Mar 18 - Meet The Frackers
It
has the oil industry very excited, but could fracking in New Zealand affect
our drinking water and cause earthquakes?
The
process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping a high pressure
mixture of chemicals, sand and up to three hundred thousand litres of fresh
water deep into the earth to fracture the rock and release the oil and gas.
The
oil industry claims the process is perfectly safe, but concerns about the
practice have been great enough to have fracking banned in France, Bulgaria
and parts of Australia and America.
Now,
as the East Coast prepares for the arrival of the oil and gas industry and
their modern mining techniques, Guyon Espiner investigates whether we can have
the oil industry and a clean environment or do we need to choose?
Watch this Story On Demand