This morning, on the wireless, I heard two people opposing the use of fracking to find gas around Lough Allen in Co Leitrim. Neither of them was convincing. One started by objecting to big multinationals being given licences to investigate the resources available; it is not clear that there was any ban on small native companies or workers’ cooperatives (or soviets of workers, peasants and soldiers) applying for licences, and presumably they could use traditional Irish implements like sleans if they wanted to.
The general line of argument adopted by the objectors was that anything that could go wrong would go wrong, probably all at the same time, wiping out the whole of Irish agriculture (some of which is not in Leitrim) and, er, eco-tourism. There would, the objectors seemed to suggest, be no preventive or mitigating measures and no insurance and the full cost of every accident would be borne by the residents of the area.
Remains of a pier at the brickworks, Spencer Harbour, Lough Allen
But the bit that really annoyed me was the depiction of the area as one of rural seclusion. Yet Lough Allen had canals, railways, coal mines, dams, iron works and brick works.
Spencer Harbour on Lough Allen
The very canal linking Lough Allen to the
rest of the Shannon Navigation owes its very existence to the desire
to carry coal from around Lough Allen to Dublin. And one of the most best tourism initiatives in the area, the Arigna Mining Experience, recognises that heritage.
Part of a brick
Insist on proper assessment and management of risk by all means, but don’t exaggerate it — and don’t ignore Leitrim’s industrial heritage.
Irish waterways history 
Could I ask you whether you are actually aware of what shale gas development involves? If not, I think you need to do your research and fast.
Yes, I am. I have read quite a lot about the subject, both from environmentalists and from those interested in the economic benefits — and, from the production pattern, there are some economic drawbacks too. It seems to me to be sensible to look at both sides, and to try to assess expected costs and benefits, and that was the point of my post; I take the same approach to proposed waterway restorations, for example. It does not seem to me to be sensible to attempt to ban any economic activity or production technology without such assessment.
I don’t intend to allow an extended discussion of the matter on this site: there are plenty of others for the purpose.
bjg
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