Re: P. J. Krueger's letter to the editor (January 24).
He paints a nice picture of the conditions of Texas - a huge land mass which he seems to know intimately enough to make the sweeping statement that it has no pollution.
A documentary film at your local video store, Gasland, paints a very different picture of the toxic impact that has occurred through fracking in Texas and around the United States.
I'm interested to hear back from people who have seen this film. Why would we even consider giving away our natural resources to foreign companies?
Allow them to contaminate our water supplies for centuries with no indemnity in exchange for a few temporary jobs and some tiny token of royalties?
Who will cover the losses from falling property values? Lost tourism revenue? Lost export credibility?
Meanwhile, the overseas oil companies take off with billions in profits from our exploitation. Surely the problems Taranaki is having with contamination from fracking and getting a consistent story from the oil companies (as reported recently in the Listener) prove that more investigation is prudent.
Let's at least be cautious and do as Mayor Bob Parker for Christchurch City Council has done after hearing widespread community concerns and call on the Government for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing.
New Zealand has nothing to lose by having a moratorium - and so many land, water and health costs to save.
Demand a moratorium on fracking in Hawke's Bay. (Abridged.)
F. Hope, Hastings
Smart lobbyists
In response to P. Krueger's recent letter, "Fracking fears": I challenge his comment that the anti-fracking lobby are "uneducated".
The lobbyists are people from many walks of life. Some are experts in fields related to the subject.
The lobbyists have done volumes of research and have consulted experts in the geological and mining fields. There is a huge resource of anecdotal evidence on fracking-caused problems.
University groups are finally researching the evidence and proving the stories are true. In the more bizarre cases, methane gas has risen from fissures occurring beyond the fracking areas escaping into buildings and drinking water wells. In one case, a methane gas-filled basement caused the house to explode, killing the occupants. Wells have exploded and taps have burst into flames in numerous cases. People and animals have been falling seriously ill. These events have occurred across the fracking areas of the United States.
We are now receiving reports of contaminated water in New Zealand. In Texas last summer, a severe drought caused a water-supply shortage and, since huge quantities of water are used for fracking, the situation became extremely serious.
In Hawke's Bay, as in the other potential exploitation areas in New Zealand, food growing and processing are our key industries. Endowed with a rare combination of high-quality soil, good aquifers and climate, these places must be protected from contamination, particularly the aquifers.
Food and clean water are the most essential commodities, without which humans cannot survive.
Our land area is small compared with that of Texas, and there is no room for food production alongside oil/gas production and waste wells. We only need one accidental uncontrolled fracture outside of the well area and we have many years of harm ahead. The biggest output of the US oil production is wastewater.
The salt content of fracture fluid is 20 times higher than sea water. The chemicals are highly carcinogenic. Methane gas is highly explosive (ask the West Coast mining families).
We have the potential here for a 9 magnitude earthquake. The well casings are highly unlikely to withstand lesser forces. Concrete breaks down over time.
Our land sits on one of the planet's most active geological zones. It is now proven that fracturing is causing earthquakes. This is our land - don't tell us the process is safe. All oil exploitation has high risk levels associated with it.
Diane Charteris, Hawke's Bay
Only fools rush in
I was one of the several hundred concerned residents at the Hawke's Bay Regional Council chambers last Wednesday to hear Alex Ferguson outline Apache Corporation's plans for oil drilling in the region.
Mr Ferguson said there was a "50/50 chance fracking will need to be used". However, I was disturbed to hear his frequent use of the words "don't know" in response to the councillors' questions about risks associated with the use of hydraulic rock-fracturing in exploiting oil/gas resources deep underground.
Mr Ferguson is on public record as saying that: "We're here to do our business, so you don't want to believe us. New Zealand needs to do its own research."
I agree with Mr Ferguson. We should heed his advice and we should get the best research available.
The US Environmental Protection Agency last month reported that chemicals associated with fracking had been found in groundwater in Wyoming. The EPA is in the middle of a major study of the risks of fracking and the results are expected later this year.
Perhaps we'd be wise to be cautious, put everything on hold for a few months and wait for the EPA report, which will be based on documented experience in the US, where fracking has been widely used over a long period.
Only fools rush in.
Pauline Doyle, Napier
Casino economics
The idea of fracking anywhere around New Zealand is extremely short-sighted.
People seem to think we'll somehow be better off, but the royalties are minuscule. The worth of a few jobs is far outweighed by the loss of our clean, green image.
The relatively simple matter of the Rena running aground gained worldwide attention.
Imagine the scenario of a deep-sea disaster along the lines of what happened to the BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and its impact upon our tourism and exports.
It's casino economics.
Far better to focus on renewables.
Hadi Gurton, Wanganui
Let's get drilling
New Zealand is sitting on billions of dollars worth of coal, gold, mineral and oil assets. Every time industry makes noises about mining these assets, self-proclaimed conservationists, blinkered by their own narrow-mindedness, start jumping up and down in order to stop these assets being realised.
New Zealand borrows at least $300 million per week to keep this country going - coal, gold and oil exports could avoid these borrowings. Instead, New Zealand farm land is being sold to overseas buyers to bring money into the country - 360,000ha so far and now most recently the Crafar farms, too.
Surely it's time we stop pandering to these extremist conservationist nutters, who object to and stifle any attempt to harvest New Zealand's natural resources. If you are one of these, it's time you pulled your head in, think past your own self-righteous views and think about what's best for the country.
New Zealand's borrowings are unsustainable and overseas land sales unacceptable, and the answer lies underground. Let's get drilling.
D. Carter, Ongaonga
'The twinkling fires dotted north and south as far as Te Awanga was magical.'