French Shales: Starting from Scratch

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that permits granted to explore potential shale gas fields in France must be canceled and that the whole issue must be reviewed from the start.

The government announced the cancellation of "permissions already given" in projects of exploration of gas shale with current technologies (i.e. hydraulic fracturing’) heavily criticized by environmentalists, without wanting to close the door to future exploitation of these deposits but with new techniques.

Speaking at the National Assembly today, Fillon said: "We need to start from zero, authorizations must be scraped.

Recognizing "legitimate concerns", the French Prime Minister told the elected officials: "permissions that were given were in terms that are not satisfactory. There has not been enough consultation, (...) not enough information, I take responsibility as my chief of government. "

"We need everything again from scratch, so we must cancel the authorizations that have already been given," added Fillon.

Exploration licenses were granted at the time of the former Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo for shale gas in southern France in the spring of 2010 and the oil (oil) shale in the Paris basin in 2008 and 2009.

Refuting the charges of trying to "sacrifice the environment," the Prime Minister stressed that "there is no question of closing the door to technological advances that allow future access to new energy resources."

A scientific research mission on the possibilities of exploiting these deposits with other technologies has been extended, he added.

The French parliament is due to debate motions on May 10 calling for permits to be revoked and all exploration to be banned in France.