Three quarters of Poles are in favour of the exploitation of the shale gas deposits and only 4% are against – it follows from the Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS) poll.

 

Poland may have the largest shale gas deposits in Europe which are estimated even at the level of 5.3 trillion cubic meters, as much as the confirmed deposits of Norway – announced the US Energy Information Agency in the spring. That is where the innovative methods of the extraction of gas trapped in shale were developed. Thanks to this the US became independent of the imported gas and for two years it has been the world leader in the gas extraction. For the time being, it is not certain whether that success could be repeated in Poland. People in gas industry only carry out the tests to check whether we have shale deposits which will be profitable for exploitation. Poles are in favour as it is demonstrated by the polls carried out last month by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS). 74% of Poles questioned by the CBOS are in favour of the shale gas exploitation in Poland, 4% were against and one fifth had no opinion. The vision of living near the shale gas extraction site generates less optimism. 56% of the respondents were for the exploitation of the gas deposits located in the vicinity of their place of residence, one fifth was against and 23% did not express an opinion about that matter. For Poles, exploitation of the shale gas entails mainly the hope for improvement of the Polish energy security. This belief is shared by as much as 80% of the respondents questioned by CBOS, and only 3% of the respondents were against. Two thirds of the respondents believe also that the extraction of the shale gas would be profitable if the costs of that resource were not higher than the prices of the imported gas. The CBOS surveys also show that Poles are less certain when they express their opinion about the impact of the shale exploitation technology on the environment. In the opinion of 43% of the respondents this is safe to the environment, 16% were of the opposite opinion but as much as 41% failed to express their opinion. Poles being in favour of the exploitation of the shale gas are in favour mainly because of the economic advantages: making Poland independent of gas imports and profitability of the shale exploitation. Over half of the Poles being in favour of the shale gas exploitation also believes that it is safe to the environment and human health. But one third of those who are in favour of the shale exploitation is not certain about it. Also, almost half of the 4% of Poles who are against the shale exploitation is also convinced that the shale gas could improve energy security of the country. However, three quarters of such respondents believe that it may be harmful to the environment and human health. There are groups of opponents of the shale gas exploitation in the world who believe that the methods applied may be harmful to the environment. At the European Parliament signatures were collected under the declaration calling for the prohibition of the exploitation of such deposits by the EU. “The filing of the declaration needs the signature of over half of the parliament members and so far less than 10% signatures were collected’, stated yesterday member of the European Parliament, Konrad Szymański.

 

 

 

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza, page no.: 1, 2011-09-28, by: Andrzej Kublik