Monday, March 09, 2015

Blog #4: Environmental movement blocks fracking in Algeria’s remote south

Fracking is a concern all over the world for those who care about the environment. There has been a protest in Algeria to try and stop the $70 billion dollar industry from fracking in their country. The environmental concern is that fracking will pollute the waters and disturb the environment, and it is a legitimate concern. Environmental protests are rare and largely unsuccessful in the Middle East, but this one has caused quite a stir. Those in authority over this issue wish to ignore the protesters and continue on with the project because they believe it will assist in further developing their country. The protests have begun to spread throughout the country and they are not planning on stopping any time soon. These protests have been going on since early January, but they have recently turned violent when authorities and police began to pepper spray the protesters in an effort to stop them. Naturally, however, this only provoked them and further dedicated them to their cause.

The act of fracking is a process for extracting natural gas from below ground. This method of retrieval involves the hydraulic fracturing of large rocks that are located below the earth. Large amounts of water, sand, and chemicals are pumped at the rocks with tremendous pressure in order to fracture the rock, which will then release the natural gas. The concern with this, of course, is that the chemicals, sand, and rock fragments will then pollute the ground water, which will then pollute the countries drinking water. Another concern with this process is that the mechanisms being built to carry out this process will disturb the environment and leave animals without homes along with other devastating environmental consequences. Fracking is illegal in many Western areas. It needs to be outlawed everywhere because, regardless of the energy it might provide, water is more important than energy. Humans and animals alike need clean water to survive.

Sara Idol
Monday March 9, 2015 (3:53pm)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db622d4c-c0f6-11e4-88ca-00144feab7de.html#axzz3TuniFu00

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