The secretary of a west Fife community council has claimed controversial plans to drill for underground gas near Falkirk could mean “huge cost to the environment and the communities involved”.
In a letter to community councils across Fife, Sue Hamilton, secretary of Charlestown, Limekilns and Pattiesmuir Community Council, said it was “worrying how little we have been informed about coal bed methane (CBM) extraction”.
A public inquiry is to be held next month into proposals by Dart Energy to extract coal bed methane from Airth.
Campaigners say if Dart Energy is given permission to press ahead with its plans, it could signal a green light for more drilling sites in Clackmannanshire and Stirling.
Ms Hamilton said in her letter that while the process was not fracking, it did raise “many of the same concerns”.
She said: “CBM is the industrial process of extracting gas trapped in inaccessible coal seams, of which there are many in Fife. Large areas of Fife are already covered by PEDL (petroleum exploration and development licences).
“CBM is not fracking but does raise many of the same concerns.
“Multiple drilling sites, use of large volumes of water, treatment and eventual ‘disposal’ of the large volumes of ‘produced water’, which contains a variety of nasty chemicals, huge increase in HGV traffic between these sites, often on rural roads.
“Next month there is to be a public inquiry to examine Dart Energy’s appeal against the refusal by Falkirk and Stirling councils to grant planning permission for CBM extraction around Airth, near Larbert. There is a very strong community group called Falkirk Against Unconventional Gas (FAUG).”
Ms Hamilton added: “Many of us have probably noticed one drilling rig near the M876 but never imagined there could be up to a 100 of them in the area.
“This is the first time that there has been a public examination of the merits of unconventional gas extraction in the UK. It is a daunting (and expensive) prospect for any community to challenge a development proposal at a public inquiry.
“Crowdfunding is a way of collecting a lot of small donations from ‘crowds’ of people. This is why the information needs to be spread as widely as possible.
“As one community council to another, I thought it as well that we keep ourselves informed about this process, which is happening on our doorstep.
“In the very unlikely event that it might produce cheaper gas, this would be at huge cost to the environment and the communities involved.”
The Friends of the Earth Stirling coordinator Walter Attwood said recently that if the planning application to begin the extraction of coalbed methane near Airth is approved, it will only be the beginning of a process that will quickly move up through Stirlingshire towards the city and over into Clackmannanshire, with potentially 10 to 15 wells a year being drilled.