with a view to reporting at the end of 2013 when there will be a parliamentary
vote on the matter.
The government led by President Francois Holland immediately annuled/cancelled all
existing permits including those for Cahors and Beaumont –de- Lomagne declaring itself
opposed to hydraulic fracking but once again ‘open’ to alternatives. Since then an
intense disinformation campaign has been lauched by proponents but feelings run deep
in the indigenous population and the original message ( largely thanks to widespread
screening of the award winning documentary GASLAND ) went home – early in the chain
of events. Within government there are clear divisions and notably between ministers
responsible for the environment and for ‘re-generation’.
27th February 2013
The Schiste Happens Team
It’s Catch up time
The furore concerning the possible exploitation of alleged shale gas ( Gaz de Schiste
) resources in France and notably the South West began in January of 2011 when it
became clear that former Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo had secretly signed
agreements with a number of Oil and Gas companies. This was against the spirit if
not the letter of the Grenelle Environmental Accord and most definitely unconstitutional
French citizens and ex-patriate residents were enraged. In the Ardeche 20,000 marched
and in Cahors a further 5,000 ( merely the local example ) in demonstrations that
were all-age, cross party and above all -peaceful. In July of 2011 the Sarkozy government
passed the loi Jacob effectively banning hydraulic fracking but leaving the door
open to ‘alternative methods’ and at the same time establishing a Commission charged
with exploring these alternatives
Prospectors, the first sign of what is to come
Frack pads stretch
to the horizon
How to contaminate
the aquifer