Bishop Hill Diary dates
Mar 27, 2013 BBC Energy: gas A couple of diary dates for readers in London:
On 5 April there's the Polis Journalism conference, which looks at trust in the media. The first session in particular looks to be of interest:
0915 Trust and the BBC
Chair: Steve Hewlett
Speaker TBC
Details here.
Meanwhile, on 9 April there's a debate on fracking.
In December 2012 the UK government gave the green light to start exploratory hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in the UK. Politically at least, it looks like we have moved beyond the “do we / don’t we” stage of the debate.
Fracking has become an emotive issue in the UK. Public concern about hydraulic fracturing and its effect on our energy, environment and geological processes often plays out in a highly contentious way. How much impact does the science behind the process of shale gas extraction have on the public and media debates? How much of what has been reported in the media follows experiences from the United States?
To explore the issues we are delighted to welcome from the US, leading expert and author of the first peer reviewed study into the impacts, Professor Robert B. Jackson – Nicholas Chair of Global Environmental Change, Duke University.
Attracting an audience from across the scientific, geological, energy and media communities, Prospect will seek to contribute to improving the quality of the debate about this topic in the UK.
Details here.
Reader Comments (10)
"Fracking has become an emotive issue in the UK. Public concern about hydraulic fracturing and its effect on our energy, environment and geological processes often plays out in a highly contentious way."
Yes. Thanks to the greenie rent-a-mob and their dishonest agit-prop. Precisely the same story with genetic modification (and much else besides).
It would be lovely to think that Cuadrilla and others in the field have given this some serious thought and are prepared to take on the doomsayers, preferably in court.
Otherwise it will be another re-run of Lord Melchett and his chums.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/405061.stm
A pampered, weapons grade nincompoop, acquitted for blatant vandalism.
Another Diary Date:
Thursday 18th April 2013 (17:30-19:00), University of Nottingham
Special Seminar Series 2013 – Professor Daniel Nyberg
Climate change emerges daily as an ever-worsening threat to society. And yet, despite the established body of climate change research in the physical sciences reinforcing the catastrophic implications, tangible political action remains limited and global GHG emissions continue to increase. In this talk Professor Nyberg will discuss political myths regarding the omnipotence of corporations that haunt business studies and play a part in the lack of responses to climate change beyond minor adjustments in the forms of adaptation and mitigation.
Paul Matthews:
I wonder if Prof Nyberg will elaborate the basis for his conclusion of an "ever-worsening threat" with "catastrophic implications." And if he will address the influence of subsidy-farming businesses in the development and inflexibility of policy.
The Fracking 'debate' looks more like an anti-frac love-in, going by the names and affiliations involved.
I can't imagine the fracking conference will be very strong on the facts.
A US News and World Report acticle from 2011 is still relevant.
"But the truth is, fracturing technology has been deployed in the United States for nearly 65 years, not only as a way to optimize the production of oil and natural gas, but also to do the same for water wells and geothermal energy. EPA has even used it as a means of remediating Superfund sites. All told, more than 1.2 million oil and natural gas wells have undergone fracture stimulation since the technology was first introduced in Hugoton Field of Kansas in 1947--helping our country produce billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, generating millions of jobs and billions in annual revenues in the process."...
" But contrary to what you may have read in the chat rooms, no less an authority than the EPA has publicly stated that fracturing does not pose a significant threat to groundwater, with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently reinforcing that point to a committee of the U.S. Senate. It's a finding that's been corroborated by the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior, by countless state regulators, and by the Ground Water Protection Council, which recently launched a new nationwide database with information on the materials used in the fracturing process available on a searchable, well-by-well basis."
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/is-fracking-a-good-idea/fracking-technology-has-been-used-safely-for-years
Professor Richard Davies - Director, Durham Energy Institute, Durham University (chair)
I worked with Richard (Richie) in Venezuela about 18 years ago. We were doing geological field mapping. He's a good lad. I'm not sure where he stands on CAGW though.
If Cuadrilla hadn't stopped for those mini Earth Quakes few years back.Those gas Wells would now be online and the UK wouldn't be down to 10% of our Gas reserves and desperately waiting for the Liquid Gas Tankers to Dock.
For those unsure about fracking and the actual situation from experience in the USA, there is a fine documentary which debunks most of the myths about this technology.
www.fracknation.com
It was made using funds raised on Kickstarter, a crowd-sourcing site (and not big oil).
The hypocracy of government-- they fear fracking and possible public alarm but want to continue with Carbon Capture and Storage. One uses incompressible water mixed with sand and a lubricant the other a gas that under the pressures involved will cause untold problems.
One of my geologist mates is working for Cuadrilla and he'll be at the debate. We all worked together at some stage in Venezuela. It's a beautiful place with fantastic geology. Good beer too: Polar.