Public Service Europe: Shale gas in the EU: is fracking the future?

The shale gas revolution could be about to hit the EU.  PublicServiceEurope.com takes the pulse of expert opinion in Brussels, where health and the environment get only a passing mention

Over the sandwich lunch before the Brussels seminar gets underway, an executive from Italian energy firm Edison talks of an American documentary called GasLand. The film investigates the side-effects of hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking', a revolutionary technique for extracting shale gas from deep underground.

According to GasLand filmmaker Josh Fox, the water supply in some areas of the United States has been so polluted by fracking gases that if you put a match under the tap in your kitchen you can create an impressive explosion. Nasty health problems – including brain lesions – have been noted among those who drink contaminated water, according to the film. The industry counters that these claims are false and that its practices are benign. Hosted by public relations firm Edelman, the seminar that follows includes only a passing mention of health and the environmental concerns. Love it or hate it, shale gas is making slow but steady progress towards acceptance by the European Union. Despite moratoriums and a lack of reliable data, Europe is coming to the conclusion that fracking is the future.

The EU is by no means as gung-ho as the US, where shale gas has made the country self-sufficient to the extent that liquefied natural gas import terminals are being re-engineered to export hydrocarbons to an energy-hungry world. In the European Parliament, more than 200 members voted for a complete fracking moratorium last month. In at least four member states – France, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Czech Republic – it is currently banned.  MORE