Well, this is going to be my last blog post ...sob. I have to admit when I started this blog, I was definitely a little apprehensive. But, I can say with pride, that I am a blogging-convert and have loved the experience writing for GEOG3057. Through this blog I feel that I have thoroughly disected the world of fracking and it has allowed me to come up with some informed opinions on the matter!
The widespread mood of the general UK public regarding fracking is 'not in my back garden'. Do people want the economic benefits? yes. Do people want the creation of jobs? yes. But many people, myself included, would be horrified to find fracking occurring in their local area.
I think that in order to improve the public's confidence in hydraulic fracturing more information needs to be readily available about the life-cycle of hydraulic fracturing. A common misconception is that once drilling is in operation, it will never stop... and this is simply not the case. The lifetime of a typical well is only 4 years, making it by no means a permanent fixture.
The key factor is what happens after drilling has ceased. The immediate focus should be the restoration of the landscape, habitats and waterways to their pre-fracking condition. If this were the case then hydraulic fracturing could be managed in a way that mitigates environmental damage. Although I do concede that there would be localised short-term disruption.
The situation has not been helped by the constant bombardment of claim and counter-claim, from both anti-fracking campaigners and pro-frackers alike. Its no wonder that the public are confused! This problem, I believe stems from the lack of scientific literature on the subject. This is probably not so surprising, seen as this is a relatively new technology that has expanded exponentially over the past decade. But with fracking now at the forefront of everyone's attention- and everyone's news papers- it is fast becoming a fundamental branch of geological, environmental and engineering science.
My personal opinion is that it is too late for feeble attempts of protestation against fracking...the wheels are already in motion for fracking to become the biggest thing to happen to the UK since the discovery of oil and gas deposits in the North Sea. All that we scientists can hope to do is to try and mitigate any damaging effects of fracking to the environment. The Government has the responsibility of ensuring that all drilling operations adhere to the strictest codes of conduct and always operate to the code of best practice.
Maybe all fracking needs to do is sack its PR?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment