This article is from page 28 of the 2013-05-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
COUNCILLORS at Ennis Town Council will next month decide if they want to follow the lead set up Clare County Council last year and impose a ban on fracking or hydraulic fracturing.
A motion will be put to the local authority’s June meeting by Cllr Brian Meaney (FF). The former Green Party councillor is hopeful that a second local authority vote will put pressure on the Minister of Communications and Energy, Pat Rabbitte (LAB), not to grant a fracking license to Energi Oil – a UK-based company who are exploring fracking options in Doonbeg and the Clare Basin.
“We welcome any occasion at which the issue of fracking is raised. We welcome that people are made aware of the dangers of fracking, and we welcome particularly the fact that, if successfully passed this motion will be forwarded to the other town councils in Clare and nationally,” said a spokesperson from Fracking Free Clare.
Any ban on fracking imposed by Clare County Council or Ennis Town Council has little or no actual legal standing. The decision to grant or refuse permission to frack is a reserved function of the Department of Energy.
The department are currently awaiting a report on the possible impacts of fracking, which is being carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA report is not due until mid-2014 and any proposed fracking in Clare will not start until late 2014 at the earliest.
Fracking involves injecting large amount of water and other liquids into underground shale rock at high pressures. This action shatters, or fracks, the rocks which release trapped natural gas. The biggest environmental threat from fracking is that the water and other chemical will enter the ground water.