This article is from page 2 of the 2012-01-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
PRESSURE is mounting on Clare County Council to alter the County Development Plan to prevent fracking from taking place in the Clare Basin in west Clare.
Members of the Clare Fracking Concerned group will address next Monday’s January meeting of the local authority when the councillors will vote on Gabriel Keating’s (FG) motion to formalise their opposition to the controversial practice.
A series of anti-fracking meetings will also take place in West Clare in the coming weeks as momentum begins to gather behind Clare Fracking Concerned.
According to Cillian Murphy of the Loop Head Tourism Group and Clare Fracking Concerned, the process could seriously pollute the ground water not just at the fracking site, but all over West Clare.
“Around 99.5 per cent of the mixture which is pumped underground is chemical free. But that still leaves 0.5 per cent chemicals and, when you consider that they are talking about pumping millions and million of tonnes of this mixture, it amounts to an awful lot of chemicals,” said Murphy. “The geology in the area is already quite fractured and brittle, and water already passes readily through the rocks, so if there was a problem it wouldn’t just be in one area, it would be in all the ground water in West Clare.
“We are trying to give people a knowledge base for them to make their own minds up. We are not trying to force our opinions on anyone. But we would hope that when people see the facts and make up their minds, that they would contact their local councillor and tell them that they do not want fracking taking place in West Clare.”
Should Clare County Council come out against the practice taking place in West Clare, it does not prohibit the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from granting permission to begin fracking. UK-based company Enegi Oil secured an initial exploration licence from the Government to undertake a number of fracking-related tests in the Clare Basic earlier this year.
“We would hope that the council will come out against fracking in Clare and if they do we would hope that they could make an amendment to the County Development Plan which says that. That would at least give us some legal basis or protection,” continued Murphy. “From our research, any jobs that come out of this are very short term. There is a certain amount of employment in the construction phase but that is very short term. The work after that is very technical and can be done by a very small number of people brought in from outside.”
Clare Fracking Concerned will host meetings at the Lighthouse Inn in Kilbaha on January 6, Murphy Black’s Butter Market Café on January 7, Kenny’s Bar, Lahinch, on January 8, Kildysart Hall on January 20 and Fanny O’Dea’s in Lissycasey on January 26.