Fracking has become a contentious environmental and health issue with Tunisia and France banning the practice and a de facto moratorium in place in Quebec (Canada), and some of the states of the US.
Australia
Up until the mid-2000s, hydraulic fracturing was generally limited to conventional oil and gas wells in the Cooper Basin. This was limited to one, two, or sometimes zero ongoing fracturing operations. The vast majority of coal seam gas wells have not been hydraulically fractured as the wells presently being drilled are in coal seams that have good natural permeability. The NSW Government has banned BTEX chemicals as additives. As of September 2016, Victoria has permanently banned hydraulic fracturing and all forms of unconventional gas extraction.
The Beetaloo Basin, in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, has been opened up for fracking, but both pastoralists and the traditional Aboriginal caretakers of the land alike fear that rivers and water sources in the region could be polluted by the waste produced in the fracking process. In addition, Indigenous rangers working in the new Indigenous Protected Area in Mimal are very concerned about the level of greenhouse gases which would be released by the fracking work, potentially jeopardising Australia's Paris emissions reduction target. Fracking has been physically blockaded and disrupted at a number of sites across Australia. An occupation involving thousands of people in 2014 led to the state government suspending miner Metagasco's licence to drill at Bentley, NSW. Communities in areas such as at Tara, Glenugie, Doubtful Creek and Fullerton Cove have also engaged in protest and direct action.
Bulgaria A number of protests occurred in Bulgaria after the government's decision to grant an approval for Chevron Corporation to research the possibilities of shale gas extraction in the country's northeast in 2011. After a nationwide protest in January 2012, the government decided to ban the hydraulic fracturing technology.
Canada
Fracking has been in common use by the petroleum industry in Canada since at least the mid-1960s.J.E.S. Milne and R.D. Howie, "Developments in eastern Canada in 1965," Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Jun. 1966, v.50 n.6 p.1298. Massive hydraulic fracturing has been widely used in Alberta since the late 1970s to recover gas from low-permeability sandstones of the Spirit River Formation.Douglas J. Cant and Valerie G. Ethier, "Lithology-dependent diagenetic control of reservoir properties of conglomerates, Falher member, Elmworth Field, Alberta," Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Aug. 1984, v.68 n.8 p.1044. The method is currently used in development of the Cardium, Duvernay, Montney and Viking in Alberta, Bakken in Saskatchewan, Montney and Horn River in British Columbia.
Concerns about fracking began in late July 2011, when the Government of British Columbia gave Talisman Energy a long-term water licence to draw water from the BC Hydro-owned Williston Lake reservoir, for a twenty-year term. Fracking has also received criticism in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and the Nova Scotia government is currently reviewing the practice, with recommendations expected in March 2012. The practice has been temporarily suspended in parts of Quebec, pending an environmental review. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has also expressed concern.
During October 2013 public conflict began between the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick and the hydraulic fracturing company SWN. Fuelling the conflict were SWN's plans to use the land of the Elsipogtog Nation for fracking. The First Nations people of the area had previously raised concerns about the environmental impacts of fracking as well as the government's failure to consult with them. Public protests began when the First Nations people realized their voice was not being heard. Much of the media coverage on the protests has portrayed the First Nations people as violent and destructive. However, what most people do not know is that the land in question is legally First Nation land. The Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760–1761 did not cede land or resources, the government of Canada does not own the land and therefore cannot legally permit SWN to use the land for fracking purposes. On 6 December, SWN announced it was stopping fracking for the year, leaving the job incomplete.
Four out of Canada's 10 provinces currently have province-wide bans on fracking: the provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec. In Newfoundland and Labrador this was achieved through the mobilisation of rural communities which engaged in protest activities.
China China completed its first horizontal shale gas well in 2011 and 200 by 2014. A global shale gas study by the US Energy Information Administration said China's technically recoverable shale gas reserves were almost 50% higher than those of the number two nation, the United States. Regulation of the sector in the country, however, could change its characteristics in the future.
Denmark In 2012, the first research for shale gas has begun in Denmark, where Total E&P Denmark B.V., a subsidiary of Total S.A., has been granted two exploration licenses in collaboration with the Danish State's oil- and gas company, Nordsøfonden. Shale gas in Denmark The exploration license, which runs until 2016, covers the two areas Nordjylland and Nordsjælland, where the geological characteristics are expected to provide the best potential for shale gas.
Danish national media have so far covered both pros and cons of shale gas production and fracking, and a minor NGO has been formed to protest against shale gas. The acknowledged green think tank Concito has produced a report that states, that it will be both practically and technically feasible to establish shale gas production in Denmark without having to fear of contamination of drinking water or the release of methane from wells.
France Hydraulic fracturing was banned in France in 2011 after public pressure. It was based on the precautionary principle as well as the principal of preventive and corrective action of environmental hazards, using the best available techniques with an acceptable economic cost to insure the protection, the valuation, the restoration, management of spaces, resources and natural environments, of animal and vegetal species, of ecological diversity and equilibriums. The ban was upheld by an October 2013 ruling of the Constitutional Council following complaints by US-based company Schuepbach Energy.
In December 2017, to fight against global warming, France adopted a law banning new fossil fuel exploitation projects and closing current ones by 2040 in all of its territories. France thus became the first country to programme the end of all fossil fuel exploitation.
Germany Massive hydraulic fracturing of gas wells in tight sandstone began in Germany in 1975, and became common during the period 1978–1985, when more wells received massive hydraulic fracs in Germany than in any other European country. Germany also had the largest hydraulic fracturing jobs in Europe, using up to 650 tonnes of proppant per well. Most German fracs used water- or oil-based gels.D. Maher, Hydraulic Proppant Fracturing and Gravel Packing, Elsevier, 1989, p.176, 178. The most popular target formation for hydraulic fracturing was the Rotliegend Sandstone. Hydraulically fractured wells are today the source of most of German natural gas production.
In February 2013, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel announced draft regulations that would allow for the exploitation of shale gas deposits using the same fracking techniques common in the U.S., with the exception only of wetland areas that make up just over 10% of German territory. The draft legislation had come from the Federal Department of Economics, then headed by the party head of Merkel's coalition partner, the pro-business free Democrats. This policy was said to be motivated by fears that consistently high energy costs were harming German industry, facing competitors for example from the U.S. where energy prices had shrunk to less than 25% of German energy costs.
However these plans immediately drew massive critique both from opposition parties and elements of Merkel's own CDU, as well as from major NGOs, large parts of the press and the general public. Within less than a month, the original plan was put on ice for the foreseeable future and a moratorium was declared. Ever since shale gas fracking has de facto been banned in Germany and the stance of the newly formed Grand Coalition government expressed in the coalition treaty is that gas exploration will not be pursued in the country under this government. Here is an excerpt from the coalition contract:
Fracking
According to available studies on its environmental relevance, the fracking technology in unconventional natural gas production – particularly in shale gas production – is a technology with enormous potential risks. The effects on humans, nature and the environment are scientifically not yet sufficiently clarified. Drinking water and health have absolute priority for us.
We reject the use of environmentally toxic substances in the application of fracking technology for exploration and extraction of unconventional natural gas deposits. A request for approval can only be decided upon when the necessary data basis for evaluation exists and is clarified beyond doubt that any adverse change in water quality can be ruled out (precautionary principle of the Water Resources Act). The disposal of flowback from fracking operations with the use environmentally toxic chemicals in injection wells is currently not justifiable due to lack of knowledge of the risks involved.
The Coalition will work – with the involvement of federal states and science – in a collaborative process with the companies. The industry will need to explain the specific objectives of their explorations campaigns which specific findings to eliminate gaps in knowledge and to provide a sufficient basis for possible subsequent steps. This should be done in a transparent process. In a dialogue with all stakeholders – under the auspices of the scientific community – research results will be shared and discussed. The Coalition will soon submit legal changes for a better protection of the drinking water in the Water Provision Act and new Regulations on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for mining projects. A mandatory EIA and public participation will be required for the licensing of exploration and production of natural gas from unconventional deposits.
Although German laws de jure explicitly prohibit only the use of hydraulic fracturing in designated water preserves, fracking operations generally need be authorized by the government, which has publicly declared a moratorium until long-term damage to residents or the environment brought about by fracking can be ruled out or until alternative extraction methods become available that don't rely on the injection of toxic chemical additives in the fluid system.
In June 2016 German politicians passed a law banning fracking, with limited exceptions for scientific and non-commercial projects. Wintershall and ExxonMobil will now have to abandon their plans to frack in Germany.
Ireland Fracking is banned on the Irish Onshore and within its internal waters. This followed extensive campaigning and protests by farmers and environmentalists.
Netherlands In the Netherlands, over 200 wells have so far been hydraulically fractured. Between 2007 and 2011, 22 wells (9 onshore and 13 offshore) were hydraulically fractured.
A temporary moratorium on fracking for shale gas was enacted in September 2013 pending further research.
New Zealand