Article for the 14th of June (check out the film "Gasland" to learn more about fracking)

Europe's scramble for gas sees controversial hydraulic fracturing cross the Atlantic

Luke Starr

30th November,2010

In the US, gas-extraction in the Marcellus Shale has been linked to pollution and social conflict. Now Halliburton, Chevron and Exxon, among others, want to bring the so-called 'fracking' process to Europe, reports Luke Starr

Despite growing evidence from the US of a raft of negative environmental and social consequences of drilling for natural gas using the controversial hydraulic fracturing process, European energy companies are scrambling to secure licenses to roll out extraction projects this side of the Atlantic.

Hydraulic fracturing – also known as ‘fracking’– is a process used in the vast majority of natural gas wells in the US, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart rock formations and release gas. Experts have increasingly expressed concern that thechemicals used in fracking may pose a threat underground or when waste fluids are transported or spilled.

As in the US, shale gas is being increasingly seen as a way to sever links with a volatile provider, only in Europe's case it is not Middle Eastern oil sheikhs but oligarchs at Russian giant Gazprom. 

In August, US energy corporation Halliburton carried out the first hydraulic fracturing of a well in Poland on behalf of the state-owned Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG). Energy consultancy Wood MacKenzie estimates the country's reserves could stand at 1.4 trillion cubic meters. The high numbers have got US companies Exxon and Chevron scrambling to drill test wells alongside smaller companies such as Three Leg Resources from the Isle of Man.

With more than half of Poland's energy needs supplied by coal, shale gas is seen as a way drastically to cut national CO2 emissions in line with EU targets. According to Dr Andrzej Kassenberg of the Institute of Sustainable Development thinktank, replacing coal power plants with gas would cut emissions by as much as 75 million metric tonnes.

Worse-case scenario

Yet Kassenberg remains cautious. ‘In the long term shale gas is still a fossil fuel, and in the short term it creates local problems related to nature conservation and water sources. There is a need to think of the worse-case scenario and prepare for it.’

Water supply in many regions of Poland is of low quality, a hang-over from the Communist era, and Kassenberg fears hydraulic fracturing will add unwanted stress. ‘In areas with water shortages, shale-gas exploration will create problems for supply, although it is difficult to give a definitive conclusion because it is still not known exactly where exploration will happen.’

Another issue is infrastructure, which is currently not sufficient to support the potential gas boom. Wells will be located in rural areas, to which water will need to be regularly trucked, and fracking fluid trucked back out. There is also uncertainty about how gas will be transported. Whatever the outcome, traffic will be greatly increased.

‘Construction of pipelines could cause problems, but so could the construction of roads,’adds Kassenberg. ‘If roads are built to transport water and gas then it will open up pristine countryside to mass tourism, and could bring an additional negative impact to the environment.’

Warning signs

The Polish government, on the other hand, is largely ignoring stories of environmental impacts emanating from America. Shale gas has become an issue of national foreign policy and taken up with vigour by foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

In Britain, Cuadrilla Resources has completed a test well in the Bowland Shale formation between Pendle Hill and Blackpool, in Lancashire. The company is backed by Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm in which ex-BP boss Lord Browne is a partner and managing director.

‘I think it's very early days. It will take a lot of exploration and a lot of effort by small companies like us, and larger companies as well. But ultimately we are hopeful that we would find certain deposits here that would add to the net reserves of the UK,’ Caudrilla co-founder Chris Cornelius told Channel 4 News earlier this year.

Across the North Sea, Shell has drilled three exploratory wells in the southern Swedish region of Skaane, and in September Gripen Gas AS was awarded five exploration licences in the Cambro-Ordivian Basin. Caudrilla Resources has secured licences to test for gas in the Netherlands and Spain, while US company Devon is exploring Denmark's shale potential.

ExxonMobil has concessions for Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia in Germany, conducting five drillings, with two more test wells planned by the end of 2010, and owns 750,000 acres of leaseholdings in the Lower Saxony basin alone.

Commercial viability

Despite the optimism and even if reserves were as vast as predicted, there is a chance that gas could stay in the ground because extraction is not commercially viable. Compared to the US, which has a plethora of oil and gasfield service firms, Europe is lacking in technical support. Take land rigs, for example: in the US there are approximately 1,500, but in Europe there are less then 100. 

Geology is also a factor. According to Dr Quentin Fisher, a professor of petroleum geo-engineering at Leeds University, the lower permeability of shale in Europe could mean extraction is difficult compared to America. 

‘I don’t think we currently know the volume of "shales" in Europe that are directly equivalent to those in the states,’ he said. ‘Much of the shale in Europe might have a much higher clay content than in the US, meaning that it could have a lower permeability and be more difficult to fracture hydraulically.’

Article for the 14th of June (feel free to comment on her personal views)

Five Regrets of the Dying

By Bronnie Ware

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, such as denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced
again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you
lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard. This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their
lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income
that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle. 

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or
it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to
be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying. Life is a choice.
It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

I hope this had as much a positive effect on it as it did for me…..I think I have been uncovering these sooner rather then later…hope I can live this way BEFORE I reach my deathbed.
Because when it all comes down to it, we will all be there on our deathbed….rich or poor, beautiful or ugly….and we will look back on our lives and reflect.