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Pumpjacks extract oil from an oilfield in Kern County, California, where about 15 billion barrels of oil could be extracted using hydraulic fracturing. Shutterstock/Christopher Halloran

Five-year report outlines dangers of fracking and 'underpins' proposed ban

A bill calling for the banning of fracking in Ireland passed its first stage in Dáil Éireann in October of this year.

NEW REPORT has identified concerns that need to be addressed over fracking in Ireland.

In October, a bill to ban fracking in Ireland passed its first stage in the Dáil.

A relatively new industry, hydraulic fracturing or fracking is the process of blasting deep through shale rock to access gas and fuel deposits contained below.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)s research programme on fracking aimed to answer two questions: can the operation be carried out without damaging human health or the environment; and what is the best way to carry out fracking operations.

Public concern about the controversial energy extraction method focused on health to local residents, water resources, induced seismic activity and emissions.

Environmentalists also expressed concern about the potential changes to the environment if the practice were used frequently.

In their assessment of the main concerns in relation to fracking, that the intention of creating huge cracks could leave water sources open to contamination through natural pollutants, they found:

  • Fracking wells can fail and contaminate the water table
  • The cracks generated during fracking can contaminate ground water and we don’t know enough about the location of underground aquifers to prevent this
  • Even wells that have stopped production can (and do) leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Neither the reasons for this, nor the scale of the emissions is quantitatively known and so their impact cannot be reliably assessed until further data are available.

But Green Party councillor David Healy said that the report didn’t go far enough:

“The EPA’s report focuses on whether we can safely extract shale gas through unconventional methods.

While we welcome the Minister’s commitment to maintaining the current moratorium on fracking on the back of this report, the question we really need to be asking is whether we should be continuing to insist on a dangerous, 20th century approach to energy policy that is not fit for the future.

“The report fails to acknowledge the wider context of the debate on fossil fuels. We know that four fifths of known fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground if we are to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. We have 10 years left before we reach 1.5 degrees of warming. That is the reality of the situation.”

However, Climate Action Minister Denis Naughten said: “I believe the report’s findings justify the continuing prohibition on the licensing of hydraulic fracturing.

“I have decided to refer the report to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment for its consideration.

I hope this will assist at the Committee Stage debate of the proposed hydraulic fracturing legislation to be progressed by the Oireachtas next year.

A bill calling for the banning of fracking in Ireland passed its first stage in Dáil Éireann in October of this year after receiving cross-party support.

Assistant Fine gael Whip Tony McLoughlin, who introduced the bill, said today that his legislation “provides for a clear and unequivocal position” in relation to fracking.

The Bill does not seek to simply ban the technology associated with fracking, rather it seeks to ban the act of taking oil and gas out of the ground, where usually fracking would be needed.

Background

The research programme was made up of five projects which looked in detail at the potential impacts of Unconventional Gas Exploration and Extraction (UGEE) on water, seismicity and air quality as well as a comprehensive literature review of operational practices and regulatory regimes.

In late 2011, the EPA was requested by the then-Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte of Labour, to commission and coordinate the management of research in relation to the environmental impacts of fracking.

The research programme was funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, DCCAE (formerly DCENR and the Environment Division of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

The research programme was managed by a steering committee comprising the EPA, representatives from DCCAE, the Geological Survey of Ireland, Commission for Energy Regulation, An Bord Pleanála, NIEA, the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and the Health Services Executive.

A total of eleven reports were published on the subject and can be found on the EPA website here.

Read: Dáil welcomes Bill to ban fracking in Ireland

Read: Corbyn’s Labour are dead against it, but what’s the up-to-date situation with fracking in Ireland?

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30 Comments
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    Mute Ossi Fritsche
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:05 PM

    DOB won’t be happy

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    Mute David Quim
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:08 PM

    @Ossi Fritsche: Frack him and everyone belonging to him. And if he has any relations in America, frack them, too!

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    Mute von
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:33 PM

    @ Ossi. Who gives a fcuk about Denis O’ Brien. He should do his business else where, he shouldn’t be allow stay in Ireland.

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    Mute von
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:33 PM

    * Allowed*

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    Mute Brian MacCarthaigh
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:06 PM

    No doubt some clown from Fine Gael /Fianna Fail will dismiss this and attempt to start fracking in a wildlife sanctuary.

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    Mute David Quim
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:07 PM

    Maybe it’s better to leave the methane in the ground until such time as new technologies have been developed that will make it possible to extract the gas without harming the environment, especially groundwater, and use it as feedstock for industries that will make carbon-based products from it rather than just burning it as fuel.

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    Mute Brown Boots
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    Dec 1st 2016, 2:41 AM

    This bill is so short sighted… That technology is pretty much here. So no nuclear, no oil and gas… What coal… Ship it in… Wind… Ha ha… You mean. The turbines it takes tonnes of carbon full concrete to erect, ruin the countryside and produce ridiculously low amounts considering the investment and landmass they take up… Ha ha… Waste of time. At least that hydro company on Louth seem sort of intelligent. This bill is utter rubbish… These idiots have no clue… Just follow along populist rubbish. What’s more people are worse to listen and believe it. But moan about the cost of energy when we have no way of securing our own. I give up.!

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    Mute John Reese
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:16 PM

    Nuclear power is the only alternative to fossil fuels but this country is afraid of that option.

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    Mute Old Gordon
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:40 PM

    @John Reese: Yes, I believe we should invest in nuclear too (it’s Carbon Free) but like this fracking issue (which is about indigenous energy security), ignorance will always win the argument.

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    Mute John Quill
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:42 PM

    I think you’ll find many of the anti fracking brigade also have an issue with nuclear, coal, wind, peat, tidal, etc. etc.

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    Mute Rory Mac Daibhéid
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    Nov 30th 2016, 11:13 PM

    Our energy needs don’t currently require nuclear. Most of our energy usage is in oil, 60% of energy usage. Nuclear generates electricity so unless we entirely electrify heat and especially transport we don’t have a need for nuclear.

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    Mute Brown Boots
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    Dec 1st 2016, 2:42 AM

    Finally some sense!

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Dec 1st 2016, 8:32 AM

    Rory, did you know you can go and buy an electric car?

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    Mute Rory Mac Daibhéid
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    Dec 1st 2016, 9:36 AM

    Yes, that’s why I said if we electrify transport. Currently 0.4% of just the private passenger fleet new purchases are electric.

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    Mute von
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:35 PM

    If Fracking starts Earth tremors will too.

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    Mute John Reid
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:21 PM

    It’s crazy that in a time when Ireland will have to weather Brexit, and higher energy prices as a result of the OPEC cartel’s decision today to restrict the output of oil in order to keep prices high, we are actually going to tie one hand behind our back by seeking to ban fracking (which has created an energy revolution in other countries) on our own soil.

    Fracking would help Ireland to produce a lot more of our own energy. Banning it would contribute to energy hardship, and higher prices for Irish people in the future.

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    Mute Sideshow Brendan
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:25 PM

    You mean it would help Irish people or do you mean it would help whatever company we sell the rights to for a tiny price and buy back the fuel at an exorbitant price?

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    Mute johnp
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:30 PM

    Yeah because we’re gettin the gas so cheap from shell up in Mayo, surely we can’t lose

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    Mute Anthony Gore
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:32 PM

    John Reid You should check Gasland documentary on you tube or the more recent documentary filmed in Australia voices from the gas fields and then come back and say it’s a good idea

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    Mute Old Gordon
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:38 PM

    @John Reid: Yes, we need to know what our resources are in case of an international shock (closure of the Persian Gulf).

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    Mute Dermot Robert Ellard
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:22 PM

    @John Reid: Sorry John, your common sense reply is just not PC. Give yourself 39 lashes of the well oiled whip! We want to pay fracking higher prices for our energy. Get it!….. Fortunately there is a super abundance of Fossil Fuels in the world. Just ordered heating oil today at the lowest price in years.

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    Mute Brown Boots
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    Dec 1st 2016, 2:45 AM

    John, pointless to talk to these people who have no clue… Do you not know they love to moan about the price of everything, they won’t be able to do that if they have cheaper fuel and not reliant on outside factors for security of supply. That would just make sense.

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:04 PM

    What the frack!

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:42 PM

    Frack’s sake. Here come the puns.

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    Mute Keith Mitchell
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    Nov 30th 2016, 6:31 PM

    Frack Baby Frack!!

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    Mute Patrick Paukie Cleary
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    Nov 30th 2016, 10:36 PM

    I can’t wait for Danny Healy-Rae’s contribution to this debate lol.

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    Mute Patrick Gough
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    Nov 30th 2016, 7:23 PM

    fracking in the usa has made the Americans self sufficient In energy. soon they won’t need Saudi Arabia. This will change the balance of power in the middle east

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    Mute Dermot Robert Ellard
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    Nov 30th 2016, 8:05 PM

    Yea right. Let all those other Nations do the “fracking”. Thank God there is an abundance of fossil fuels in the world and the price has never been so low. Just ordered heating oil today at a price way down on former years. Now that’s fracking great

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Dec 1st 2016, 8:35 AM

    It would seem that the Irish are against all forms of energy production. (Except perhaps burning turf.)

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Dec 1st 2016, 8:30 AM

    Let’s just get on and build. A nuke power station. No pollution No danger No windmills Energy independence Meet our climate change targets.

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