Fracking

Hi Ray

Thanks for posting!

The aims and objectives of the RSPB revolve around protecting our native species and the habitats that support them. We do this through a number of mechanisms including our reserves network, habitat management advice, partnership projects, raising concerns about the threats from developments and also by lobbying government, whichever party may be in power, to do the right thing for nature conservation. Have a look at the RSPB's history and you will see that we were originally formed to call for changes in law when we successfully called for the ban in the plume trade. 

So, given that potentially threatening developments that could have impacts on species and habitats are something that the RSPB has a rightful interest in, the proposals to exploit shale gas by hydraulic fracturing on our tiny and densely populated island where spaces for nature conservation have been marginalised is certainly an area we need to look at. Consider these facts;

Whilst fracking in itself is not a new technology (i.e. pumping water and chemicals down a well at high pressure) – it’s been used by drilling companies for years as a measure to increase the flow rate of existing oil and gas wells. Conventional wells are drilled vertically into reservoirs of oil and gas trapped between layers of rock underground. Fracking for shale gas is different because the fracturing fluid is used to create fractures in shale rock. This has only recently become economically viable because of developments in horizontal drilling which allows you to drill several boreholes from one well pad and then spread out underground to extend into a much wider area of shale rock. The rising wholesale price of gas has also made it more viable.

Commercial extraction for shale gas will involve drilling around 6-10 wells from each well pad, radiating out in different directions. It is estimated that a single six well pad will require between 1.5 and 2ha of land, between 54,000 and 174,000m3 of water, between 500 and 1500 days of surface activity before it starts producing any gas, and between 4,300 and 6,600 truck visits. And that’s just to get the site up and running, if the rate of gas flow slows down then the site may need be re-fractured every few years – meaning more water and more disturbance.

Our of our main concerns, therefore, is the scale of the development that would be needed to extract large volumes of gas. To access 10% of the resource that the British Geological Society has estimated in Lancashire you’d need around 50,000 to 100,000 wells (based on the volume extracted from the most productive wells in the US), which at approx. 10 wells per well pad would require about 5,000 to 10,000 well pads i.e. individual sites. At this kind of magnitude the impacts of water demand and disturbance to wildlife would be massively greater, as would the risk of water contamination.

However, there are still significant uncertainties around the potential ecological and climate impacts of pursuing a shale gas industry in the UK which is why we’re calling on Government to take a precautionary approach, ensure that the industry is effectively regulated and demonstrate that it can be done without jeopardising UK emissions reduction targets.

With regards to wind farms, check out our position on the web pages for the policy and the information about the work we have done on wind farms such as creating sensitivity maps to guide developers away from those areas where sensitive species and habitats are found. Basically as climate change is recognised as the biggest threat to global biodiversity we want to see the government getting behind renewable energy technologies - the UK has a rich natural resource of wave, tidal and wind power. Where these technologies can be deployed without harm to the environment then we won't oppose them, if we have concerns about the impacts we will continue to oppose them.

I realise this has been a lengthy response so I won't go any further but I hope that has given some idea as to our concerns regarding shale gas, why it is right for us to raise them and why we support wind technology in the right places.