Gisborne Herald: Locals must decide on fracking

TWO public presentations this week provided evidence from the United States of drinking water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing.

Professor Avner Vengosh from Duke University in North Carolina provided a summary of the findings of a peer-reviewed study he led.

One of the key issues was what to do with the highly toxic “produced water” that came out of the wells as part of the fracking process. Peer-reviewed studies have found that reinjection back into the earth can cause earthquakes and as a result the practice has now been banned in some states.

An alternative is disposal to rivers, but preliminary tests university staff have conducted found radioactive material deposited in the river sediment downstream from the discharges. A third option was reusing the produced water in further fracking operations but there were effectiveness problems with the chemistry of that liquid when recycled.

In the audience were three councillors, the Mayor, council staff and all up over 100 local residents. It was great to see a number of local scientists (and a group of eight people that had travelled from Hawke’s Bay).

Thanks must go to Te Runanga o Turanganui-a-Kiwa for sponsoring the visit of Professor Vengosh along with Dr Angela Slade from the University of Auckland’s Institute of Earth Science and Engineering at Auckland.

Retired local scientist Don Miller said he had spent over 30 years studying the soil and geology of the Gisborne area. Mr Miller said the earth underneath us here is a real mess . . . it is all folded on top of itself and cannot be compared in any way to Taranaki or Texas.

Applications from Apache Corporation are expected at Gisborne District Council within the next two weeks. Once received, the staff have only a few days to decide if the application contained all the information they needed and whether or not it should be publicly notified. A number of residents present voiced their request for the application to be notified.  MORE