. Space Travel News .




.
ENERGY TECH
France withdraws shale gas permits: minister
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Oct 3, 2011


The French government withdrew three permits Monday for shale gas exploration, dampening industry hopes that the controversial method for extracting natural gas would be approved in France.

"We have decided to abrogate the three research permits," Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told AFP.

Two permits had been issued to a Dallas-based firm, Schuepbach, and the third to French energy giant Total. All three sites were in the southwest.

French lawmakers voted in June to ban tapping gas from shale rock using a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", which has raised concerns about spills, leaks and contamination of groundwater.

The companies had failed to submit within a two-month deadline convincing plans for exploratory drilling using alternative techniques, Kosciusko-Morizet said.

"In the two Schuepbach reports, the use of hydraulic fracturing was explicitly mentioned," she said.

The Total plan did not allude to fracking but "the argument in (its) report was not credible," she added.

Total had said it would continue searching for "classic sources" of energy but this is a region where the potential for such finds was very limited, according to the minister.

"Total announced that it also wants to continue looking for shale gas with techniques that are not hydraulic fracturing but we know today that such technologies are not operational," she said.

Shale gas extraction has boomed in the United States, with thousands of wells drilled across the country in recent years.

Shale gas can be found in dense sedimentary rock which is fractured by water and chemicals that are piped in horizontally under high pressure.

Environmental concerns focus on the perceived risk of groundwater contamination by chemical residues and methane gas, as well as the contribution to the greenhouse effect of gas emissions caused by the fracking process.

Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries






.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



ENERGY TECH
Poland to veto EU shale gas rules
Krakow, Poland (UPI) Sep 30, 2011
Poland will veto any attempt by the European Commission to institute EU-wide rules regulating the shale gas sector, a government adviser said this week. Maciej Olex-Szczytowski, a special adviser on economics and business to Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contended at a Krakow conference on shale gas Wednesday that a European regulatory framework isn't necessary. His comme ... read more


ENERGY TECH
Sea Launch resumes operations after 2-year break

Ariane 5 marks fifth launch for 2011

Countdown to first Soyuz launch at Kourou under way

Ariane rocket launches satellites after strike delay

ENERGY TECH
Mars Express finds water supersaturation in the Martian atmosphere

SpaceX says 'reusable rocket' could help colonize Mars

Help NASA Find Life On Mars With MAPPER

Drilling into Arctic Ice

ENERGY TECH
NASA Partners Uncover New Hypothesis On Crater Debris

China to launch moon-landing probe around 2013

United Launch Alliance Launches GRAIL Spacecrafts To Moon

NASA launches twin spacecraft to study Moon's core

ENERGY TECH
Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons

The PI's Perspective: Visiting Four Moons, in Just Four Years, for All Mankind

Citizen Scientists Discover a New Horizons Flyby Target

View from the Summit: Hunting for KBOs at the Top of the World

ENERGY TECH
Heavy Metal Stars Produce Earth-Like Planets

Doubts Over Fomalhaut b

Earth's Trapped Gas Fed the Early Atmosphere

From the Comfort of Home, Web Users May Have Found New Planets

ENERGY TECH
Pee power: Urine-loving bug churns out space fuel

NASA Tests Deep Space J-2X Rocket Engine at Stennis

New packaging for old US rocket

External Tank Was Backbone Of Shuttle Launches

ENERGY TECH
Snafu as China space launch set to US patriotic song

Civilians given chance to reach for the stars

Tiangong-1 Forms Cornerstone Of China's Space Odyssey

"Heavenly Palace" China's dream home in space

ENERGY TECH
NASA Space Telescope Finds Fewer Asteroids Near Earth

Little threat to Earth from big asteroid: NASA

Exploring an asteroid with the Desert RATS

Dawn Collects a Bounty of Beauty from Vesta


.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2011 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement