Shale Gas Bulletin Ireland -Issue No. 55 - May 1, 2015

national | environment | press release Sunday May 10, 2015 21:31 by T

Latest issue of the Shale Gas Bulletin Ireland is now available online. The contents for this month are:

1. Irish EPA study on fracking impacts led by company involved in fracking
2. Oklahoma recognises link between earthquakes and fracking wastewater injection wells
3. Scientists warn 75% of known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground

Here's the report from item 1 - Irish EPA study on fracking impacts led by company involved in fracking

CDM Smith, the company whose Irish subsidiary was chosen by Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lead its 24-month UGEE (Unconventional Gas Exploration and Exploitation) research programme has participated in hydraulic fracturing projects in the USA and Poland, and was the host of the Shale Gas Europe 2013 conference held in Poland (see video at left).

As the Irish Times reports, CDM Smith vice-president Kevin Molloy criticised the recent decision by New York governor Andrew Cuomo to ban fracking in New York State on health grounds, saying: "This [decision] is one that was based on emotion and not necessarily science."

Activists from New York state who were instrumental in achieving the recent fracking ban pointed out on a recent visit to Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England that the New York ban was based on scientific evidence from over 400 peer-reviewed studies, which overwhelmingly indicated adverse health impacts from fracking. Of studies examining public health, 96% showed adverse outcomes.

According to one of the activists, John Armstrong: "As New Yorkers learned more about fracking, they were absolutely opposed to it. We had the benefit and the tragedy of seeing fracking for ourselves elsewhere. There were hundreds of water contaminations, air pollution, people were getting respiratory sicknesses, asthma, sores and leisions. It was really sad to see the destruction that fracking brings."

In an interview on Shannonside.ie, Dervilla Keegan of Love Leitrim comments on the choice of CDM Smith and on the orientation of the EPA research project:

"I think the public will be alarmed to hear that a group that have such close ties with the oil and gas industry are heading this research. We would wonder how could they be objective... The Irish public, in 1,500 submissions, asked for health to be the centre of this research and that hasn't been the case. This research is more about regulation than about health."

Senator Paschal Mooney (FF), a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, has said that he considers CDM Smith "cheerleaders for fracking" and has called on Minister Alex White to query the involvement of the company in the EPA research. Fianna Fail has recently published an Energy Policy Paper calling for a ban on fracking in Ireland.

Similarly, Michael Colreavy, T.D., Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Energy and Natural Resources, has called for the EPA to appear before the Transport and Communications Committee following the publishing of their interim report on fracking:

"The interim report published by the EPA is an insult to the committee and to the Minister. There is little or no substantive information regarding the progress of their work investigating what is a very dangerous method of extracting gas."

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For back issues of Shale Gas Bulletin Ireland see:
https://sites.google.com/site/shalegasbulletinireland/a...ssues

The April issue contents were:
1. UK health professionals call for fracking moratorium
2. New research shows natural gas no better than coal for mitigating climate change
3. Radon levels in Pennsylvania homes increase due to fracking

https://sites.google.com/site/shalegasbulletinireland/a...-2015

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