UK - 10 Downing Street

We never thought we'd see the day when we re-printed an image from one of the UK tabloids, but there always has to be a first time.

View the image here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2390811/Mac--shale-gas-drilling.html

Coming to a venue near you soon Dave.

UK again - Tory MPs threaten to 'man the barricades'.......

We recently published contrasting images of protestors in Balcombe, Sussex with a view to restoring balance at a time whereby to protest against anything at all in the UK is to run the risk of being deemed an 'activist' or even 'troublemaker'. Today we read that certain Tory MPS are threatening to 'man the barricades' if fracking comes to their constituencies. Of course, we are under no illusions, but this could just be D.Cameron's next best big mistake.

Read the link/article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/27/fracking-tory-risible_n_3821237.html

NETHERLANDS - Cuadrilla to lose licence.......

We understand that there is a possibility that fracking enterprise CUADRILLA may lose their permit to frack in Boxtel, Netherlands.

Translation from the report which we carry ( in Dutch ) in the link below.

" The council of Boxtel two weeks ago asked Minister Henk Kamp ( Economic Affairs ) to withdraw the license for test drilling for shale gas in ( the county of ) Brabant. The license was granted to the British Company Cuadrilla (who have been at the centre of controversy in Blackpool and more recently Balcombe, Sussex) in 2010 when not all the necessary information and knowledge was available, argues the town.

"The license granted is unfounded", said council a spokesman in a statement on Friday.

The letter was sent before the minister published on Monday a study dealing with the risks associated with shale gas extraction. So far, the municipality has received no comments from Minister Kamp."

Read the article ( in Dutch ) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYcZ6s3z1jg

More Earthquakes - albeit not in the UK - yet.

A recent wave of small earthquakes in and around the Eagle Ford formation in Texas was probably the result of extracting oil and in some cases water used for hydraulic fracturing, according to a recent study.

Read the report here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/texas-earthquakes-linked-to-oil-extraction-by-fracking.html

We are reminded of the 1,500 minor earthquakes deemed to have been caused by the re-injection of contaminated fracking water in Arkansas shortly before the UK government's Energy and Climate Change Committee made it's umpteenth 'fact-finding' visit over there. Seems to have been lost on them.

The CHEMICALS.............

There is a great deal of confusion out there. Of course there is. That is precisely what governments, lobbyists and oil and gas companies want. They use TV, so called 'respectable' newspapers and other means to spread contradictory reports and send their preferred versions to every possible outlet including for instance, Brussels. Because TV watchers and newspaper readers have no easy way of checking out data/reports and because many have an often lifelong allegiance to one source or another the task is made that much easier for our fracking friends.

For some time, the chemicals deployed in fracking were a top secret and the mix was not allowed to be revealed in order to protect so called 'commercial interests'. In 2011 however, the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce published the following report which we posted shortly afterwards.

We think that the time has now come for another outing for the data. Click here to Read the US Senate  report.

Dr Theo Colborn has devoted herself to revealing a range of problems associated with accessing so called 'natural gas'. In the following link you will find interesting data relating to airborne chemicals. 

http://www.endocrinedisruption.org/chemicals.air.php

Here, Dr Colborn details the chemicals commonly used in drilling:-

http://www.endocrinedisruption.org/chemicals.fracturing.php and next she examines the pit chemicals.....................

http://www.endocrinedisruption.org/chemicals.pits.php

Next, she details the link between certain chemicals deployed and health issues..................

http://www.endocrinedisruption.org/chemicals.multistate.php Please pay particular attention to Dr.Colborn's detailed spreadsheet on this page ( Excel format ).

Finally, Dr.Colborn gives an overview of Natural Gas Drilling from a Public Health Perpective

Read the link here: http://www.endocrinedisruption.org/chemicals.journalarticle.php

Our scientific advisor here at SchisteHappens also comments that..............

'Of the most commonly used chemicals, Methanol is a violent poison, that is converted by the body, into formaldehyde which is a nerve and brain poison as well as a carcinogen. In sufficient quantities it will cause blindness and death. Ethylene glycol is converted into oxalic acid which will react with calcium to form calcium oxalate which will chrystalize out into the kidneys causing kidney failure. This a fraction of the likely outfall from the deployment of the scores of toxic chemicals commonly deployed in the fracking process'.

Finally, for the benefit of our many bi-lingual readers we attach a report from the University of Montpelier. Click here to Read the report in French.

Here at Schiste Towers we frankly could not care less if they used orange juice - the plain fact is that they should not be extracting yet one more fossil fuel at this crucial time.

There is a mass of data in this, our latest report to readers, but it is all verified and factual data that cannot be denied by the industry. Please take the time to access the detailed reports and then circulate the information and links as widely as possible. Of course, all you have to do in fact is send the link www.schistehappens.blogspot.com to friends! Easy peasy!

Thank your for continuing to access SchisteHappens. We are not doing this for fun!!




                                       

France - optimistic? Perhaps, but then........

France tends to be the exception to the rule on many issues ( Iraq War comes to mind ) and to date the nation as a whole has shown it's total opposition to the abomination of fracking. The message has not gone away and opposition runs deep. With every passing week, adverse reports from the US, Poland, the UK and elsewhere add to the dossier and this does not go un-noticed here.

European Green Party spokesman Guillame Vermorel is an optimist. He forecasts that in the year 2025, there will still be no fracking 'en France'.

"The subject will not even ( in due course ) be an issue. President Hollande has declared his total opposition until at least 2017 and by then, we will have witnessed the adverse effects in many other countries and additionally the non-profitability of shale gas 'through the operations conducted in the US and Poland in particular. Meanwhile, "we can can expect heated debate in France if the government chooses to protect the interests of the industry". Particularly for the Ardeche region however, here we have the sun, wind, water, a love of people and their territory and they have an environmental conscience. What a model".

Rough translation (very) ,but that gives the gist of it..........................E&OE.

http://www.ledauphine.com/ardeche/2013/08/21/ce-sera-sans-gaz-de-schiste

France - protest continues...........

Just in case you thought that protest here had subsided, the attached article ( in French ) shows just how opposed our compatriots are to even the idea of 'exploration' as allowed under the terms of the loi Jacob of July 2011: http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/France-Monde/Actualite/Environnement/n/Contenus/Articles/2013/08/23/Pressions-sur-le-gaz-de-schiste-1586364