Issues: Fracking

Have your say on the future of Europe’s energy system

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Food

We all know that Europe needs to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure yesterday to be able to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees.

The current law on priority EU energy infrastructure, the ‘TEN-E Regulation’, is very much at odds with the aim of building a future proof, clean energy system. It’s the law that made it possible for 55 fossil gas projects to receive highest EU priority as ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCIs). The good news: The law will be revised and the EU commission is seeking input from NGOs, citizens, scientists etc. on what a new energy infrastructure law should look like.

How can you submit to the consultation?

  1. Click on the button below – it will generate an email to the European Commission with a pre-written text.
  2. Fill out your name and other details at the bottom of the email text.
  3. If you have time, try to personalise your submission as much as possible. You could add a sentence or two at the start to say where you are writing from and why you particularly care about this issue. Feel free to edit the text of the email.

Link not working? Click here for an alternative way to make a submission.

Food & Water Europe’s Hydrocarbon Toolkit

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Common Resources

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The goal of this toolkit is to provide legal arguments to activists in the European Union (EU) against the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons (e.g., shale gas/oil, tight gas/oil, coal-bed methane) by referring to relevant articles of existing and binding EU law. It explains in accessible language the most relevant Directives and Regulations that are applicable to the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons. More precisely, the toolkit discusses the individual pieces of legislation along the hydraulic fracturing process, starting from prior assessments to liability. For each Directive/Regulation it discusses the goal and scope, the most relevant provisions, limitations, and the general line of argumentation that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can use to challenge the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons. Case law is discussed where relevant. Lastly, the toolkit establishes the procedural steps that citizens and/or organisations can take to contest a certain project on the EU level.

This toolkit focuses on regulation of the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons such as shale gas/oil, tight gas/oil and coal-bed methane; however, it is important to note that some negative impacts (water and soil con- tamination, methane emissions, earthquakes from wastewater disposal, as well as public health impacts) can occur even if hydraulic fracturing is not being used as a stimulation method.

Find out more in, ‘Food & Water Europe’s Hydrocarbon Toolkit.’

Chemical Billionaire’s Bid for Fossil Fuel Empire: Ineos Corporate Profile

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Common Resources

For the past decade, the United States has pursued a failed experiment in natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The fossil fuel industry touts fracking as a revolutionary technology that could deliver huge volumes of cheap, clean energy. But the fracking boom has been an environmental catastrophe in the United States.

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The private and secretive chemical company Ineos has been leading the charge to bring this environmentally destructive method to the United Kingdom (UK) and mainland Europe.

However, the fracking “revolution” that Ineos promotes is a return to the past, where corporate executives profit from environmentally destructive extraction and the generation of dirty energy. In reality, fracked gas is incompatible with European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) climate objectives, the Paris Agreement obligations and the need to act quickly to tackle climate change.

Find out more in, ‘Chemical Billionaire’s Bid for Fossil Fuel Empire: Ineos Corporate Profile.

The Trans-Atlantic Plastics Pipeline: How Pennsylvania’s Fracking Boom Crosses the Atlantic

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Food

America’s oil and gas rush is now coming to Europe, polluting both sides of the pond, contributing to climate change and threatening coastal wildlife.

Over the past decade, the U.S. fossil fuel industry has surged by employing new techniques and technologies that combine horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) to extract oil and gas from shale and other underground rock formations.

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Fracking causes many negative public health and environmental impacts and injects large quantities of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to release oil or gas tightly held in rock layers.

European countries must protect the environment and public health and reject America’s headlong rush to fracking and cracking pollution and environmental damage.

Fracking and the Food System

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WaterFood

FoodandWaterEuropeFrackingFoodThe oil and gas industry likes to promote fracking as a boon to farmers and rural communities, but the dream often turns into a nightmare. In the United States, fracking has polluted water wells, sickened people and livestock, and reduced available farmland — proving that fracking and a healthy food system are not compatible.

As seen in the United States, the rapid expansion of oil and gas fracking has created significant environmental and public health problems.

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Many of these problems are inherent to the practice and cannot be avoided through regulation, which is why fracking should be banned.

Find out more about why we need to:

  • Move past the false promises of the oil and gas industry
  • Invest in economic development in rural communities that safeguards our food and water
  • Develop policies that allow farmers to make a fair living farming on their land, rather than resorting to leasing their farms for polluting energy production.

The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking

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WaterFoodCommon Resources

Learn more in the report.

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“In many ways, fracking is the environmental issue of our time.

“It’s an issue that touches on every aspect of our lives — the water we drink, the air we breathe, the health of our communities — and it is also impacting the global climate on which we all depend.

“It pits the largest corporate interests — big oil and gas companies and the political leaders who support them — against people and the environment in a long-term struggle for survival.

“It is an issue that has captivated the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, Europe and across the globe. And it is an area in which, despite the massive resources of the Frackopoly — the cabal of oil and gas interests promoting this practice — we as a movement are making tremendous strides as our collective power continues to grow. As this report lays out, there is mounting evidence that fracking is inherently unsafe.

“Evidence builds that fracking contaminates water, pollutes air, threatens public health, causes earthquakes, harms local economies and decreases property values.

“We first made the case for a ban on fracking in 2011, but this report shows that there is an urgent case for a ban. The evidence is in, and it is clear and overwhelming. Fracking is inherently unsafe, cannot be regulated and should be banned. Instead, we should transition aggressively to a renewable and efficient energy system.” — Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe