France Joins List of Countries that Ban Fracking

Photo by Mario Gomez.

The New York Times is reporting that France has banned hydraulic fracturing (Fracking) for oil and gas extraction.  Fracking is also banned wholly or in part in several other countries including Bulgaria, Germany, Northern Ireland, Romania, Great Britain, and the United States (like some of the other countries on this list, it is banned in many areas, but very welcome in others).

France is an interesting place to look at energy consumption.  It fully embraced nuclear energy some time ago and now gets 75% of its energy from this source.  It gets very little electrical energy from petroleum and natural gas.

Many countries around the world are seeking to get rid of nuclear power plants due to the evidence seen at the Fukushima disaster.  For example, Germany decided recently to close all nuclear power plants by 2022.  Long time readers of my blog know that I am not a fan of nuclear power due to the long-term waste problems associated with it.

France does get a small amount of energy from alternative sources, but right now, they are likely to be reliant on nuclear energy for some time.

Other On the Brink writing on nuclear energy and fracking can be seen here, here, here, here, here, and here.  You can also search the blog for other posts on the topic.