Upcoming Events

Sligo | Environment

no events match your query!

New Events

Sligo

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link White Men Blocked From Applying for Jobs at Premier League Clubs Sat Apr 26, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
White men have been blocked from applying for coaching jobs at Premier League football clubs including Manchester United and Liverpool under a policy that appears to be a direct contravention of equality law.
The post White Men Blocked From Applying for Jobs at Premier League Clubs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Police Federation Boss Sacked After Challenging Woke Police Culture Sat Apr 26, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Rick Prior, the?head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who represented 30,000 officers in the capital,?has been sacked after warning last year that members were concerned about being labelled racist.
The post Police Federation Boss Sacked After Challenging Woke Police Culture appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Australia?s Conservatives Are Paying the Price of Kowtowing to the Left Sat Apr 26, 2025 11:00 | Dr James Allan
As the Australian Right-of-centre Liberal party stares down the barrel of another election defeat, it's further proof, says Professor James Allan, that there are no prizes for conservatives who kowtow to the Left.
The post Australia’s Conservatives Are Paying the Price of Kowtowing to the Left appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The WHO?s Pandemic Treaty Consolidates the Pandemic Preparedness Scam Sat Apr 26, 2025 09:00 | Dr David Bell
The WHO's new Pandemic Agreement, set to be agreed next month, consolidates the pandemic preparedness scam, says Dr David Bell. Built on a heap of falsehoods about the true health risks humanity faces, it must be rejected.
The post The WHO’s Pandemic Treaty Consolidates the Pandemic Preparedness Scam appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Ed Miliband is Now the UK?s Major Source of Net Zero Disinformation Sat Apr 26, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi
Ed Miliband's brazen claim that UK electricity prices are high because of gas ? even though over half the cost comes from renewables charges ? confirms him as the UK's major source of Net Zero disinformation.
The post Ed Miliband is Now the UK’s Major Source of Net Zero Disinformation appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Local Fracking Talk Brings Revelations

category sligo | environment | news report author Thursday March 08, 2012 13:12author by Edward Durand Report this post to the editors

Dr. John O’Connor and Jessica Ernst from Canada gave a series of talks on ‘The realities of hydraulic fracturing and associated health risks’ across Ireland. This is a write-up of their talks on fracking in Sligo.
How fracking works
How fracking works

On Wednesday the 22nd of February in the Clarion hotel, Sligo, Dr. John O’Connor and Jessica Ernst presented talks on ‘The realities of hydraulic fracturing and associated health risks’. They were over from Canada to share their concerns about the dangers involved with fracking based on their experiences in Canada.

Hydraulic fracturing, or ’fracking’, involves pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to fracture the ground and release the gas. Licenses have been given to companies in Ireland for shale gas exploration. The area covered by the licenses is nearly 750 square kilometres. Some county councils have banned it due to health risks but that could be overturned by the government. One of the companies involved, Tamboran, admitted we would buy back our gas at the market price, but denied they plan to use chemicals for fracking. This is because they are the company who plan to only do the test drilling, not the actual fracking.
There was a good turnout of concerned citizens at the event. The speakers went down well with the audience, giving very informative presentations. They have other talks scheduled for Leitrim and Roscommon.

The speakers revealed some shocking facts about what happened in Canada. They said there is no way it can be done safely. The toxins released in Canada as a result of fracking have made people, animals and plants sick, including fracking workers. The chemicals used in the process include Arsenic, Mercury, Petroleum, Ammonia and Dimethyl Formaldehyde. The EPA’s findings suggest carcinogens have appeared in the environments where fracking has taken place. The Canadian regulatory bodies kept changing their names when they were caught working for industry, one even admitted it. Anywhere between 12 and 80 % of gas wells were found to have leaked. A fracking manager in Canada admitted shallow fracking is high risk (as it’s closer to ground water). They said they would only deep frack but they did shallow fracking and the local tap-water became undrinkable. Some Irish sites at risk from fracking, such as the Lough Allen shale basin, have shallow gas deposits.

These revelations from Canada paint a picture that the crowd did not want to happen here. The question and answer session showed the local feelings towards the dangers. The debate will only grow from here.

Ed: Please see this article too: Open letter to the members of the 31st Dáil Éireann. Hydraulic Shale Gas Fracturing - Tamborans claims - Chemicals involved in the fracking procedure

Related Link: http://frackingfreeireland.org/
author by Tpublication date Fri Mar 09, 2012 20:44author address author phone Report this post to the editors

People should be aware that the whole point of fracking is to shatter a vast amount of rock and in the process release the gas that is trapped in all the internal pores. It also follows that this effectively vastly increases the surface area exposed to water by factors of millions if not billions and that chemical trapped in the rocks for millions of years can now be flushed out. Hence the release of all the chemicals including those in the fracking fluids. This will thoroughly contaminate the water supply indefintely.

To allow fracking in your community is to effectively to commit eco-suicide.

author by leftypublication date Fri Mar 09, 2012 21:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

T is right.

And people should also be aware that the trick with fracking is to get the licence and surveys and permissions then sell on to investors or float the company then get out with the cash before the s**t hits the fan. That has been a pattern in the states.

The fact is these wells taper off rather quickly in production compared to a traditional gas well. The gas and all the other gunk leaks out in all directions after the rock is shattered.

The natural stuff released by the process, (often quite radio active as well as toxic), is almost as bad as the toxic soup they pump into the well.

Only fear pumped, greed fuelled, short term stupid thinking would make anyone allow this. Oh...wait..I just described most government thinking for the past 15 years didn't I?

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy