5 December 2013
An agreement made between water companies and the fracking industry won't reassure the public about their concerns over fracking in the region.
The memorandum of understanding was published by water trade body Water UK and the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG), which represents fracking companies. This agreement sets out how the bodies will co-operate throughout the shale gas exploration and extraction process.
North West Green Party European election candidate, Peter Cranie, said: "This is a deal that fails to recognise the scale of destruction that this dirty fracking industry has caused in the USA. It does not satisfy the Green Party, which is calling for a complete ban on the onshore gas drilling technique.
He continued: "This gas drilling technique produces enormous volumes of toxic and radioactive waste, which once brought to the surface becomes a hazard to drinking water, air quality and public safety. It is a dirty industry, yet this agreement implies that the public can be reassured that all these risks can be controlled. We don't believe they will be.”
Fracking companies have made no secret of the fact they want to extract gas on a scale that equates to a vast array of these ground-shaking, polluting gas wells - up to 100,000 across Northern England, according to estimates based on government figures.
Concerns around carcinogenic contamination of drinking water sources, for example, have not been satisfactorilly addressed by the studies in the USA, so this agreement will be of concern to the North West's dairy farmers who are worried about the impact of contamination on their businesses.
Peter continued: “The effect on the region's drinking water of producing billions of gallons of toxic fracking waste could impact on us all. You would think that the water industry would be a more virilent critic of fracking. But water companies will, of course, profit from expensive waste processing at waste sites such as United Utilities' Daveyhulme, which is close to controversial planned drilling. United Utilities has even said they may allow fracking on its own land. The best reassurance the water companies could give is to not engage in this dirty, risky business which the public don't want.”
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