Where is truth

ENERGY: "Defending shale gas is an outdated position"

 

Which foot is currently dancing France on the issue of shale gas? On the one hand, two parliamentarians, the Socialist deputy Christian Bataille and Senator UMP Jean-Claude Lenoir, made public Wednesday, November 27, a report calling for "de-demonize the dice , bat "on the issue and advocating experiments on the French territory of fragmentation techniques hydraulic" improved. "

On the other hand, the Minister of Ecology Philippe Martin announced in an interview with "Parisian" published Thursday, November 28, it does not give the U.S. group Hess Oil the right procedure , der to oil drilling in the Paris basin. Reason for the refusal? "Could I validate these mutations permit, while the initial goal was only to explore shale gas [...], this implies necessarily to use hydraulic fracturing is a method banned in France, "said the minister.

Despite the ban on hydraulic fracturing in the law of 2011, the debate, therefore, is far from over in France. The gap seems even widen between those who, like the rapporteurs believe that the economic benefit from the exploitation of shale gas is too important to be set aside and those who do not want to hear about it for ecological reasons. Blame the new extraction techniques - currently still in the laboratory study - expected to be more eco-compatible. The use of electric arc thermal fracturing or stimulation by propane are all new arrows arc followers of the exploitation of shale gas.

On the other hand, critics of the use of this unconventional resource does not even want to be dragged on the ground multiple fracturing techniques. In this camp, the member Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) François-Michel Lambert is a hardliner who believes that the whole debate around shale gas is "passé" . He is also the author of a bill, waiting for a year to ban once and for all the exploitation of shale gas on French soil.

FRANCE 24: What do you think of the parliamentary report calling for "de-demonize" the debate on shale gas?

François-Michel Lambert: I want to ignore. For me, the authors of the report are "climate skeptics" debate on energy policy. Every time we give them a voice, they say the same thing, and try to paint green poor technique for the environment.

Those who drafted this report does not serve the public interest, but the companies that are very interested in what you make holes in France - shale gas or not - in order to sell their mining equipment.

F24: However, the report acknowledges the "environmental" limitations of current techniques and evoke a hydraulic fracturing "improved", it could not reconcile it all?

F.-M. L. : This is not a matter of technology. It is a question of which way you want to go for our energy policy. When I meet industrial gas sector as GDF or GRTgaz, they tell me that their strong ambition is biogas. That is modernity. Defend shale gas is a backward-looking position.

While we are still talking about shale gas, the Germans will open in the coming months a biogas station [dioxin transform carbon into methane, Ed]! So when they tell me that you dig, I say yes, but not in our basements, rather brains to move forward on renewable energy issues.

F24: Have you been surprised by the decision of Philippe Martin not to grant the permit oil drilling in the U.S. Oil Hess?

F.-M. L. : Knowing Philippe Martin, I was not surprised. I was particularly pleased that he managed to obtain the support of the government, rather chilly on these issues so far. So yes, I'm pretty happy courage found by the executive on this issue.

F24: But between the parliamentary report and the decision of the Minister of Ecology, it's hard to know where the country is on the issue of shale gas

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F.-ML: On this issue as on others found the "hollandiste" line is to succeed to please everyone in the same sentence. I think the government has a special geopolitical game. They can hardly push Algeria to accept research on techniques for extracting shale gas, and at the same time say, loudly, that hydraulic fracturing is bad. But it does not stop, I think, the government further research on renewable energies.