To Frack or not to Frack that is the question

Posted on 10 March 2014 by Douglas Chadwick

Back in January of this year I wrote an article on the above subject. My basic complaint was that I struggled to find a forum where an adult conversation was taking place on the merits or disadvantages of Fracking. I come from the camp advocating that the opportunity to receive nature`s gift of all this locked up energy must simply not be ignored and therefore should be exploited and the problems resolved as they come along. The Americans have completely resolved their energy and manufacturing costs by going down this route so why should we not do the same. Well after the article I was on the receiving end of a considerable amount of flack from the Green and Environmentalist lobby which did include some of my closest relatives. Their objections were three fold. Firstly, the fracking itself would generate earthquakes. Secondly the chemicals and water injected to release the gas and oil ends up on the surface in the form of toxic waste lakes. These in turn will decimate the local and migrating bird populations and of course pollute our own water supplies. Finally, a countryside covered in “Nodding Donkeys” was not a country in which they would wish to live. Taking these objections in turn. -There would not seem to be any hard evidence that the fracking will cause earthquakes, especially as the North American fracking has by and large taken place at a shallow depth and in the U.K. it will apparently take place at around 12000feet deep, so there is no previous history that can be relied upon. -There is however very hard evidence that as a direct result of fracking, North America has acquired many large chemically polluted lakes of toxic waste water. This for me should be the killer argument for not proceeding with the fracking process. However this is not the end of this story, it appears that clever scientists are well on the way to treating these lakes using processes well beyond my understanding. The end result is that there occurs a high level of algae growth which consumes and converts the toxic waste into useable energy. A second bite at the energy cherry so to speak. I am of course assuming that the waste water is contained away from the countryside and bird population. So this is a possible solution to this particular problem. -Nodding Donkeys or Wind farms, it`s all the same to me. They are both eye-sores on the landscape but it must be easier to hide the drill heads as opposed to the windmills remaining in full view. There has been a drilling rig down in Poole Harbour for very many years and few people know of its presence. I guess it would only be fair that local people were given a share of the financial gain to offset the inconvenience caused by establishing the drilling facilities. In conclusion I would still like to be able to listen to an unbiased discussion from informed debaters on the merits or otherwise of fracking. But for now I am still firmly on the side of getting on with fracking whilst resolving the problems as they come along. The financial benefits are just too large to ignore. It is the chance for the U.K. to follow the example of Norway and create our own Wealth Fund for future generations and not fritter the benefits away.