Mixed reaction to European Union’s fracking plans

The European Union plans guidelines for shale drilling under proposals that may facilitate oil and gas extraction using the technique that’s brought the US toward energy independence.

The 28 member governments will be urged to follow the non-binding principles so that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is done safely and without confusion over conflicting environmental regulations among states and the bloc, according to draft recommendations seen by Bloomberg News. The guidelines wouldn’t interfere with a nation’s right to ban the practice.

Investors and exploration companies have expressed concern that shale prospects may become too difficult to tap compared with other nations such as the US and Russia because European countries are creating a jumble of new laws. France’s Total SA, banned in its home country from fracking, yesterday became the largest oil producer to enter Britain’s shale industry.

“As shale-gas exploration activities are progressing, member states have started interpreting the EU environmental legislation in different ways” including bans and moratoriums, the European Commission said in a draft statement to governments to accompany the guidelines. The EU needs a level playing field to respond to a “fast-evolving energy landscape”, it said.

A Commission spokesman wasn’t available for comment on the documents which are due to be adopted by the EU’s regulatory arm on Jan 22. In the past, the Commission declined to comment on draft recommendations.

The proposal will be part of a package of documents on future energy and climate policies to be considered by EU governments. The EU is debating a framework that could reconcile the need to protect the climate with demands to make the bloc more competitive at a time when energy prices in the US, its biggest trading partner, have sunk amid rising shale-gas output.

The decision to offer new voluntary guidelines while maintaining current EU oil and gas laws is a victory for industry groups and governments such as those of Poland and Britain that are pioneering shale drilling in Europe. It’s a defeat for environmental lobbies including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace that wanted restrictive EU-wide rules.

“Existing EU legislation and national laws already cover shale-gas operations in a comprehensive way,” said Alessandro Torello, a spokesman for the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers in Europe.

While the EU said almost a year ago it had adequate legislation to protect the environment, as companies including Chevron Corp expanded shale exploration, environmental lobbies and citizen groups stepped up pressure for more rules. Opponents have said fracking, which involves blasting underground rocks with water, sand and chemicals, contaminates ground water, pollutes the air and mars the landscape.

“This is obviously a very disappointing and alarming proposal,” said Antoine Simon, shale-gas campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. “European politicians are turning a blind eye to the dangerous realities of shale-gas expansion.”