Via the Lithuanian gas terminal in Klaipeda, Estonia receives shale gas from the United States, which is very harmful to the climate, reports the Estonian green movement on its website, informs the agency BNS.
Shale gas has a very strong impact on the climate and the communities in which it is produced. Contaminates drinking water and produces large amounts of toxic substances, and sometimes even radioactive contamination. Shale gas is banned in many member states of the European Union due to its environmental concerns.
For shale gas production, directional drilling, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing and seismic modeling are used. Similar production technology is also used to produce coal bed methane. Shale gas is found in small concentrations, so large amounts of shale gas require the drilling of wells over large areas.
A mining project uses 4 to 30 million liters of water and approximately 151,000 liters of chemicals. These contain well known carcinogens and toxins such as lead, uranium, mercury, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde or methanal. This whole process releases significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Scientists agree that shale gas emissions are much higher than CO2 emissions from burning conventional natural gas.
The Estonian green movement believes that fossil gas, whatever its origin, is not the solution for Europe. The EU’s goal to get rid of Russian gas could be a great opportunity to accelerate the green shift.
“Just as tobacco companies are not encouraged to draft health bills, oil and gas companies should have no say in crafting the legislation needed to protect our climate,” wrote the Greens in their message.
Source: delfi
