CS Monitor: Amid Ukraine crisis, will Europe frack?
Relations with Russia, the Continent’s primary supplier of natural gas and oil, are at a low over a Ukraine crisis that shows little sign of easing. The tension has ratcheted up concern over energy security throughout the European Union, and officials are scrambling for new ways to heat their homes and power their factories, as EU-Russian relations continue to slide.
One option – and perhaps the most controversial – is in Europe’s own backyard. Hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) for shale gas has opened up a windfall of new energy supplies in the US, and some say it could work in Europe, too. But Europeans have largely opposed the controversial drilling technique on environmental grounds, and pushed instead for improved efficiency measures and more wind power, solar power, and other renewables.