Israeli soldiers punched two Reuters cameramen and forced them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas … Read More
Seismic fears: UK govt reverses ban on fracking
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Demonstrators hold placards in front of their mock fracking rig in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the Houses of Parliament in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)The UK has lifted a ban on the gas extraction technique known as fracking amidst activist outcry. Fracking was prohibited a year ago after it caused two minor quakes, but lawmakers maintain new safety measures reduce the risk of seismic activity. The mo
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ve concerns the company Cuadrilla, who want to exploit shale gas reserves in the northern county of Lancashire. The company was forced to put a halt to gas extraction back in 2011 after fracking caused two minor earthquakes in the North of Great Britain.Cuadrilla is currently the only mining firm that conducts fracking in the UK.The technique, which has been widely criticized by environmental groups, uses explosives to create fractures underground into which water and chemicals are pumped to allow access to shale gas reserves. However, UK lawmakers have said fracking is now subject to uncompromising safety regulations that minimize environmental impact.The measures will include a traffic light system that obliges fracking to stop if seismic activity increases to over 0.5-magnitude on the Richter scale.British Energy Secretary Edward Davey extolled the virtues of shale gas exploitation, saying that it could be a viable alternative to gas deposits in the North Sea that are quickly depleting. He praised it as a step towards weaning England off energy imports that have increased in recent years. “It is essential that its development should not come at the expense of local communities or the environment,” he said, whilst at the same time conceding that the “UK is still in the very early stages of shale gas exploration and is likely to develop slowly.”Davey expressed hope that the UK would follow the US model that saw gas prices plummet after shale gas exploitation was given the green light. The us of fracking has also come under fire in the US and has been connected to the contamination of water supplies and increased seismic activity.A dangerous gamble?Environmental groups opposed to the lifting of the fracking ban have slammed the measure as counterintuitive in the UK’s push to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.Environmental organization Friends of the Earth believe that the UK should be concentrating energy and funds into exploiting Britain’s ample renewable resources. “Developing our huge clean power potential and cutting energy waste will create jobs, reduce our fossil fuel dependency and keep the lights on,” campaigner Tony Bosworthto told Sky News, stressing that “gambling on shale gas is a risk we don’t need to take.”While Liberal Democrat MP, Tessa Munt said that the fracking debate could either make or break the UK green energy policy.”Even as a small part of the energy mix, a push for shale gas will swiftly descend into a commercial stampede and investment will leak away from the renewable sector,” she said. … Read More
Egyptian police fire tear gas at protesters outside palace
CAIRO (AP) — Police have fired tear gas to stop protesters from approaching the presidential palace in Cairo as tens of thousands take to the streets to demonstrate against the assumption of nearly absolute powers by the nation’s Islamist leader.The violence erupted when protesters pushed aside a barricade topped with barbed wire several hundred yards from the palace walls. Police fired tear gas, and then retreated. There were no immediate reports on casualties.Tuesday’s march comes amid rising anger over a hurriedly adopted draft constitution by President Mohammed Morsi’s allies and decrees giving him sweeping powers. Morsi called for a referendum on the draft constitution on Dec. 15.Continue Reading… … Read More
Fracking’s most horrifying health risks
The good news is that a public health department— New York State’s Department of Health (DOH)— is finally undertaking an assessment of fracking’s likely health risks. The bad news is that it’s questionable whether it will allow adequate time to do a credible and complete job. So says a new scientific watchdog group launched to assure that science, rather than expediency prevails.Up until now government has relied on the gas industry’s blanket assurances of safety. The industry routinely tries to conflate the safety of vertical gas drilling (in use for a over a century) with horizontal fracking (in use for a little over a decade), a method which deploys a potent arsenal of chemicals so hazardous they defy known waste treatment methods.Continue Reading… … Read More
Flatulence: What Causes Stomach Gas and Bloating?
By Corrie PikulThe average woman passes about 700 milliliters of gas a day. Here’s why you might be feeling even more bloated than usual.Read More…
More on OWN Healthy Mind & Body
Germany’s RWE to give up Nabucco project
(L-R) European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, prime ministers Gordon Bajnai of Hungary, Werner Faymann of Austria, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Sergei Stanishev of Bulgaria and Emil Boc of Romania attend the Nabucco Gas Pipeline signing ceremony in Ankara, on July 13, 2009. (AFP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
German second largest energy company RWE is going to leave the Nabucco gas pipeline project and is reportedly discussing the sale of its 16.1% stake to Austria’s OMV.
OMV, the Austrian oil and gas company which owns another 16% in the Nabucco project, could conclude the purchase from RWE as early as this week, Focus magazine reported citing people familiar with the project.
The other shareholders of Nabucco are Hungary’s MOL, Turkey’s Botas, Bulgaria’s BEH and Romania’s Transgazm, each holding about 16% of shares, with RWE’s stake the largest.
In May RWE said it was reviewing strategic requirements regarding its participation in Nabucco, sparkling rumors it would leave the project..
The Nabucco pipeline project is aimed at delivering Caspian gas to the European Union to rival Russia’s South Stream. According to the original plan, the 3,900 km pipeline was to cross Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania to end in Austria and was designed to supply up to 31bn cubic metres per year. The start of construction was scheduled for 2013.
But several months ago the project was put in doubt as it became clear there were no guarantees there would be enough gas. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country’s utility MOL was leaving Nabucco due to the financial constraints of the project.
Recently the Nabucco consortium submitted plans for a smaller Nabucco
1c1
West pipeline which would deliver gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz 2 field.
Meanwhile Russian major gas producer Gazprom and its partners in the South Stream gas pipeline, including Eni, EdF and BASF have signed off on the final investment to begin the 16 billion euro project. The construction is due to start on December 7.
Environmental risk: UK protests over fears of fracking ban lift
Environmental risk: UK protests over fears of fracking ban lift Get short URLLink copied to clipboardemail story to a friendprint versionPublished: 02 December, 2012, 14:04
TAGS:Natural resources,
Health,
UK,
Politics,
Prices,
Economy,
Gas,
Earthquake
Demonstrators, including one wearing a mask of British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (L) pose placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside parliament in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)Campaigners protested in London against fracking, a controversial practice of shale gas extraction, amid reports that the UK is to lift the temporary ban on the method. Critics cite the environmental risks the practice poses, including earthquakes.Fracking is a controversial technique in which high-pressurized water and chemicals are pumped into rock formations deep below the earth’s surface to produce gas and oil, carrying a risk of earthquakes and water pollution.The supporters of the practice argue that the method could increase Britain’s energy supply by tapping into underground gas reserves and UK will no longer have to import at high prices. “Britain is spending tens of billions of pounds importing gas,” said Cuadrilla’s Chief Executive Francis Egan. “We have proven that there is [shale] gas and that it will flow.””Most geologists think this is a pretty safe activity,” head of energy science at the British Geological Survey Mike Stephenson told The Independent. “We think the risk is pretty low and we have the scientific tools to tell if there is a problem.”Demonstrators hold placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the US Embassy in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)The government has denied The Independent’s report and has played down the potential risks posed by the method. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has responded that the effects of fracking are not yet known and there is no reason for exaggeration. “It is too early to assess the potential for shale gas but the suggestion more than 60 per cent of the UK countryside could be exploited is nonsense,” the department said in a statement. “We have commissioned the British Geological Survey to do an assessment of the UK’s shale gas resources, which will report its findings next year.”But opponents believe that the environmental risks are too great. Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven told The Guardian that “the potential for shale gas to bring down bills is overhyped.””To allow fracking in the UK would be the final nail in the coffin for Cameron’s green agenda,” said the statement from Britain and Ireland Frack Free group. Demonstrators hold placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the US Embassy in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)Risk of lifting fracking ban in UKUK is estimated to sit on 1.5 trillion pounds (US$2.4 trillion) of shale gas reserves, Telegraph reported. Some of the rich shale gas areas include the W
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eald area in Sussex and Hampshire, and from Cambridge through Oxford and down to Bath.Fracking has been banned in the UK since 2011 when it was blamed for causing two earthquakes in Blackpool. US Company Cuadrilla, behind the drilling exploration in the area, was forced to halt its work.In fact, after UK protests, Francis Egan told the Sunday Telegraph that the development of gas resources in the UK is essential for the economy. He argued that his company would be forced to walk away from Britain, if the ban is not lifted soon. Egan believes his company has the capacity to produce shale gas as soon as March next year.”We are starting a whole new onshore gas industry. In our license alone we can supply a quarter of the UK’s gas demand,” he said.On top of that, George Osborne is expected to use his Autumn Statement this week to lift the ban by announcing tax breaks for companies that use fracking, statingthat domestic shale gas industry will boost economy by decreasing gas prices and creating jobs. However, evidence reveals that an unidentified chemical used in fracking in the United States has been linked to kidney and liver damage. Environmental officials in Pennsylvania have come under fire for their tests on drinking water from a well near a natural gas drilling site. Toluene, benzene and arsenic have been found in the bodies of nearby residents. The practice has also been linked to earthquakes in the US, witnessed in states such as California, Ohio, and Arkansas.”);
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About 300 demonstrators turned out for a national day of action after a report from The Independent warned that the government had nearly two-thirds of British countryside marked for potential shale gas drilling sites that were now under active consideration for fracking. Conservative MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is expected to announce the lifting of the temporary fracking ban this week after the practice was hauled due to two earthquakes linked to the method.Activists have sent a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron stating that fracking is a “an unpredictable, unregulatable process” that is damaging to the environment. Protesters also installed a 7.2m fracking rig outside the parliament and erected 6.1mdrilling rig outside the London home of the chairman of shale gas company Cuadrilla, which used fracking in the UK in the past.Other activist groups from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Somerset, South Wales and Sussex also came out to protest against proposed fracking development. Demonstrators hold placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the US Embassy in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)Fracking is a controversial technique in which high-pressurized water and chemicals are pumped into rock formations deep below the earth’s surface to produce gas and oil, carrying a risk of earthquakes and water pollution.The supporters of the practice argue that the method could increase Britain’s energy supply by tapping into undergro
1000
und gas reserves and UK will no longer have to import at high prices. “Britain is spending tens of billions of pounds importing gas,” said Cuadrilla’s Chief Executive Francis Egan. “We have proven that there is [shale] gas and that it will flow.””Most geologists think this is a pretty safe activity,” head of energy science at the British Geological Survey Mike Stephenson told The Independent. “We think the risk is pretty low and we have the scientific tools to tell if there is a problem.”Demonstrators hold placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the US Embassy in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)The government has denied The Independent’s report and has played down the potential risks posed by the method. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has responded that the effects of fracking are not yet known and there is no reason for exaggeration. “It is too early to assess the potential for shale gas but the suggestion more than 60 per cent of the UK countryside could be exploited is nonsense,” the department said in a statement. “We have commissioned the British Geological Survey to do an assessment of the UK’s shale gas resources, which will report its findings next year.”But opponents believe that the environmental risks are too great. Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven told The Guardian that “the potential for shale gas to bring down bills is overhyped.””To allow fracking in the UK would be the final nail in the coffin for Cameron’s green agenda,” said the statement from Britain and Ireland Frack Free group. Demonstrators hold placards in protest against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas outside the US Embassy in London on December 1, 2012. (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)Risk of lifting fracking ban in UKUK is estimated to sit on 1.5 trillion pounds (US$2.4 trillion) of shale gas reserves, Telegraph reported. Some of the rich shale gas areas include the Weald area in Sussex and Hampshire, and from Cambridge through Oxford and down to Bath.Fracking has been banned in the UK since 2011 when it was blamed for causing two earthquakes in Blackpool. US Company Cuadrilla, behind the drilling exploration in the area, was forced to halt its work.In fact, after UK protests, Francis Egan told the Sunday Telegraph that the development of gas resources in the UK is essential for the economy. He argued that his company would be forced to walk away from Britain, if the ban is not lifted soon. Egan believes his company has the capacity to produce shale gas as soon as March next year.”We are starting a whole new onshore gas industry. In our license alone we can supply a quarter of the UK’s gas demand,” he said.On top of that, George Osborne is expected to use his Autumn Statement this week to lift the ban by announcing tax breaks for companies that use fracking, statingthat domestic shale gas industry will boost economy by decreasing gas prices an
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d creating jobs. However, evidence reveals that an unidentified chemical used in fracking in the United States has been linked to kidney and liver damage. Environmental officials in Pennsylvania have come under fire for their tests on drinking water from a well near a natural gas drilling site. Toluene, benzene and arsenic have been found in the bodies of nearby residents. The practice has also been linked to earthquakes in the US, witnessed in states such as California, Ohio, and Arkansas. … Read More
