It can happen, France voted to ban "fracking" for natural gas and oil Country wide.
There are caveats of course and France is know for having alternatives with their high dependence on Nuclear energy, but even so, they banned fracking and they've put with it heavy fines and consequences.
And oil companies in France are not happy at all.
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“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.
Energy companies that plan to use fracking to produce oil and gas in France will have their permits revoked and its use could lead to fines and prison, according to the law passed by a vote of 176 in favor, 151 against by the senators in Paris.
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Oil companies operating in France “deplore” the French ban, according to the Union Francaise des Industries Petrolieres, or UFIP, which represents Total SA (FP) and other explorers and refiners. UFIP, it said in a statement, “considers that the law will prevent an evaluation of shale hydrocarbon resources and their impact on the French economy.”
Of course, many here are familiar with the concerns regarding hydraulic fracturing to get to natural gas for energy use. And with many of the battles regarding natural resources there is a lot of propaganda regarding how fracking can affect water quality and the safety of the procedure to the environment and local resources.
T Boone Pickens says it's safe!
So does the New York Commissioner
New York's conservation chief said Friday that hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of deep drilling for natural gas, can be done safely with proper precautions, and he named an advisory panel including top environmentalists.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens' comments Friday came a day after his agency outlined recommendations to permit hydraulic fracturing in most of the state's potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale formation across the state's Southern Tier. No permits will be issued until after public comments, further review and final regulations, probably in late fall or early winter, he said.
The DEC would prohibit "hydrofracking" in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, on state land and within primary aquifers. The technology extracts natural gas from shale by pumping water, chemicals and sand into the ground to create fissures in the rock and release the gas. Most drilling will be at least 2,000 feet deep and can reach 4,000 both vertically and horizontally, officials said.
I don't know, the word that jumps out to me here is WATERSHEDS, you know those important parts of our ecosystems where our water runs into, to help clean, direct back into our water table and also puts water directly int our already struggling oceans.
This water touches so many different ecosystems and can effect the health of not just the people that live near the watersheds, but anyone who may use the water in those water tables, the fish, the animals, the trees, then the ocean...
How can we afford to be WRONG?
That's all I have to ask.