The eighth part in our series in which Nick Grealy, of No Hot Air, tests the weight of some of the biggest arguments pitted against fracking.

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#8 – Shale production takes up a lot of space

As with all energy production, the public outcry against the aesthetic changes to the countryside should not be mitigated. People just don’t like seeing big industrial machines taking over nature, and the simple truth is that separating sedimentary rock 3000m deep into ground requires some pretty heavy duty machinery.  That said, since most of the action goes on underground, the resulting “eyesore” isn’t as bad as you’d initially expect.

Advances in drilling multiple wells from one pad, combined with longer and longer underground horizontal drilling wells, mean the modern shale technology that will be used in Europe will see a 2.5 hectare or less well pad covering 5 sqkm or more. We certainly won’t see a sea of natural gas derricks as in old movies. The action takes place underground, not over it and many people will be unaware of it happening at all. The actual distance between pads can be several kilometres.

Because of the flexibility provided by horizontal drilling, the well pad surface location can be placed in an area that will minimize disturbance to local agriculture or private residences.

Europe is perceived as a crowded continent, but the population is concentrated in urban areas. There is a surprising amount of empty space in Europe, with shale drilling in Poland taking place in areas with lower population densities than similar shale areas in Texas.

The modern shale era started out in Fort Worth Texas, the 17th largest city in the United States, where shale wells have been drilled on university campuses and even on the local airport. Currently there are no plans to drill in European urban areas, but the US experience shows that it is possible for shale to coexist with very close neighbours.

Each well can take as little as three weeks to drill. European operations are expected to have an ultimate spade to seed, first dig to final cover time of sixty days or less. After construction is complete, above ground impact of valves and possible separation tanks will take up the space of a shipping container or less. Equipment can also be buried and sites landscaped to restore the ground in many cases to original condition.

And finally, natural gas is lighter than air and naturally flows to the surface with little or no noisy pumping required.

This post is part of our series: 12 myths surrounding shale gas production, by Nick Grealy. Download the ebook here >