Two-month delay for shale gas

CONTROVERSIAL plans approved in March 2010 to drill for shale gas throughout France - raising fears over public health and safety, environmental damage and falling house prices - have been put on hold until mid-June.

Faced with mounting protests, Prime Minister François Fillon and ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet announced a moratorium while the drilling process is examined.

Shale gas (gaz de schiste) is found in rock formations between one and three kilometres deep. The only way it can be brought to the surface is by drilling and setting off mini-earthquakes underground that break open the rock.

However, there has been widespread opposition to these "hydrofracking" drilling practices in the US after it was discovered that gas and dangerous chemicals were leaking into drinking water.

Eighty French MPs and Senators from all parties have signed a parliamentary motion "against the exploitation of shale gas" and also criticised the government for its lack of transparency.

Angry country-dwellers from Calais to Paris, and across a swath of the country from Aquitaine to the Alps, have banded together to oppose the controversial drilling process.

Green Euro MEP José Bové said he feared prime vineyards and agricultural land could be laid waste through what he called an "untested drilling technique".

His colleague, Eva Joly, called the exploration plan an "anachronism", adding: "We are sacrificing an essential of life for an add-on; that is, water for a little gas." She said it would only delay the switch to renewable energy.

Protestors are angry that it has taken so long for the public to get any information or action on the proposals. And it is not only the general public that has been kept in the dark: the heads of the conseils régionals in France, the Association des Régions de France, have called for the entire programme to be cancelled.

The association said it "regretted the total and notable absence of any information for local elected representatives about the licensing of exploration permits which covered areas that were thousands of kilo- metres square, and were often situated in protected zones, including national parks".

For the industry ministry, however, it was not so clear-cut. An insider told the Journal du Dimanche: "We could cut our gas and oil bills by five per cent. There are also economic knock-on effects in terms of jobs and local taxes for communes."

As for the downside, the source said: "We will not know about that until the first tests, not before. What we need to do is to limit the impact as much as possible."

The French group, Non au Gaz de Schiste, is leading the protests. Several towns have held public meetings; some of which were held in English and French.

Websites in English have also been set up, including Richard Paul-Jones's www.SchisteHappens.com which is leading protests in the English-speaking community, along with Belinda Berry's www.noshalegas.wordpress.com