Earthquakes from onshore gas drilling threaten a disaster, warn residents of Dutch city

The legislative triangle of the European Union (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a MUST READ article from the Telegraph. Check it out!

via Earthquakes from onshore gas drilling threaten a disaster, warn residents of Dutch city – Telegraph.

The backlash in Holland against the environmental damage from one Europe’s largest gas fields and the huge demonstrations against fracking and its unquantified risks in many parts of Europe, like, for example, the UK, castes a huge black cloud over EU energy policy. A further threat is Russia’s Gasprom‘s turning Russian gas export priority from Europe to China.

Meanwhile, the US economy has started to grow strongly again, aided by low-cost energy from fracking.

Where is the EU? Is there a strategy and independent risk assessment? Has the EU become too myopic, focusing on narrowly defined interests?

The EU was quick to grasp austerity as a fundamental policy but this has done little to stimulate real growth nor reduce mounting unemployment, especially in Southern Europe. This blog has been arguing, for some time, to increase investment in infrastructure, like for example strategic investment in energy.

Let me turn this to a couple of open questions:

Surely, from an environmental risk perspective, investment in large offshore gas fields, like Cyprus, is a better option than fracking, and further damage to the homes of the residents of Groningen?

Does the EU have a properly risk assessed energy policy?

Any thoughts?