French Fracking Fracus

Michael Giberson

There is oil in shale formations in France, possibly even shale oil under the Eiffel Tower, and at least for now it looks like that is where the oil will remain. According to a report by Bloomberg News, a parliamentary committee agreed on a proposal to ban hydraulic fracturing in the country, the full parliament is slated to vote on the issue later this month and the proposal could become law by July.

A parliamentary committee yesterday agreed on a ban that removed the possibility of fracking even for “scientific experiments.” Both houses of the French parliament are slated to vote on the bill this month and it could become law in July.

Companies that were planning to use the technique will have their permits canceled under the proposal, which also includes jail time and fines for fracking and the creation of a commission to oversee research and evaluation of unconventional oil and gas exploration.

The view from Paris:

“I’m against hydraulic fracturing,” French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has said. “We have seen the results in the U.S.,” with its “devastated countryside” and “sullied water tables.”

The French Environment Minister concluded remarks to developers with, “Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.”*

*Just kidding, but really – “devastated countryside” and “sullied water tables”? I guess if you know no more about fracking than you saw in Gasland and the New York Times maybe you’d think so, but surely standards for policy analysis should be higher than that.

[HT to FuelFix.]