Money trumps fracking earthquakes

Get outta the way–we’re fracking here!

Groningen gas fields – the Dutch earthquake zone
By Anna Holligan
BBC News, May 18, 2013

There exists a consensus among all parties – including the gas companies – that the process of extracting the gas is causing earthquakes, but the country is thriving on the proceeds.

And here’s what happens when you have contracts to export gas.

There is another reason the economics ministry has rejected some scientific recommendations to cut the scale of explorations immediately: contracts.

“We have long-term contracts with other countries,” Mr Kamp admits. “And that’s also an important point for us.”

The government was unable to give an exact value. The economics minister told us they were trying to establish if financial penalties would be incurred by reducing the supply to foreign buyers.

Oh damn! So do we. I wonder who would pay those penalties. Certainly not the Fracking Mafia.

“Until now we always knew that earthquakes could occur, now we don’t know what the new maximum could be,” says Chiel Seinen, who represents the NAM oil company collective incorporating Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.