Hydro fracturing an environmental and humanitarian threat

Hydro fracturing an environmental and humanitarian threat

Worries over the safety of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, as a method to drill for oil and natural gas continue to grow across the world including Australia.
Since the very first commercial use of hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas industries have been maintaining that it is harmless, as long as the fracking process is carried on correctly. If this is the case, there is no reason for them to be hesitant in disclosing the details of the process including the statistics of which chemicals are pumped into the ground?
An exhaustive scrutiny of the process exposes that there are multifaceted human and environmental issues, ranging from water contamination, Disease-causing chemicals (93 percent of identified chemicals are dangerous: 25 percent cancer; 37 percent endocrine disruptors; 52 percent neurotoxins) are caused by this process.
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Moreover, Earthquakes (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ohio and West Virginia have recently reported earthquakes linked to fracking operations. Accidental spills and criminal dumping (documented in every state, and Canada, in fracking operations are reported.
The controversial hydraulic fracturing process pumps millions of gallons of water, sand and fatal chemicals into the ground in order to release natural gas from rock — given the human and environmental hazards, thousands of environmentalists, human rights defenders urge that there is an acute need for legislation against the use of fracturing internationally.
Critics say it can lead to contamination of water wells, rivers and streams. Other risks include leaks, spills and explosions.
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Company planning fracking operation in Leitrim:
An Australian mining company is seeking to exploit a substantial gas field on the Fermanagh/Leitrim border with the promise of hundreds of jobs from a multi-billion euro investment. The project is being opposed by campaigners who claim that the form of mining being proposed – fracking – would harm the environment.

Although the process of fracking is more commonly used in the U.S. it’s fast being used in other countries. In Australia the debate over hydraulic fracturing has been reignited last November 2011 over a report that fracking conducted by Quadrille Resources which is 41% owned by Australian drilling company AJ Lucas, was the cause of two earthquakes near the British town of Blackpool in April and May. Environmentalists like the Lock the Gate Alliance are calling for a rigorous regulatory approach to shale gas fracking.
Hydraulic fracturing has been suspended in NSW but it is still being used in coal-seam gas mining in other states.
Coal Seam Gas Exploration and Extraction in Australia:
With the realities of climate change/chaos upon us, the scramble for sustainable energy sources is rapidly expanding. One potential source of energy in the Australian context is thought to be the extraction of gas from coal seam gas (CSG), shale gas, basin-centered gas and tight gas. Some commentators have falsely compared this ‘unconventional’ gas extraction to a new gold rush and a way to ensure our energy future. It’s estimated that up to 80% of all natural gas wells in the next 10 years will use fracking. But the consequences of this unconventional technique are drastically destructive.
Farmers in southern Queensland are increasingly concerned about the rapid expansion of the state’s coal seam gas industry:

There are already a number of coal seam gas projects in Australia, chiefly in the Surat-Bowen basin in Queensland, but also in NSW. To give an indication of the scale of the proposed operations up to 20,000 – 40,000 wells could be drilled in the Surat and Bowen Basins in the next 20 years alone.
But the landholders claim drastic impacts, the extraction process have on the quality of water and soil. Given the far-reaching impacts of hydraulic fracturing, the farmers protest before the Australian parliament.
Australian farmers, and environmental activists while blaming the multinational corporations for poisoning their water, soil and environment, established that the government forsaking environmental protections in pursuit of foreign investment stripped the international laws for the protection of environment.
If (hydraulic fracturing is permitted, the multinational companies that now own the natural gas reserves will extract the gas for next to nothing and make global profits off it, liquefied and transported overseas to be sold back to people of Australia, while leaving water contaminated, air polluted and the natural gas supply depleted. The government is trading people’s health and future for profit—huge profit for the subsidized gas industry.
Tourism Industry goes against the mining Industry in Australia:
A state tourism body supported a protest group in its fight against an energy company in the Scenic Rim, south –west of Brisbane. Protesters have staged a week-long blocked at a CSG exploration site near Beaudesert, west of Queensland’s Gold Coast.
The Queensland’s Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) highly supports the campaign to keep The Scenic Rim for independent scrutiny of Arrow Energy’s operations. The impact of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing has debilitating implications on tourism industry of any region.
Industrial- scale geographically dispersed fracking will severely damage the northwest Australian landscapes’ potentiality to attract tourists. Once the Laugh Allen Basin becomes known for methane smells, industrial compressor stations, loud noise, will flare-offs, bad roads, deteriorating poisonous water quality and massive truck traffic, the word will get out and the area will no longer be the wonderful “natural” vacation destination it is now.
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It’s about time, the Australian government irrespective of which party and its bureaucratic subsidiaries opened their eyes to the devastation of life and habitat as it is being destroyed by multinational corporations and their ideas of “economics”. They ought to be aware that people not only in Australia, but all around the world are waking up to the politics that are rapidly degenerating the Global environment and social attitude through all industrial chemical ecosystem poisoning that is taking place today.
It’s time to stop believing in incompetent bureaucracies making decisions and writing the law books on behalf of governments that are not governments but mere puppets under a global manipulation regime where destruction is only a means to a “viable economy”. There no longer is a fine line between government and corporation. Your government is a corporation. Their motivation never was the welfare of masses or anything related to environment, ecosystem, humanity, wild or domestic animals