Convention on Fracking

[Azura]

Convention on Fracking
Category: Environmental
Strength: Strong
Proposed by: New Azura

The World Assembly,

UNDERSTANDING that the necessity of fuel resources requires member-states to engage in the use of a variety of procurement mechanisms in order to sustain the quantitative supply of fuel resources necessary to preserve national commerce and utility infrastructures,

ACKNOWLEDGING that certain controversial drilling techniques, including but not limited to the practice of hydraulic fracturing, have made the accessibility of petroleum reserves more readily available for nations seeking their own energy independence,

RECOGNIZING that the technique of hydraulic fracturing has been linked through independent scientific studies to pose a significant risk to both the environment and those living in the proximal range of drill sites, including the contamination of groundwater tables with pollutants, increased air pollutants from released gasses, irreparable damage to the ecology of woodlands and wetlands affected by chemical runoff, the possibility of seismic activity including induced-tectonic shifts or earthquakes and the resultant risk to human life and materiel property,

CONCERNED as to the potential danger to harming the regional environment and local population centers situated around the proximal range of the employed use of hydraulic fracturing to procure previously inaccessible reserves of petroleum,

HEREBY:

1.) Defines the practice of hydraulic fracturing as any associated technique that utilizes the injection of a liquid compound to fracture subterranean layers of rock for the purposes of allowing brine, natural gas, petroleum and other recoverable energy sources to seep into artificial boreholes or naturally-occurring reservoirs and wells for removal and eventual commercial usage;

2.) Requires member-states of the World Assembly to update any and all existing state regulations on the processes involved with hydraulic fracturing to meet the standards levied by the recommendation of the Council on Petroleum Extraction, or to establish regulations presently;

3.) Restricts the utilization of hydraulic fracturing techniques in the procurement of previously-inaccessible energy reserves to those areas that exist no less than fifty miles away from incorporated cities, towns, or communities;

4.) Commissions the creation of the World Assembly Council on Petroleum Extraction (CPE), which shall be vested with the following authority:

• To research the development of hydraulic fracturing techniques currently employed by national governments and private energy corporations, and to provide information on safe drilling techniques to prospective energy developers;
• To monitor and observe the utilization of hydraulic fracturing techniques by member-states of the World Assembly, and to report any potential violation of sponsored regulations or prohibitions supported herein to the World Assembly and its associated institutes;
• To provide for a general consensus on the safety and feasibility of hydraulic fracturing as a method of acquiring previously-inaccessible energy reserves through independent scientific research and established safety principles;

5.) Requires that member-states of the World Assembly regulate organizations that utilize hydraulic fracturing techniques by requiring environmental cleanup of any chemical runoffs or groundwater contamination, and to monitor groundwater tables for possible contaminants under penalty of monetary fines or suspension of licensing to the offending corporations.

[Christian Democrats]

Against.

The dangers of fracking are overstated;[note]Everybody run for your lives. Those greedy corporations are causing manmade earthquakes. [/note] and, even if they weren't, I still don't see how this would be an international issue. In most cases, I believe individual countries are in the best position to balance economic and environmental concerns.

[frattastan]

Those greedy corporations are causing manmade earthquakes.

If you say it like that it sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction movie.

[Kogvuron]

Against