French Court May Return Total’s Shale Gas Rights In The Ardeche, Protests Expected
There are signs that the French oil giant Total may win a court case seeking to annul an earlier revocation of its permit to drill for shale gas over several thousand km2 in the Drôme, Ardèche, Gard, Vaucluse and Herault. According to a report on France Bleu radio the public rapporteur advised a hearing at Cergy-Pontoise Administrative Court on […]
Fracking: Big Business Wants U-Turn
Will French energy and oil interests succeed in their current push to overturn the country’s outright ban on fracking, a move which would likely ignite instant uproar in the fiercely-opposed countryside? On July 14 last year President François Hollande made a formal commitment opposing fracking which effectively established a moratorium on the matter through to […]
Play the Nuclear Ball not the Green Man
If France were playing a rugby match between pro- and anti- nuclear teams, the results, at ten minutes into the game, would be looking pretty dodgy. The Hollande-Ayrault-Montebourg-Batho team deployed in these vital energy quarter-finals has plunged into the melee with pledges, statements and clarifications that appear to have pleased industrialists, angered Greens, […]
Will Socialists end all Shale Fracking?
France’s Green Euro MEP José Bové, one of the leaders of the grass roots movement against fracking in France, says he believes the recently elected Socialist president will, in time, revoke all onshore shale gas drilling licenses. He told La Dépêche du Midi he had worked very closely with Ecology Minister Nicole Bricq, then […]
Var Mayors May Boycott Ballot over Schiste
Local Mayors in the Var département – angry at ongoing threats from shale gas concessions – warn they may not put up the physical wherewithall to enable voters to cast their ballots in the forthcoming presidential elections. (Read more French News here) Mayors organize the polling booths, supply the scrutineers, collect the ballot boxes and count the […]
French Woodstock Invoked in Shale Gas Fight
Public anger is growing as French and other oil majors make strenuous efforts to overturn a recent government repeal of shale gas prospecting licenses covering Villeneuve de Berg, Nant and Montelimar regions – 3 of 64 areas covered by permits. (Read more online here) Le Monde reported December 13 that Total, the French oil company, had […]
Shale Gas Activists: Three Down 61 To Go
With the repeal now formalised, of shale gas prospecting licenses for Villeneuve de Berg , Nant and Montelimar announced during a presidential visit to Alès on October 4, activists in the Gard and Ardèche départements are pressing for the repeal of the remaining 61 permits. (Read more online French News here) According to Midilibre Gard and […]
Shale Gas: Three of 64 Permits Revoked
France has revoked three of 64 permits granted to major energy companies to use hugely controversial ‘fracking’ methods for shale gas exploration in sensitive farming, wine and tourism areas.. According to a report in France Soir France has revoked the permits in compliance with a law passed in May by the Assemblée Nationale (the lower […]
Schiste: Last Minute Parliament Lobby
Barring last minute upsets or interventions the Gaz de Schiste Bill will become law after the French Senate vote scheduled for Thursday June 30. Grassroots groups in drilling concession areas opposed to fracking in any shape or form or under any name, are not letting up the pressure. According to Richard Paul-Jones of The Schiste Happens Team: “Each time […]
Gaz de Schiste – Senate Bans Fracking But….
While the French Senate July 9 voted to ban shale gas operations using hydraulic fracturing it left the door open to oil and gas majors offering other ways to extract shale gas, virtually ensuring ongoing uproar in the country. Those fiercely opposed to any kind of shale gas dig described the outcome as “wholly unsatisfactory” […]
Gaz de Schiste – Write your Senator Today
There are now just four days left (from Saturday June 5) to write to French Senators and tell them that you want the original bill banning fracking for shale gas to become law, rather than the bill that was amended by the National Assembly on 25 May, says Richard Paul-Jones on the Schiste Happens blog. […]
Shale Gas Drillers Create Mini Earthquakes
The New York Times has published a major expose of the eco-damage caused by hydrofracking, a controversial technique used to tap Shale Gas.. French opponents of the technique hope the bad news will spread faster than a gas gusher and help deter oil companies from deploying it in France. Citing mostly unpublished documentation held by […]
Shale Gas threat to France’s Nougat Capital
The self-styled Nougat Capital of the world — Montélimar in the Drôme may soon find itself transformed into shale capital of France against the wishes of its inhabitants and others in the south eastern départements of Hérault, Aveyron, Lozère and Ardèche. That is if Big Oil has its way. For France awarded three exploration licenses […]
