Upcoming Events

National | Environment

no events match your query!

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Army Sergeant Travis Decker Murdered His Three Children After Being Denied Mental Health Care at JBL... Sat Jun 07, 2025 04:52 | JBLM Whistleblowers
A corrupt military police force and incompetent Commander who denied emergency mental health care and crisis counseling to an American service member resulted in the murder of the sergeant's three young daughters

offsite link Gaza doctor grieves her nine children killed in Israeli strike Sun May 25, 2025 20:00 | imc
Israeli regime continues it's slaughter
'The children were completely charred'

Paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar was treating victims of Israeli attacks when her children were killed by an Israeli strike on their home

offsite link British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ?slaughterhouse? Sat May 24, 2025 00:23 | imc
There?s no food getting in so people are starving,? surgeon Tom Potokar says
British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a ?slaughterhouse,? where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023,

offsite link It is time to talk about the Out of Control Immigration. Mon Mar 31, 2025 22:12 | imc
For the last few years since the CV19 scamdemic undocumented immigration into Ireland has surged. No one is allowed discuss it because they do not want any rational debate about it. If you do you are labelled an extremist. However this out of control immigration is fully facilitated by the Irish government and the EU and the shady figure behind the Neo Con movement pushing for endless war, wokeism and globalist agenda.

offsite link [Dublin] National Demonstration for Palestine: End Israeli Apartheid & Genocide Thu Mar 06, 2025 22:35 | ipsc
Sat, 22 March 2025, 13:00 Assemble at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by over 150 Irish civil society organisations, has called another National Demonstration for Palestine on Saturday 22nd March.

The march will begin at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm and finish outside the D?il on Molesworth Street/Kildare Street to bring our demands to the Irish government?s doorstep.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Starmer to Recognise a Palestinian State Tue Jul 29, 2025 19:30 | Will Jones
Sir Keir Starmer has declared that the UK will recognise a state of Palestine in September unless Israel makes peace with Hamas, in a move critics say treats statehood as a "bargaining chip" and "rewards Hamas".
The post Starmer to Recognise a Palestinian State appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The NHS ?Non-Jobs? Bonanza Tue Jul 29, 2025 17:49 | David Craig
The NHS is in crisis. Seven million on waiting lists with junior doctors on strike and other staff eyeing industrial action. So why is it continuing to appoint "Environmental Sustainability Managers", asks David Craig.
The post The NHS ‘Non-Jobs’ Bonanza appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Farage Demands Apology After Labour Minister Says He is on the Side of Predators like Jimmy Savile f... Tue Jul 29, 2025 15:32 | Will Jones
Nigel Farage has demanded an apology from Labour Minister Peter Kyle after he accused him of taking the side of paedophiles like Jimmy Savile for wanting to scrap the Online Safety Act over free speech concerns.
The post Farage Demands Apology After Labour Minister Says He is on the Side of Predators like Jimmy Savile for Wanting to Scrap Online Safety Act Over Free Speech Concerns appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Is the Tide Turning Against Woke Comedy? Tue Jul 29, 2025 13:00 | C.J. Strachan
Is the tide turning against woke comedy? After watching Andy Parsons bomb at the Ealing Comedy Festival, of all places, with his usual anti-Trump, anti-Reform schtick, C.J. Strachan thinks its days are numbered.
The post Is the Tide Turning Against Woke Comedy? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Leaked Email Blows Apart BBC?s Impartiality Claims Over Gaza Tue Jul 29, 2025 11:38 | Will Jones
A leaked internal email from a BBC Executive Editor reveals that the corporation has issued prescriptive and biased instructions to staff on how to cover the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The post Leaked Email Blows Apart BBC’s Impartiality Claims Over Gaza appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Fracking in the Lough Allen & Clare Basins

category national | environment | opinion/analysis author Thursday June 16, 2011 17:19author by éirígí Sligeach - éirígíauthor email eirigisligeach at gmail dot com Report this post to the editors

'Fracking' is a term that not everyone may be aware of. It is used to describe a method of shale gas extraction known as Hydraulic Fracturing. Unfortunately it is a term we are very likely to hear a lot more about in the coming months and years.
onshore_licensing_2010_a3_nwcarb.png

'Fracking' in the Lough Allen & Clare Basins
'Fracking' is a term that not everyone may be aware of. It is used to describe a method of shale gas extraction known as Hydraulic Fracturing. Unfortunately it is a term we are very likely to hear a lot more about in the coming months and years.

The dangers that this procedure poses to the environment, to water quality and to human safety is well documented worldwide. France has recently banned the use of fracking as have a number of regions in the United States. In Lancashire in England, fracking has been halted in recent weeks following a series of earthquakes that occurred and are believed to be linked to the recent exploration activity using this method in that region.

In the dying days of the Fianna Fáil led administration back in February of this year, one of their final acts was to award licences to a number of companies to explore for commercial gas in the Northwest Carboniferous Basin (more commonly known as the Lough Allen basin) and the Clare basin. The Lough Allen Basin is a huge area that covers parts of counties Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Tyrone. It covers an area of 8000 square kilometres in total. The Clare basin encompasses parts of Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick.

Awarding the licences the then Minister of Natural Resources Conor Lenihan awarded licences to two companies to begin exploration in the Lough Allen basin – Australian company Tamboran Resources and the Irish Lough Allen Natural Gas Company. Enegi Oil Plc was awarded the licence to begin exploration in the Clare Basin.

Last April when Lenihan first invited applications for licences to explore for natural gas in these areas, éirígí warned of the potential dangers that lay in store if this exploration and drilling was allowed proceed without meaningful consultation and the consent of communities effected.

Responding to Lenihan at the time (click here to read article) éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey said that “such exploration and extraction has the potential for grave environmental damage and danger to human health and safety. We have seen in north Mayo the conflict that can arise when such developments, with the potential risks involved, are imposed on local communities. Once again in these instances, there has been no proper in-depth consultation with local communities who may be effected by this prospecting and possible extraction of gas.”

He added: “If our natural resources are to be exploited, then it needs to be done in consultation with local communities, in a manner that protects the environment and protects peoples health and safety. To date, the record of the political establishment and of the exploration companies, as exemplified in the ongoing dispute over Shell's planned pipeline in north Mayo, on environmental and safety issues does not breed confidence.”

Claims by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources who now say that fracking would not be allowed in the Lough Allen basin without a public consultation phase and an environmental impact assessment should be treated with contempt.

Indeed, both companies involved in the Lough Allen basin exploration have already confirmed that fracking is their intended method to extract gas from this region. So much for consultation!

One need only look at the example of Shell's pipeline in north Mayo to see how the department deliberately ignored the dangers to human safety and the environment, ignored deliberate breaches of the law and environmental regulations by Shell and never held any meaningful consultation with the local community.

Instead, they ignored their legitimate concerns, tried to demonise and criminalise them and then sent the Gardai in to intimidate and beat them into submission when they realised they could not be duped or bought off.

The whole Corrib gas saga is proof of how environmental regulation in this state does not work and cannot be relied upon to protect citizens from large oil and gas companies whose only concern is profit.

As in the Corrib case, any gas extracted in the Lough Allen or Clare basins will be of no benefit to the public, the rightful owners of this natural gas. Once again the shareholders of private companies will benefit from this at our expense.

As the start of exploration in the region is imminent éirígí activist Gerry Casey said that the whole process needs to be stopped immediately.

He said: “There has been no consultation with the local communities effected and no consent given by them to this project. This whole process needs to be stopped immediately and the use of fracking banned before any damage can be done.”

“Genuine and in depth consultation must be held with the people in these regions. If the gas can be extracted safely without any threat to the environment and public health, then and only then, it should be extracted to benefit the people of the region and the island as a whole, not to boost profits for private companies.”

Casey added: “All our natural resources must be nationalised and extracted safely where possible. The vast wealth that could be generated would go a long way towards creating well resourced and efficient public services in areas such as Health and Education. It would provide long term funding to create sustainable long term employment and help to eradicate the scourge of fuel poverty and poverty in general.”

“If Fine Gael and Labour think that people will roll over and just accept the current situation they are sadly mistaken. If they insist on continuing this process they will meet fierce resistance, just as Shell and the government have faced for the past ten years in north Mayo.”

In recent weeks Cinema North West have been holding public showings of the award winning US documentary 'Gasland' which exposed the dangers of the fracking process throughout the US. Their next screening takes place next Thursday night (June 23) at 8PM in their mobile cinema beside the Coach House Hotel in Ballymote, Co Sligo. (Click here for more details)

0913frackinggaspenn_full_600.jpg

00000dscf2430.jpg

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Its our Gas     CJ    Thu Jun 16, 2011 19:20 
   Must be stopped     war29    Mon Jun 27, 2011 14:57 
   end of the world as we know it     keeper    Tue Jun 28, 2011 08:41 
   the documentary     shell shocked    Tue Aug 16, 2011 15:18 
   We need the cash     S. H. O'Toole    Wed Aug 24, 2011 14:50 
   Fracking may have trigger the 5.9 quake in Eastern US     T    Wed Aug 24, 2011 22:05 
   ESB on the make again     lovely leitrim    Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:08 
   Earthquakes and civil dialogue     S. H. O'Toole    Thu Aug 25, 2011 17:08 
   Re: Earthquakes and civil dialogue     T    Thu Aug 25, 2011 17:25 
 10   liars and corporate crooks with a smooth pr machine. don't trust them for a second     Serf    Fri Aug 26, 2011 05:08 
 11   prime time     right on    Fri Aug 26, 2011 14:14 
 12   Public Meeting     carrick gas    Mon Aug 29, 2011 00:40 
 13   more public meetings     double decker    Sun Sep 04, 2011 20:24 
 14   Some of the Australian worries relating to ‘‘hydraulic fracturing’’...     W. Finnerty    Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:03 
 15   I SPEAK FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY     IRELAND    Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:36 
 16   restoration of the environment impossible     aa    Wed Feb 01, 2012 14:02 
 17   Smart Mining can be Clean.     Non Green.    Wed Feb 01, 2012 14:33 
 18   Who is the we?     Andrew    Wed Feb 01, 2012 15:56 
 19   This time...No Looters.     Non Green    Wed Feb 01, 2012 16:15 
 20   Fracking and CO-2 surge     T    Wed Feb 01, 2012 23:07 
 21   something fishy about the sudden moves to exploit previously known about finds     lefty    Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:49 
 22   American-German Solar Grand Plan.     Non Green.    Thu Feb 02, 2012 16:08 
 23   I do believe, Non..     opus diablos    Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:18 
 24   Do you     Unemployed    Sat Feb 04, 2012 15:00 
 25   well, it is written..     opus diablos    Sat Feb 04, 2012 15:20 
 26   Radio Netherlands Worldwide on fracking Canada     Caoimhin    Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:36 
 27   Director     ian hester    Tue Feb 07, 2012 14:04 


Number of comments per page
  
 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy