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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Shadbolt - fracking nightmare!

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt believes the option of fracking in the region "sounds like a nightmare" because of the potential spread of dangerous chemicals"
The Southland Times at last brings the fracking issue out into the public domain and it won't be the last we hear of it. Well done Mr Tullett, well done Mr Shadbolt and nice work Mrs Henderson, resident of Lumsden who raised the issue at Venture Southland yesterday and provoked the debate.
"Fracking" does sound nasty and reports from overseas have alarmed New Zealanders living in regions earmarked for gas extraction, the Te Anau Basin being but one example.
Mr Shadbolt said "fracking sounded like a nightmare because of the potential spread of arsenic once chemicals were pumped into the rock" the paper reports.
ES chairman Ali Timms said, "there had been reports of flammable gas coming out of water supplies in Canada, but hoped the latest regional water plan would prevent this from happening in Southland."
I must ask her what she meant.

13 comments:

Peter said...

Robert, quite simple, just bury it under paper. Must work. Stifles everything else.

Seriously,there are concerns elsewhere in the world, & what else can you do when genies won't go back into the bottle. Cow effluent is preferable to arsenic. Why not use that?

robertguyton said...

Yours is a cheerful world view Peter :-)

Alternatively, we could dig out the buried information and put it up where everyone can see it.

Pumping cow effluent into the rock fissures below Southland?
It's getting there of its own accord!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Robert. Have you watched Gaslands? http://www.pri.org/science/energy/burning-water-contamination-and-natural-gas-fracking.html

robertguyton said...

Nope Anonymous, but I will now. Thanks for the direction.
I'm guessing it's not a promo for the fracking industry :-)

Viv said...

Hi,
http://www.newint.org/features/2011/05/01/fracking-the-word-gasland-film/

Thisis a link to a recent article in New Internationalist mag on Fracking.
Also from Alex Smith at radio ecoshock

http://www.ecoshock.info/2011/05/fracking-myths-climate-capitalism.html

Jonesy said...

Oh Yay,

In the Otago Water Plan, fracking is a permitted activity.
How about Southland?

robertguyton said...

It's a question I'll be asking tomorrow Jonesy and I'll let you know.

Thanks Viv.

Cheyne said...

I cant believe what im reading - fracking? southland? Waiau basin?!? this brings a tear to my eye...

If this gets tabled further mark my words TPTB will have hell to pay!!!

This truly gets my back up...

gaslands is a must see and a frightening eye-opener...

man this makes me wild - they wont be happy untill there isnt a place untouched on earth!!!

keys gotta go - big time!!

robertguyton said...

Hmmmmmmm... my hackles are rising.

johnnyk said...

No place to hide after fracking! To learn more see the movie "Gasslands" There is no safe way to frack

MAXIMUM CONSUMPTION said...

I watched the film Gaslands some time ago and when I did it made me sick to think that companies/people can be so blind and think that injecting huge amounts of industrial waste into the arteries of the earth will have no consequences. To learn just yesterday that it is being considered here and all over NZ really does sicken me on the lowest possible level.
I can only hope that we have stronger environmental laws and processes that can avert something like this.

Is there anything I can do? I mean most poeple wont even know what fracking is let alone the practices that are associated with it. Such as dealing with the waste fluid.

I think there should be full disclosure and every chemical should be identified along with its effects on ecology.

They dont need to hide their secret recipe of chemicals because of possible copy cats they need to hide it so they can get past environmental blockades.

Cheyne said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dZe1AeH0Qz8


http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/02/about-fracking.html

Nick said...

Southland needs to really consider its legacy here. What are we leaving for our families in the year's to come? We could do so much better already.

We need to very carefully consider fracking and the risks it may bring. The potential to contaminate our water supplies is huge. In other countries were fracking is in full swing, the fracking fluids are highly carcinogenic and protected under IP rights. This is no excuse when so much is at stake. Southlanders have the right to know.

Even if this fluid is proved to be safe in the Southland situation, how is this activity going to potentially effect the geology i.e. allow gas into the aquifers? If this happens we have big problems. The term Pandora's box is very apt. Imagine a region were the bores are contaminated beyond repair with carcinogenic chemical species derived from fracking materials and gas contamination. How would this effect our agricultural sector? I'm not a person that is easily spooked but on this subject I'm scared for the future of my daughter in Southland.

We need answers from independent reliable parties, not the industry.

If we get this wrong any economic benefits will be negated and a horrific legacy handed down.