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Message: Fracking risks will be minimised, promises Falcon

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/energy/2015/01/21/fracking-risks-will-be-minimised-promises-falcon

Fracking risks will be minimised, promises Falcon
by Charlotte Mathews, January 21 2015, 06:04

FALCON Oil & Gas, one of the companies preparing to explore for shale gas in the Karoo, yesterday put out a new Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for comment suggesting it could minimise all the risks.

The EMP is for seismic exploration, not for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the gas extraction process from tight rock is known.

The public, and particularly those living in the Karoo, have voiced concern about the potential hazards of exploring for and drilling, or fracking, to extract shale gas, including polluting water resources, damaging the ecosystem and marring the pristine beauty of the semi-desert region.

The government placed a moratorium on issuing licences for shale-gas drilling in 2011, but late last year said companies that had applied for exploration licences before February 1 2011 could update and resubmit their EMPs to Petroleum Agency SA (Pasa) by February 27. Falcon originally applied in August 2010.

In a presentation to Parliament late last year, Department of Mineral Resources director-general Thibedi Ramontja said draft regulations on fracking could be published by this month and exploration licences could be issued by mid-year.

Jonathan Deal of Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) said there was still no sign of these regulations and they would only cover the seismic drilling phase, not the fracking phase. There was considerable concern about the baseline to be used for studies on water and air quality, since government had proposed monitoring only in a 1km radius. TKAG was aware of a case where a water source was polluted 32km from the exploration site.

According to Falcon’s environmental experts, SRK Consulting, Falcon has amended its EMP on seismic surveying to exclude formal protected areas and a 5km buffer area around them. Falcon intended to use the "shot hole" method. It entails drilling 5m deep holes at 20m intervals and placing small explosive charges in each hole. The waves transmitted bounce back to create a geological picture of the subsurface. The crew will consist of 18-22 people working for six to eight months.

There were two "medium" risks to the process, which could be reduced to "low" risks using mitigation measures, SRK said. These were potential contamination of water resources and loss of, or damage, to natural vegetation. Water risks could be minimised by adequate maintenance of vehicles, addressing spills and removing waste. Vegetation risks could be addressed by keeping mainly to roads and tracks and educating drilling crews of the importance of vegetation. All the other risks that have alarmed the public, including visual impacts, reduced air quality, noise and increased traffic, were regarded as low and would become insignificant with the right protective measures in place, SRK said.

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