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Irish Left Review
Joined up thinking for the Irish Left

offsite link The French Elephant in the Room Wed Feb 11, 2015 17:46 | Michael Taft

offsite link First we take Athens, then we take Berlin? The Greek earthquake and the twilight... Mon Feb 09, 2015 21:23 | Laurence Cox

offsite link Solidarity with Syriza: Challenging Austerity at Home Mon Feb 09, 2015 18:23 | Eddie Conlon

offsite link TTIP ? What is it and Should we be Worried? Mon Feb 09, 2015 17:26 | Irish Left Review

offsite link New Issue of People?s News Out Now Mon Feb 09, 2015 17:09 | The People's Movement

Irish Left Review >>

Spirit of Contradiction

offsite link Spain is not Greece, or is it? Electoral prospects for the left in 2015. Thu Feb 05, 2015 19:00 | modulus

offsite link SYRIZA and Memnosyne Sat Jan 24, 2015 09:09 | Jerome Nikolai Warren

offsite link Why the Workers’ Party Wed Jan 21, 2015 20:08 | Gavin Mendel-Gleason

offsite link “It’s boring but necessary”: An Interview with Jos Alembic (aka “Q”) o... Mon Jan 05, 2015 18:44 | Jerome Nikolai Warren

offsite link Is Class Real? Some Empirical Contributions from Econophysics Tue Oct 28, 2014 18:40 | Gavin Mendel-Gleason

Spirit of Contradiction >>

Dublin Opinion
Life should be full of strangeness, like a rich painting

offsite link THE WRATH OF KANE: BANKING CRISES AND POLITICAL POWER 09:32 Fri Jan 30, 2015

offsite link ALWAYS THE ARTISTS: WEEK THREE OF THE BANK INQUIRY 23:11 Thu Jan 22, 2015

offsite link FIANNA FÁIL AND THE BANK INQUIRY : SOME INITIAL OBSERVATIONS 21:04 Mon Jan 12, 2015

offsite link PETER NYBERG BANK INQUIRY EVIDENCE, 17 DECEMBER 2014 18:05 Sun Dec 28, 2014

offsite link For Some Vicious Mole of Nature: Making Sense of The Irish Bank Crisis 21:07 Fri Dec 26, 2014

Dublin Opinion >>

NAMA Wine Lake

offsite link Farewell from NWL Sun May 19, 2013 14:00 | namawinelake

offsite link Happy 70th Birthday, Michael Sun May 19, 2013 14:00 | namawinelake

offsite link Of the Week? Sat May 18, 2013 00:02 | namawinelake

offsite link Noonan denies IBRC legal fees loan approval to Paddy McKillen was in breach of E... Fri May 17, 2013 14:23 | namawinelake

offsite link Gayle Killilea Dunne asks to be added as notice party in Sean Dunne?s bankruptcy Fri May 17, 2013 12:30 | namawinelake

NAMA Wine Lake >>


Video Of The Week



CAAT Pregnant activist crashes glitzy arms industry dinner, Feb 2015
See Pregnant activist crashes glitzy arms industry dinner


Fracking Stories on Indymedia

Fracking Summary

Fracking is the latest fraud and threat to hit us. It brings promises of boundless energy and wealth. The reality is that these wells are costly in money and can and do cause very serious long term damage over wide areas to the soil and water table by contamination. The few gains that are got go to a few individuals who own or run the corporation pushing this technology. In energy terms it represents the last desperate attempts to keep energy flow at any cost. The truth is that these wells have massive depletion rates of up to 70% in the first year of production, The mechanism to finance these dubious wells is basically a ponzi scheme that is based on resale of fracking licenses. But with the massive depletion rates just mentioned, it means 70% of the total revenue is obtained in the first year and it rapidly tails off after that. So anyone sold these is left holding the bag as it were and the liability for damage and cleanup. From the recent experience with the property bubble and bust, we know how that worked out.

With Fracking you drill down into the rock in all directions and using high powered water pressure mixed with sand an a cocktail of dangerous poisonous chemicals the rock is shattered and the trapped gas released. This requires vast amounts of energy, piping and water. It literally wrecks the land. In Canada and the USA farmers have been wiped out because all their animals died from the poisons. What will happen in this corrupt country is that our government and their officials will smooth talk everything, give the okay and allow rampant greed to take over. Then when it all goes bust, we the people and thousands of farmers will be left with severely damaged land. It could even wipe out farming. It will certainly destroy our fishing and tourism. The fracking boom could be here and gone in less than 10 years and a small bunch of people will make off with the profits. However for the hundreds of thousands of people affected in the targeted areas the costs will be immense. You have been warned. This will be like the property boom except this time, your very land and means to survive will be destroyed.


See
See this illustration of how it works.

How Fracking Works

Here's another illustration of the fracking process. Image and text just below is from http://NotForShale.com/fracking.htm

Issues with Fracking are as such:

  • Large areas cleared and levelled to allow for drilling sites and road infrastructure to help support the process taking place.
  • Potential damage to water systems, above and below ground from use of toxic fluids and elements used in drilling.
  • Unkown damage to Geological layout.
  • Risk of explosion on site. (incidents have happened in the past in USA)
  • Loud Noise.
  • Escaping gas, this alone can cause health effects.
  • Has the potential to cause earthquakes.
  • When a site becomes exhausted of extracting gas, the site must be heavily secured and treated long term as there could pressure build-up.
  • The storing and treatment of used fluids and chemicals after drilling. This is very costly to the companies drilling.




Issues with Fracking in terms of Northern Ireland / Ireland along with above:

  • No governmental body or independant overseeing the industry here. Therefore accountability is minimal in any given event.
  • No State ownership of resources after drilling. The Shale gas becomes privately owned. Private companies have no obligation to give discount to local economy of resources acquired.
  • Tax payer here must foot the bill in the event of a clean up after an accident.
  • Ireland is small, even a small event could affect the island as a whole. The drilling here is focused in and around border counties with proximity to the Erne-Shannon waterway that could allow chemicals to travel the length of Ireland.
  • The private companies here are new to the drilling industry and have no prior or minor experience of Shale gas drilling.
  • With Fracking the earth for gas, there then comes a need to store that gas. Huge chambers (500 Million cubic metres est) are being unearthed deep beneath the Larne Sub Basin onshore and offshore and along the NorthEast coast. These chambers are being created to store air at high pressure but could also be used to store gas. It is not certain whether gas Fracked in N.Ireland will be stored at these sites but it is a possibility. The salt deposits from the excavated caverns and tunnels may be injected into the sea sending the water/salt levels out of sync causing huge problems for marine life. There are 3 projects to create these chambers in planning.

Articles on Indymedia on Fracking

Statement from some of No Fracking Ireland on EPA 'consultation' process which ended today. - March 8th 2013

Overview of Fracking and Ireland - March 8th 2013

Renouned Investigative Journalist Greg Palast Talks about Fracking in Enniskillen, Carrick on Shannon and Dublin

Poland and Fracking - Lessons to be Learned - Ban Fracking In EU

Counties and Townlands in the Fracking Zones - Are You Living in a Facking Zone? Find Out Here.
Response to the article 'Frank Convery, Yvonne Scannell, Fracking and Local Credibility in Ireland'
Fracking Ireland - Business Group Accept €20,000 From Tamboran Local Fracking Talk Brings Revelations

Open letter to the members of the 31st Dáil Éireann. Hydraulic Shale Gas Fracturing - Tamborans claims - Chemicals involved in the fracking procedure
Presentations: "The Realities of Hydraulic Fracturing" and "Fracking Inhumanity"

Bulgaria Bans Fracking - (from SchNews)
Documentary film “Gasland” on "fracking" free showing in the Northwest

Map of the Areas To Be Fracked

As you can see this affects very large areas of the country. A lot of people are going to be badly affected by this.

Fracking Licenses

Other Related Articles on Fracking and Shale Oil

Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise Imperils Our Future by Richard Heinberg (July 2013)

Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal by Bill McKibben Post Carbon Fellow Sep 10, 2014
UK Indymedia Features

Mon Feb 16, 2015 02:55 UK Indymedia Features

offsite link Police serve Bytemark with production order for Bristol Indymedia information Mon Sep 01, 2014 19:58 | UK Indymedia | en

offsite link Police action against Bristol Indymedia Thu Aug 28, 2014 17:27 | UK Indymedia | en

offsite link Stop NATO Cymru Week of Action / Wythnos o Weithredu Stop NATO Thu Jul 31, 2014 17:04 | Stop NATO Cymru and Anarchist Action Network | en

offsite link Newport Rising: Festival of Radical Change Wed May 28, 2014 09:53 | imc in wales | en

offsite link Women's battle against undercover policing: Week of Action Wed Mar 12, 2014 17:08 | Police Spies Out of Lives | en

UK Indymedia Features >>

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