Ireland Follows Germany, France and Bulgaria with Ban on Fracking – “We’ve Made History”

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Vic Bishop, Staff Writer

Waking Times

The global movement to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a method of extracting petrochemicals from shale rock deposits underneath the ground, is gaining steam as Ireland has just announced a ban on onshore fracking.

After passing the ban within the Irish parliament, The Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Prohibition of Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing) Bill 2016 is now expected to be signed into law by Irish President Michael D. Higgins, meaning Ireland will join several other European nations in the movement.

Victory for people power today as bill passes through the irish Seanad. Now just needs our presidents signature. #irelandbansfracking pic.twitter.com/VB2K3DOR9S — Love Leitrim (@love_leitrim) June 28, 2017

The bill was presented by Sligo-Leitrim Dáil member Tony McLoughlin, who issued the following remarks

This law will mean communities in the West and North West of Ireland will be safeguarded from the negative effects of hydraulic fracking. Counties such as Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Clare will no longer face negative effects like those seen in cities and towns in the United States, where many areas have now decided to implement similar bans to the one before us. If fracking was allowed to take place in Ireland and Northern Ireland, it would pose significant threats to the air, water, and the health and safety of individuals and communities here. Fracking must be seen as a serious public health and environmental concern for Ireland.

Lawmakers consider this effort to be the start of a broader initiative to phase out the use of fossil fuels in Ireland, in the hopes of creating a renewable energy independent nation for future generations. It follows similar efforts in France, Bulgaria and Germany.

While the goal of pivoting away from fossil fuels use has merit, a more immediate issue is the concern over environmental damage fracking, which is poisoning and destroying communities and rural areas in nations where fracking is in practice.

America, for example, has seen a dramatic increase in fracking related earthquakes in states who’ve historically never experienced earthquakes. Rural Americans are especially affected by fracking as in many areas, frack-wells have totally dominated the countryside, and vast swaths of wildlife habitat have been destroyed to capitalize them.

Fracking also is now believed to cause serious air pollution, and it is proven to contaminate drinking water supplies, even contributing to the startling phenomenon of flammable drinking water from your kitchen tap. Most importantly, perhaps, is the fact that fracking uses an incredible amount of fresh water, diverting supplies from much-needed farms and municipalities, turning water into a disposable resource for the oil and gas industry.

Read more articles by Vic Bishop.

About the Author

Vic Bishop is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an observer of people, animals, nature, and he loves to ponder the connection and relationship between them all. A believer in always striving to becoming self-sufficient and free from the matrix, please track him down on Facebook.

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