[The Vector] The French Vote: No Fracking!
France has outlawed hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique for extracting natural gas and oil. French senators voted the measure through on July 2nd, after much hoopla this year. As BusinessWeek reported on April 4th 2011, Jose Bove, a French environmental activist, Green Party deputy and onetime Presidential candidate, brought the idea of fracking in France to a halt first. Energy companies were beginning to prepare for oil & gas search (by use of fracking) in hard rock of southern France, but on January 22nd, Bove started a petition against fracking. Within weeks, the government ordered a moratorium and by March 11th, the Prime Minister extended the bank to June. Elected officials needed time to study environmental and scientific reports on the technique and any possible impact it could have on the French.
And it became official. “We are at the end of a legislative marathon that stirred emotion from lawmakers and the public,” French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said late yesterday before the vote. Hydraulic fracturing will be illegal and parliament would have to vote for a new law to allow research using the technique, she said. (Bloomberg News, July 1 2011.)
Fracking uses a mixture of water, sand and chemicals injected under high pressure to break dense rock or rock formations, releasing the trapped gas or oil. There is some fear that groundwater can and has become contaminated with shallow fracking in the U.S., where the technique was born and is widespread. Fracking, in fact, opened up resources in many parts of the U.S., due to “unlocking” the commodity from very hard rock where it could not be reached before. Many proposed U.S. energy plans look to using natural gas (much from hard shale) in the future.
France is the first country who has outlawed fracking. Energy companies will have their permits revoked, and if they proceed or are caught fracking, heavy fines and prison will be the result.
The “Oil & Gas Law Brief” says the French Senate vote was 176 in favor of the ban and 151 against. But don’t think it was a tough vote that was relatively even with “for” and “against” sides. Many of those who voted against the ban did so because they thought the law wasn’t strong enough and were very much against it! (Oil & Gas Law Brief. “France bans hydraulic fracturing” by Keith Hall. July 2, 2011.) One report implied that Socialists would have preferred an outright ban on any and all development of shale, fracking or not.
Oil companies and the union UFIP said it “considers the law will prevent an evaluation of shale hydrocarbon resources and their impact on the French economy.” Lawsuits may follow, but it seems clear that France has closed the door on fracking.
