news.
However Having a fracking site near a town which is on pumped, treated water doesn’t seem to be a problem
The other angle is the traffic it generates, hundreds of tonnes of sand, chemicals and water are needed. In the States where we were that was all trucked in.

Camo
Yep its created boom towns in really odd areas, it was described to us as the new gold rush..

Fracking wont cause any pollution / contamination problems that cant be cleaned up, if required.

Fracking wont cause any pollution / contamination problems that cant be cleaned up, if required.

As a general rule its better to avoid polluting in the first place. You can mop up carcinogens and bury them, but you can’t undo cancer once you’ve given it to the local population through water contamination…..

Footflaps you are building a garage with the carbon footprint of a medieval village! 🙂

I agree footflaps, but the clean up will keep me employed. – It would be interesting to hear the Local Water Authorites comment on the drinking water quality issue

“you can’t undo cancer once you’ve given it to the local population through water contamination….. “

Even less chance of undoing countless deaths of our own people, let only others, in the Oil Wars.

The water table only gets polluted if you screw it up. I’m sat above a polluted water table right now, due to petrol contamination(Buncefield), should we ban all Petrol use in the UK because of this?

should we ban all Petrol use in the UK because of this?

Possibly ban unsafe storage facilities…..

The water table only gets polluted if you screw it up

Unless it’s heavily regulated and forced to do things safely, the oil industry will just do it the cheapest way and pollute everything / everyone. The Tories are not known as lovers of regulation so will probably give the Oil industry carte blanche to do what it likes and let someone else sort out the mess down the line….

That very cynical Footflaps. They were saying on Five Live this morning that senior Tory grandees are investors in Cuadrilla – the company responsible for the fracking

I’m sure they’ve done that purely to ensure standards are maintained. Famed as they are for their concern for the quality of life of northerners

Unless it’s heavily regulated and forced to do things safely, the oil industry will just do it the cheapest way and pollute everything / everyone.

This would be the same oil industry where you can be fired for not holding the stair-rail in the office (not even on site).

And I’m not joking or talking about some small insignificant company, that’s Shell!

If H&S has gone mad in any industry, it’s oil & gas.

Unless it’s heavily regulated and forced to do things safely, the oil industry will just do it the cheapest way and pollute everything / everyone.

Garbage!

I work in the oil and gas industry and I spend a large amount of my time ensuring not only that thing are safe but that they also meet and better the legally mandated environmental standards. A new project I put in has resulted in a water discharge with an oil concentration of less than 1 mg/kg (the test isn’t accurate at figures lower than this). The legally mandated minimum is 30. Everyone is very very pleased that we can achieve such a low number.

I get very annoyed with people who think they know what goes on in this industry in the UK and spout drivel like this.

Not sure about getting fired from Shell for that (at least for a first offence) but you would get a talking to. Don’t forget the lid on the coffe cup either.

I’m sure there will be pollution of the groundwater and land around the drilling sites. Unfortuately this would not be uncommon for any ‘industrial process’. If this pollution will manifest itself as contamination and pose a significant risk / problem before it can be cleaned up is the question which needs answering.

I’m all for it, potentially huge source of energy and it if does cause an environmental nightmare it’s nowhere near me.

Tinas, gonefishin, must also remember to reverse park when you arrive in the morning.

Have heard of stearn warning for all of the above in all of the big oil companies.

Hold the handrail when on the stairs.

That’s so much of a habit now that I always reverse park wherever I go. It is actually the easiest way of parking.

gonefishin – your mob aren’t looking for safety engineers are they?

If H&S has gone mad in any industry, it’s oil & gas

Yes, because what could possibly go wrong?

Not sure about getting fired from Shell for that (at least for a first offence) but you would get a talking to. Don’t forget the lid on the coffe cup either.

3 strikes and yer out

We’re not even supposed to use paper cups anymore, the compnay issued everyone with a thermos mug with a lid!

must also remember to reverse park when you arrive in the morning.

Odly this is on our recomended list, but hasn’t been enforced yet.

The stupidest thing I’ve seen was the H&S group stood in the foyer handing out chocolate bars to anyone using the lifts rather than the stairs as they were deemed to be being safe. Great, chcoclate for the lazy people!

When nuclear power was first mooted we were told that the power would be ‘too cheap to meter’. Now we’re told that fracking will reduce gas prices…

Will it f***!

gonefishin – your mob aren’t looking for safety engineers are they?

Everywhere seems to hiring in Aberdeen at the moment. Get in touch with recruitment agencies and the like and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Research is very divided on this. Some state that you can frack as close as 250m to a water source others state a minimum of 1000m whilst some think it should never take place. The UK has some of the strictest policies (I use that term loosely, as anything involving energy security can be relaxed) globally.

There’s a new company set up in the UK called Cuadrilla who are drilling for unconventional gas/oil. They’ve been given the go ahead because they could supply up to 1/4 of UK gas demand! The government gets lots of tax and a somewhat stable energy supply. Fracking on a UK level is still small so it ‘shouldn’t‘ have the same effects or anywhere near the same effects as it did in the US.

The US is a different beast all together. In the UK IOCs apply for a licence to drill on the site so the government own all HC resources, therefore rules are stricter and more policies are in place. The O&G in the US on the other hand is owned by whoever owns the land so IOCs organise a contract. This tends to result in more relaxed laws with some detrimental environmental effects, especially on the scale that they take it too!

Anyway, North West Water are clearly not happy with the potential risks and have been undertaking huge studies to check the viability of the drilling. They seem to be happy and considering we have some of the highest water quality in the world I wouldn’t be too concerned. Just glad I don’t live there..

I could go on and on.. think I’ve bored people enough!