WhatFinger


MEPs prepare for battle over shale-gas drilling

Putin Fears Shale Gas Competition



Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged his country's gas industry to "rise to the challenge" of shale gas as the United States and some European countries forge ahead with developing the controversial energy source. US shale gas production may "seriously" restructure supply and demand in the global hydrocarbons market, Putin said yesterday in his final address to the Russian Duma before he takes over as president on 7 May. Putin said Russia must be prepared for "any external shocks" and "a new wave of technological change" that was "changing the configuration of global markets". --EurActiv, 12 April 2012
Battle in the European Parliament over the rights and wrongs of drilling for shale gas has begun in earnest with the publication this week of a draft report for the environment committee. Drawn up by Bogusław Sonik, a Polish centre-right MEP, the report concludes that there is no need for new European Union laws to regulate shale-gas extraction, arguing that existing laws governing drilling for conventional gas are adequate. Sonik told European Voice that public anxieties over shale gas were being fuelled by misinformation. He accused the Russian company Gazprom of spreading some of that information in order to keep Europe dependent on Russian gas. --Dave Keating, European Voice, 12 April 2012 The once solid bans on fracking technology to extract shale gas in Bulgaria and France are weakening. Both countries have established committees to examine the technology and practices throughout the EU. As the extraction technology becomes cleaner, more transparent, and proven, older objections will drop away, and shale gas will emerge as a solid technology. --Michael Labelle, Energy SCEE, 10 April 2012

Support Canada Free Press


An EU scheme that charges airlines for carbon emissions is "a deal-breaker" for global climate change talks, India's environment minister said, hardening her stance on a scheme that has drawn fierce opposition from non-EU governments. India yesterday (11 April) formally barred its airlines from participating having earlier said it would boycott the scheme. --EurActiv, 12 April 2012 Fears that "free solar panel" offers to generate £1,000 a year out of thin air looked too good to be true will be fuelled by new claims that banks and building societies are refusing mortgage applications. Some properties where photovoltaic (PV) panels have been installed are proving unmortgageable and unsaleable, hitting house prices. --Ian Cowie, The Daily Telegraph, 11 April 2012 What the Deputy Prime Minister failed to mention, of course, is that one of the main reasons that gas and electricity prices are rising so steeply is the Coalition’s own energy policies. By adhering to the 2008 Climate Change Act, steered to the statute book by Ed Miliband, the Government is committed to cutting CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. We warned at the time that this wildly ambitious target – which no other country is contemplating – would impose a crippling burden, and so it is proving. Last autumn, George Osborne told the Tory party conference that this country would cut its carbon emissions “no slower but also no faster” than its competitors, warning that we would not save the planet “by putting our country out of business”. Quite. It is time the Chancellor’s view prevailed. --Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, 12 April 2012 SCOTLAND should re-think its “headlong dash for antiquated and inefficient wind turbines” and focus instead on emerging sources of power such as shale gas, a business expert has claimed. Professor Jane Bower has criticised the Scottish Government’s focus on wind power, describing the cost of meeting its target of generating the equivalent of 100 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 as making it “very impractical”. In a submission to a renewable energy inquiry at the Scottish Parliament she questions the SNP ambition to turn Scotland into an exporter of wind power, arguing that Denmark now has to export most of its wind power at a loss. --Jenny Fyall, The Scotsman, 10 April 2012 That’s the thing about flying to the moon. It gives you an untrammelled perspective and respect for the real world, facts and hard data. In a blast worthy of a rocket launch, 49 former NASA scientists, astronauts and engineers have finally had enough of NASA’s climate advocacy role. --Peter Glover, Energy Tribune, 11 April 2012


View Comments

Guest Column Dr. Benny Peiser -- Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.


Sponsored