MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Australian government has allowed energy giant AGL to conduct fracking of coal seam gas wells only a few hundred meters away from residential areas in the town of Gloucester, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.
“It’s outrageous that the people of Gloucester will have fracking within a few hundred meters of their homes, while people in the western suburbs [of Sydney] enjoy a two-kilometer buffer,” environmentalist Jeremy Buckingham was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The Gloucester Groundswell group complained that the local community’s opinion had been disregarded when the decision was made and said they would have no choice but to resort to peaceful protest to prevent the drilling.
Gas exploration has become an acute issue in New South Wales as gas companies are eager to extract more. At the same time many local communities are expressing concern about agricultural lands becoming industrialized and the decline in the quality of local water.
Fracking is a process of extracting gas and oil via a mixture of water, chemicals and sand pumped down the well under high pressure. The procedure raises concerns in terms of its impact on the environment. Fracking is believed to have a detrimental effect on groundwater and to cause air and noise pollution.
