Shale Gas Expansion

   A report from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change(DECC) says that hydraulic fracking to reach gas trapped in shale rocks could safely resume in the UK. With the development of shale gas the world will never be the same again.  The potential is massive..  Thanks to new found deposits of shale gas the US overtook Russia in 2010 as the world`s largest gas producer.  Already the price of natural gas has fallen to only $2 as of April 2012, the lowest price in a decade.  Could ground water be contaminated by this process as some would fear?    Durham University in the UK together with Cardiff University and the University of Tromso in Norway have produced a report which said "the liklihood of contamination of drinking water in aquifers due to fractures when there is a separation of more than a kilometre is negligible because there is no path for fracking water to reach ground water".   Richard Davies Director of Durham`s Energy Institute said "geological conditions are optimal at 2-3km depth".   Davies says that as long as the depth is in excess of 0.6km there is little risk. In Poland drilling has been 3-4 km below the water table..  In the Lancashire fracking site in the UK the major shale gas resources has led to fracking being more than 1800 metres below the water asquifers.  The small tremors that were felt in this area recently were no greater than tremors often felt with coal mining and are insignificant.  Also the case reported in the US of a gas tap being lit was nothing to do with fracking but due to the gas passing through coal deposits near the surface. ( various from Global Warming Policy Foundation  www.thegwpf.org)