I can not understand why politicians and officials always say that shale gas extraction is bad and at the same time fight foot and nail to pass the idea for its production.

I can not understand those who stay on the side and do not react against its use, but rather wait patiently to see what will happen with the protest of few environmentalists.

It is true that shale gas extraction harms human health. Let me mention some things which would seriously damage your health condition. Drinking underground and shallow waters get polluted to an extent when it can not be used at all. Firstly, it is polluted in the output region and later through the saturation of radiation. A huge quantity of toxic refuse in the form of water solution with poisonous chemicals is formed. A seismic activity is also provoked.  Illnesses, including fatal ones, also appear.

I can add to it a link to a Bulgarian web site where several US documentaries with Bulgarian subtitles show the “benefit” of the shale gas revolution. The documentary is entitled Gasland.

Former Premier Boyko Borissov told the media on January 30, 2014, that while he was still in charge, General Wesley Clark had asked him several times to lift the moratorium over the shale gas extraction. No one knows why this news was published on one Bulgarian website only.

In 2013 the European Commission advised Bulgaria to ensure adequate precautions for environmental and climate protection with regard to the fracking technology-a hydraulic fracturing through large water quantities used mainly in activities linked with shale gas extraction.

The “shale gas revolution” has practically failed.  For instance, nearly half of the British citizens said in a research that they would not want to see shale gas drilling within a radius of 15 miles from their homes.

The British government actively supports the discovery and the exploitation of such deposits through the method of hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking. Thus, they hope to reduce their dependence on gas imports. However, this technology is sharply opposed by environmentalists and local organizations who claim that fracking harms the environment, Reuters reports.

In Poland two out of all three licenses issued to the Italian gas and petrol company ENI for shale gas prospecting have already expired. The information was announced in Warsaw by spokesperson of the Polish Ministry of Environment Pawel Mikusek: “ENI has refused to extend two (Mlinari and Malbork) out of all three licenses which have already expired. The third license Elblonge remains valid.”

Earlier, US companies Exxon and Marathon Oil and Canadian Talisman terminated their shale gas prospecting in Poland.

The tension in the Romanian village of Pungesti, where US Company Chevron started preparations for shale gas exploration, has not eased at all in the new 2014, newspaper Adevarul writes, quoted by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

The people from the village of Pungesti are in despair of the state gendarmerie and are calling on the authorities to bring the tension down. Citizens are threatening to burn their homes if they do not receive the freedom to move freely without having to legitimize again and again, the newspaper further writes.

Representatives of Chevron arrived with its own equipment in Pungesti area on the evening of December 2, 2013. The company has a concession for shale gas pre-fracking exploration over an area of nearly two hectares. An impressive number of policemen, firemen and gendarme officers were mobilized there.

A tension between the police and the people who protested against the shale gas extraction emerged. Nearly 30 remonstrants were forced to legitimize.

The “shale gas revolution” in Europe has practically failed. Deliveries of shale gas from the USA are also questioned. Meanwhile, the North Stream gas pipeline supplies the whole Northern Europe with gas, without any tension been provoked. The South Stream gas pipeline is to work as promising as the North Stream pipeline.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov