Czech Republic Plans Shale Gas Moratorium
The Czech Republic plans to introduce a moratorium on shale gas exploration.
The Environment Ministry has said a moratorium will be put in place until June 2014 to allow the government to propose new legislation covering unconventional hydrocarbon developments.
Environment Minister Tomas Chalupa said the current laws did not take into account the "current technologies and their environmental impact." The ministry would also halt the granting of exploration licences including those application that have already submitted to the ministry.
Chalupa said that he was opposed to a bill calling for a full ban on the development of shale gas by the use of the hydraulic fracturing that has been proposed by.Czech senators from the areas where possible deposits of shale gas have been discovered announced.
A similar bill was announced by all the hejtmans (governors) of the Czech regions, led by Michal Hasek, hejtman of the South Moravian Region, member of parliament and deputy president of the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD). However, the call for ban on hydraulic fracturing is supported by activists from the governing and the opposition parties alike.
Two licences for shale gas exploration have been granted in the Czech Republic to date – in the vicinity of Nachod and Trutnov close to the Polish border and in eastern Moravia. All exploration work has been halted due to the appeals procedures initiated by local governments.
In April, Chalupa decided to cancel the licences granted to Hutton Energy and reconsider the application for the licence concerning the Trutnov site. The decisions concerning the third licensed site located to the west of Prague has not been taken for procedural reasons.
A key element in the Czech debate over shale gas results from the fact that the licensed sites are partly located in protected areas, as a consequence of which the exploration of shale gas is opposed not only by local government representatives and ecological activists but also, for example, by geologists from the Czech Academy of Sciences and the managements of the national parks and protected landscape areas.
Related Reading: Controversies Over Shale Gas Mount in the Czech Republic