Germany should impose strict environmental conditions on hydraulic fracturing--a technology used to extract unconventional natural gas deposits such as shale gas--due to concerns that this production method can contaminate ground water, a study commissioned by the country's environment ministry said Thursday.
Germany
should impose strict environmental conditions on hydraulic fracturing--a
technology used to extract unconventional natural gas deposits such as shale
gas--due to concerns that this production method can contaminate ground water,
a study commissioned by the country's environment ministry said Thursday.
While fracking, as the technology is also known, shouldn't be banned
completely, the survey recommends that it should be forbidden in drinking water
protection areas, the environment ministry said in a written statement.
Fracking involves using high-pressure water and materials such as sand and
chemicals to break open cracks in rock deep underground to extract gas trapped
in these rock formations.
The technology is widely applied in the
U.S.
to
extract gas from shale rock layers and is a major contributor to making the
country considerably less dependent on foreign energy supplies.
Europe
, on the other hand, is more split on the matter of
shale gas with
France
and
Bulgaria
the
main opponents to its extraction because of environmental concerns. Others, led
by
Poland
, are
strongly in favor because they see it as a means of easing their dependence on
imported gas, usually from
Russia
.
Earlier this year,
Germany
's
state-owned Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources said the
country has significant shale gas reserves that--if produced--could
theoretically meet the country's gas consumption for the next 10 years and help
it to considerably reduce reliance on energy imports.
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