I remember a wise man once told me about the mountains just outside the Karoo. I remember because it was not so long ago (only last year in fact) and the wise man was an American immigrant farm owner whose surname was decidedly Afrikaans. Not a yoda that you quickly forget. He spoke about the intense pockets of natural gas in the caverns and tunnels under the surface of his mountains. And how, if one could harness the pressure system to create power, we could rule the world. The earth would keep us rich and we would keep the lights on. This Yankee Mountain Guru may have had a point. But are we that desperate for power, that we must build mountain fart capturing turbines? I'm not so sure.
We are spending millions of Rands and oil tankers of water to recover gold dust from dump sites we threw away years ago. In Canada, the oil industry is booming thanks to oil extraction from the soil aka 'Oil Sands'. Oil sands are a mixture of sand or clays, bitumen and water. The bitumen is much heavier than other crude oils. Mining of the oil sands involves excavation of the bitumen-rich sand using open pit mining methods. The sub-title here is they have a scorched earth policy on forests, with special reference to carting off the top 5m of soil to processing plants. This is considered to be "the most efficient method of extraction when there are large deposits of bitumen".
If we are strip mining dumps for gold and ground for oil, isn't everyone getting a little touchy at harnessing the potential of an arid wasteland? Why are we not laughing at the potential industry of natural gas extraction? Well, while I was pondering popping the cork of the Swartberg mountains, Shell came up with a doosy. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", for the exploration and production of shale gas (aka natural gas). The Karoo, an arid land of sheep and ostrich, would be an energy sector game changer.
Fracking, is not a swear word. It refers to a process whereby natural pockets of oil or gas are liberated from the earth by forcing a subterranean fracture, then the fracture is filled up with… and it gets a little hazy here, but pretty much anything will do, to force the desired commodity out of the earth and into the barrels. Then, to avoid a catastrophe, sand or ceramic dust is pumped into the fluid to stop the fracture from collapsing. Simple, nαΊ½?
Hydraulic fracturing has been used for decades to stimulate groundwater wells, underground exploration for mining or measuring the stress in the earth, burying waste and reducing the impact of toxic spills. Still, fracking raises some serious concerns. How does it affect water supply (the fractures could link into fresh water zones), air quality, and/or ground stability so far under the earth? Will our animals and children be safe and poison free? Who's to know?
The fracking companies are keeping mum on the subject, as full disclosure of their fracking methods, frack yields and frack fluid ingredients threaten their competitive advantage in a highly competitive market. The anti-frackers have jumped on the silence as confirmation of the presence of toxins and environmentally detrimental fractices (sorry, couldn't help myself). To date, no one has proven either way, beyond reasonable doubt. We want to protect the land and we want to ensure the longevity of earth, but without finding alternatives to oil and coal we are saving the Karoo at the expense of the world.
Did you know that South Africa is in the Top 5 Most Carbon Reliant Economies? We emit up to a ton of carbon per dollar GDP earned… Do the math. We are also in the Top 10 Most Energy Intensive Countries. Right behind Libya. Libya only gets on the list because it requires double the amount of energy in a barrel of oil to extract it. That is a massive cost. South Africa is in the same boat because of our coal mines. Fracking may have some serious implications, but studies have shown it is one of the few methods of energy extraction that the benefits far outweigh the costs. And a method of energy extraction that yields more resources than it costs may go a long way to balance the scales in the earth's favour.
I'm not saying give the frackers free reign. I'm saying that without serious interventions, South Africa is in serious trouble. Maybe the old ex-American boer in the mountains is less crazy than I thought he was over a Full English breakfast. Let's do the required research in cork popping and make sure it doesn't hit anyone in the eye. The cost is high, but what is the cost of forgoing? They don't want a wind farm in Sardinia Bay (not just there, there are objections everywhere), they don't want a nuclear plant near St Francis, they don't want fracking in the Karoo. What the frack do they want?
