Written by Jolanta Uktveryte, Žvejonė/Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania
The shale gas explosion seen across Europe and the US is blasting in Lithuania too, a country which is desperate for its own energy independency. Recently, local communities from south western Lithuania approached the green movement after a scandal when agricultural land was acquired for shale gas exploration without informing the owners of what activity is going to take place in their living environment.
Shale gas and the technology used to extract it – called hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ – has become a great controversy in the last couple of years. Serious environmental and human health concerns continue to surround shale gas drilling. Chief among these are threats to groundwater quality, concerns about how much water is needed, worries over fracking’s impacts on air quality and its stimulation of earthquakes and its potential impact on climate change, which could be comparable to coal. From a youth perspective, we also don’t see a future in continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels, that are both unsustainable sources of energy, but also driving climate change.
In Lithuania, the fight against shale gas extraction is heating up. A few weeks ago, Lithuanian green NGOs (including Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania) and local communities organised a demonstration at the Parliament in order to get detailed information and to remind people that shale gas exploitation raises many potential environmental and health dangers, and that these cannot be ignored. While the government’s own Committee of Environment has suggested the government stop shale gas exploitation, the multinational energy company Chevron has already won a state contest to begin shale gas exploration in Lithuania. Furthermore, the leaders of the local communities have been accused by the media to be spies from Russian energy giant Gazprom, in an attempt to undermine the voices of the general public.
Illustration by Jolanta Uktveryte
In such a situation, where democracy, environment and the right to know are almost neglected in a democratic republic, Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania has been urging the government of Lithuania to act on stopping the rush for shale gas exploration and possible exploitation, and has sought the support of the Young Friends of the Earth Europe network for their international support on this.
Today, in a letter drafted by Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania and Young Friends of the Earth Europe, we have expressed to the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Environment of Lithuania, the scientifically proven risks to the environment and living quality, the need for more information as well as commitments to long-term sustainable energy. In the Lithuanian press today, Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania has announced its main concerns of such industrial activity and declares its vision on independent energy, based on renewable sources. Next, Young Friends of the Earth Lithuania will be organising a meeting with local communities to discuss further steps on this issue.
We need your support to help raise visibility to the threat of shale gas in our local communities and countries, and put international pressure on the Government of Lithuania to stop exploration and possible exploitation of shale gas. Please spread this news via your networks, and help spread the message far and wide that shale gas fracking is not wanted in Lithuania, Europe or anywhere.
For more information contact Jolanta.