Let technology rule shale safety debate
19 Jul 2013
My first week as editor of Process Engineering has been dominated by events surrounding the UK’s proposed programme of Shale Gas development.
Chancellor George Osborne this morning launched a consultation proposing tax rates for Shale gas developers as low as 30%, compared to standard oil field development rates of 62%.
Reaction from green campaigners ranged from climate change-induced outrage to more nuanced questions regarding the economic viability of hydraulic fracturing projects if they require such substantial tax breaks.
However, perhaps the most challenging salvo for the nascent UK fracking industry came earlier in the week from Water UK, the trade body for the country’s water utilities.
Water UK policy and business adviser Dr Jim Marshall claimed that many water companies were “generally as unsighted about the impacts of shale gas as other members of society”.
Fears included the common view that methane gas released in the fracking process could contaminate water supplies - despite a joint report by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering earlier this year stating that the risk is very low provided extraction takes place at depths of many hundreds of metres.
Marshall said there was an urgent need for talks between the water industry and shale gas developers to establish a greater understanding of the risks involved.
That understanding, I think, will only come about through a detailed look at the technology and processes involved.
Process engineers play central roles in both water treatment and hydraulic fracturing, and would have some shared understanding of the plant equipment and chemicals involved in both processes.
If process engineers from both sides of the table could sit down together to discuss the technology and chemical treatment processes involved, then perhaps we could begin to separate frack from fiction in the debate over the safety of UK shale gas development.
