Public talks on Fracking - Feb 21, 22, 23rd

SEANIE1

Fermanagh, Sligo, Leitrim, Dublin.
North West Network Against Fracking (part of No Fracking Ireland network) have organised two speakers from Canada to do a series of public meetings next week in Ireland.

Dr.John O Connor, Alberta, Canada - presentation on “The
Realities of Hydraulic Fracturing and the associated health risks to
human habitat"

“Fracking Inhumanity” - presentation by Scientist Jessica Ernst M.Sc


Dr. John O'Connor and Jessica Ernst M.Sc will be in Clarion Hotel, Sligo, Feb 22nd, 8pm.
Free admission - All welcome.

Jessica Ernst will be in Belcoo, Community Centre, Fermanagh, Feb 21st 8pm
The Bush Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, Feb 23rd, 8pm
Glenfarne, Co.Leitrim, (venue/time TBC) Feb 24th
Dublin - city centre (venue/time TBC)

A question and Answers session will follow the presentations.
All are welcome, and entrance is free.
Please spread the word to friends and neighbours about these important upcoming events, thank you.
All enquiries, please ring Meg on 0863840254

NO FRACKING IRELAND is a grassroots network, calling for a ban on fracking in Ireland. There are local groups affiliated to this network in several counties in Ireland - Please see description on main page on Facebook for further details.

somuj

I say frack away. Need more jobs and international investment. As usual I'd say the majority of people bitching about it have no clue whats even involved. Typical in Ireland to just follow the crowd.

joseph brand

somuj wrote: »

I say frack away. Need more jobs and international investment. As usual I'd say the majority of people bitching about it have no clue whats even involved. Typical in Ireland to just follow the crowd.

You cannot be serious. Have you watched Gasland?

Good read here:

http://www.durangotexas.com/eyesontexas/fortworth/tommyleejones.htm

It's true that there is massive potential for jobs. There's also MASSIVE potential for damage to public health and the environment. We need to create jobs in another way, which is safer and cleaner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

high-volume hydraulic fracturing can use as much as two to three million gallons of fluid per well.[9] This latter practice has come under scrutiny internationally, with some countries suspending it, or even banning it completely.
Water is by far the largest component of fracking fluids. The initial drilling operation itself may consume from 65,000 gallons to 600,000 gallons of fracking fluids. Over its lifetime an average well will require up to an additional 5 million gallons of water for the initial fracking operation and possible restimulation frac jobs.[75]
Chemical additives used in fracturing fluids typically make up less than 2% by weight of the total fluid.[76] Over the life of a typical well, this may amount to 100,000 gallons of chemical additives. . . . Although some of the chemicals pose no known health hazards, some are known carcinogens, some are toxic, some are neurotoxins. For example: benzene (causes cancer, bone marrow failure), lead (damages the nervous system and causes brain disorders), ethylene glycol (antifreeze, causes death), methanol (highly toxic), boric acid (kidney damage, death), 2-butoxyethanol (causes hemolysis). Gamma-emitting isotopes (can cause cancer) are also included in the fluid. Some of the isotopes used are Gold-198, Xenon-133, Iodine-131, Rubidium-86, Chromium-51, Iron-59, Antimony-124, Strontium-85, Cobalt-58, Iridium-192, Scandium-46, Zinc-65, Silver-110, Cobalt-57, Cobalt-60, and Krypton-85.[26]
The 2011 US House of Representatives investigative report on the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing shows that of the 750 compounds in hydraulic fracturing products “[m]ore than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or listed as hazardous air pollutants”

I don't live in Leitrim (where they want to frack), but a bunch of us rented a barge for a week up there years ago, and it is really beautiful. We travelled for hours on the canals and not one person to be seen. The air is clean, land unspoilt and the fauna just go about their day. I hope that others will be able to enjoy Leitrim and other counties in years to come.

Don't industrialise the landscape. The fracking companies are banking on us 'needy' Irish, due to the fact we are in a financial mess, being a pushover. Have some backbone, stand up. The money is not worth the destruction.

joseph brand

Another good article here:

http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=18758

For those still unfamiliar with fracking the process is best explained thus; injecting a mixture of sand, water and chemicals into dense rock layers and shale, creating cracks that allow natural gas trapped inside to flow to the earth's surface. The process was first used as far back as the 1940’s by Standard Oil (a company with form when it comes to reckless exploration), using a mixture of napalm and sand, but it really only began to appear on the horizon in earnest in the 2000’s. Energy companies began actively expanding natural gas exploration with an emphasis on shale formations in the US states of Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wyoming, Utah and Maryland. Its use exploded following the Bush administration exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Bush and Chaney, who was closely associated with the Halliburton Company who in turn are at the forefront of the resurgence of the activity, are close friends. So from the outset we have companies involved whose track record on matters to do with the preservation of the environment was, and remains, to say the least dodgy and political leaders who reside in the hip pockets of vested interests.

corazon

Gaslands is pure propaganda. Here is a link to a just released study on fracking from a respected university.

New Fracking Study out From Texas University
Study: Fracking Does Not Cause Groundwater Pollution

The study concluded that instances of groundwater pollution in areas where fracking is taking place was not caused by the fracking process itself. Instance of environmental hazards were caused by factors common to all oil and gas operations, including casing failures and the mishandling of waste water once it is brought above ground for storage and eventual processing at a waste treatment plant.
The study focused on three areas where fracking is taking place, the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and parts of Appalachia, and the Haynesville Shale in western Louisiana and northeast Texas.
The purpose of the study, a spokesperson said, is to help to separate fact from fiction and to provide governments with information they will need to enact regulations to ensure responsible shale gas development.

joseph brand

Propaganda eh?
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking

In 2005, the Bush/ Cheney Energy Bill exempted natural gas drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act. It exempts companies from disclosing the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing. Essentially, the provision took the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) off the job. It is now commonly referred to as the Halliburton Loophole.

Seems above board to me. Honest. Nothing to hide then. :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton

In 1995, Cheney replaced Thomas H. Cruikshank, as chairman and CEO [HAlliburton]

Conflict of interest?

Halliburton has become the object of several controversies involving the 2003 Iraq War and the company's ties to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney retired from the company during the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign with a severance package worth $36 million.[40] As of 2004, he had received $398,548 in deferred compensation from Halliburton while Vice President.[41] Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company from 1995 to 2000 and has received stock options from Halliburton.[42]
In the run-up to the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded a $7 billion contract for which 'unusually' only Halliburton was allowed to bid.

A little OT, but it shows the type of people who will claim that fracking is safe. Those who lack any morals or ethics, but have handsome bank accounts.

@corazon: How much is Dr. Charles Groat being paid? I'm sure you believe this type of thing never happens. It belongs in the realm of conspiracy theories. The energy giants are honest and friendly but those pesky residents, they can be troublesome. Looking for clean air and water. What gives?