This article is from page 16 of the 2013-01-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE first official meeting of Kilkee Fracking Concerned took place in the town last night and sub-groups are also currently being formed in Doonbeg, Mullagh and Carrigaholt.
This follows a dramatic increase in the activity of anti-Fracking campaigners in Clare over the last month, following the announcement by UK company Energi Oil that it intends to apply for a licence to begin testFracking in Clare in the spring of 2014.
More than 60 people turned out in Kilkee for a Fracking information meeting last week and a number of follow-up events are planned for West Clare in the coming months.
“There is a massive amount of interest in this on the ground in West Clare. Fracking is a real hot topic at the moment so there are new developments taking place all the time – so people really need to be aware of it,” said Lorraine Hughes of Clare Fracking Concerned.
“I think the word is getting out more and more to the people in West Clare. Fracking is a difficult issue for some people but more and more people are starting to take it seriously.”
While much of the publicity surrounding Fracking involves allegation that it can cause earthquakes due to the high pressure liquids used to shatter the shale rock and release the gas, the largest potential pollutant from Fracking in West Clare is likely to be the pollution of the water system with chemicals.
A public lecture on Fracking and on the geology of the West Clare shale will take place in Kilkee on Sunday, February 3.
“The shale rock is a lot shallower in Clare than in many other areas where Fracking is being considered. This raises even more questions about the integrity of the water in West Clare if this goes ahead,” continued Lorraine.
Councillors at Clare County Council voted unanimously to introduce a ban on Fracking into the Clare County Development Plan. This ban has not been introduced however, as the council claim that it does not have the legal power to ban any activity in the County Development Plan.
A local steering committee for the Kilkee group was due to be elected as part of last meeting – but the elections where not completed at the time of going to press.