Hoy October 11 is International Day against Frackingan anniversary that was established by the Global Network against Fracking in 2012. Its objective is to raise awareness, worldwide, of the serious social, biodiversity and environmental damage that this disastrous form of fossil fuel prospecting can cause.
The Gas is not a Solution network, of which Ecologistas en Acción is a part, once again shows its solidarity with communities affected by fracking or hydraulic fracturing. A hydrocarbon extraction technique with serious environmental and health repercussions. And it calls for a ban on imports of fossil gas extracted using this technique at European and state level.
Last October, the organization accompanied a delegation of activists from Texas and Louisiana, from the Texas Campaign for the Environment, who are suffering from the exploitation of fracking in their communities. Furthermore, gas export infrastructures (in the form of LNG) also impact the health of communities, which denounce high rates of cancer and cardiorespiratory diseases.
Precisely The most affected populations are those with lower incomeswith a racialized population, which is pointed out by activists as a flagrant case of environmental racism. During their visit, the activists They denounced the complicity of Spanish companies such as Naturgywhich in 2023 held the majority of gas supply contracts in fracking coming from the USA
Also to Enagás, as majority owner of the State’s gas infrastructure and especially the regasification plants, which allow the entry of LNG from fracking of the United States and Banco Santander, one of the financiers of the Río Grande LNG project and other gas export projects on the coast of Texas and Louisiana, in the United States Gulf of Mexico.
International solidarity against fracking
The activists call for international solidarity now build collective alternatives based on renewable energies. On this important date, a call is made to the Government of Spain to promote a ban on gas imports from fracking, In the same way that its extraction has been prohibited in state territory, the externalization of its impacts at a global level must end.
Furthermore, banks must immediately implement policies that end their financing of fossil fuel expansion and start eliminating their support completely. The NGO warns: “Every euro that a bank continues to invest in this industry takes us further away from the 1.5ºC goal. Banks like Santander must apply drastic measures and stop financing projects that are harmful to the planet and people.”
“We need to move away from fossil fuels quickly, fairly and forever in order to achieve climate and social justice. And especially the European countries that prohibit gas extraction through fracking in their territorieslike the Spanish State, must prohibit imports of this gas from third countries, so as not to externalize its serious impacts,” the activists conclude.
He Fracking is an extremely dangerous practice.which not only can cause earthquakes, contaminates water and generates death and desolation in the surrounding area, but only generates profits for a handful of companies to the detriment of the rest of the affected communities, their health and that of the environment.