IP:French shale gas decision highlights inconsistency over attitudes to environmental risk
Last week the French lower house rejected outright any drilling for natural gas in gas shale rocks – the first country anywhere in the world to do so. According to estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, France has the largest gas shale reserves in Europe after Poland at 180tcf, compared to just 0.2tcf of gas in conventional reservoirs. At the moment, France imports 98% of its gas from suppliers including Russia, Algeria and Norway – mostly linked to soaring oil prices.
Exploitation of domestic shale reserves could dramatically reduce the country’s dependence on overseas gas sources – improving energy security, lifting tax revenue and the country’s trade balance. But, despite this, unproven environmental concerns won the day – a decision many might put down to gut reaction, rather than a carefully assessed precautionary move.
The decision highlights the differing perceptions of environmental risk that exist among nations, and stands in stark contrasts to France’s attitude towards nuclear power – a fuel type demonised by many. Just across France’s eastern border, Germany, under pressure from hostile public opinion, decided just after the French shale gas decision to phase out nuclear power completely, although it will continue to buy large volumes from French plants. Other anomalies are widespread. While the U.S. complains of its dependence on overseas energy sources, it still maintains a moratorium on offshore drilling for oil and gas along the eastern and western seaboards, as well as offshore Alaska. But in the U.S. onshore drilling for shale gas is unlikely to be obstructed, partly because it has already established itself – with little trouble – as an essential part of the energy mix.
Why is there such a divergence of policy among the legislators of our great western democracies? Some would perhaps blame it on public opinion, driven as much by fashion, fear or headline grabbing incidents – such as photos of lit natural gas from shale emanating from water taps – as by reason. Other factors could include the relative strength of various lobby groups – there is little doubt that the French nuclear lobby wields considerable influence with lawmakers, and may have wished to discourage the additional competition in power generation that plentiful domestic gas supply from shale could have introduced.
The situation points to the importance of good marketing and lobbying in achieving market expansion for differing generation types, especially in democracies. Coal is associated with traditional mining heroism and solid reliability rather than the thousands of deaths through accidents each year or global warming, acid rain and soot pollution – a triumph of marketing. Nuclear power on the other hand tends to be associated with radiation-related genetic defects and core meltdowns.
In states where governments have more power, particularly the “Confucian Capitalist” states of the far east such as Singapore or China, a more rational appcaused roach is often possible by governments, which tend to base policy on an objective analysis of the latest scientific evidence and research, rather than fickle or uninformed public opinion.
If the U.S. decided to drop both nuclear power because of Japan’s Fukushima disaster and gas shale production because of burning taps, while maintaining offshore drilling moratoria, plans for domestic energy expansion would lie in ruins. Many would say we simply can no longer afford the luxury of energy policy decided on such a basis. Democratic populations have to recognise how essential energy is, and that there is always a downside to every means of energy production. What’s more, a massive haemorrhaging of wealth from energy consuming countries primarily to oil and gas producers in the Middle East needs to be addressed to avoid distortions in the world financial system, as well as the on-going enrichment of a few and impoverishing of many without relation to work, effort or ability – which may be storing up global social tensions for the future.
There is little doubt that too much uninformed democracy can sometimes lead to a clouding of reason in government policy, and many in the Far East see this as a major advantage of their political systems over democracies. The wealth of shale gas revealed in China, which is believed to have the world’s largest reserves, is likely to be utilized optimally, while careful reasoned decisions are made about further nuclear development post Fukushima.
