Contaminated Land Insurance and Fracking

Does contaminated land insurance cover the fall outs of fracking? Environmental bodies in the UK would probably argue that they better be. Over the last year there has been growing concern over the problems associated with fracking.

One main problem is the widespread contamination of surrounding land. There is also concern from various health groups around the world about the chemicals used in fracking. There is concern that they will leach and contaminate ground water and create disease such as cancer.

Fracking and ground contamination is of concern to groups such as the Breast Cancer Fund. Jeanne Rizzo the President and CEO of the Breast Cancer Fund stated in Ocotber 2014 that "We’re concerned about the toxic chemicals in fracking, we’re concerned about worker exposure and we’re concerned about the carcinogens that get into the water in the process."

Insurance companies may need to start investigating how they are going to adequately provide cover for this industry.

Studies completed in Durham University in the UK have discovered that a percentage of wells are likely to fail. When the wall of a well fails there is a strong possibility of environmental contamination. There is also concern that many of the operators fracking today will not be here tomorrow. Many of the outfits are expected to go bankrupt. This creates double the risks for the environment as no one is left to clean up the pollution problem. The wells affectively become orphaned.

There is a need for the government to ensure wells are appropriately monitored. There is also a need to ensure adequate funds are placed aside by the fracking company to ensure the costs of environmental contamination of the land can be covered at a later date.

Contaminated land insurance is hampered by the lack of data required to assess the risk. According to Greenpeace the UK government has not kept good data on the number of well failures that have occurred to date.

In the study completed by Durham University they were unable to establish who owned 53% of the 2152 hydrocarbon wells that have been inserted into the UK landscape since 1900. This spells trouble if any of these well fail now or in the future. No one can be held accountable. Of course the public purse can pay but why should it?

Environmental groups argue that fracking companies should be forced to insure the land before fracking commences. The drilling companies should agree to clean up any future messes.

Interesting te spokesman for UK Fracking Industry Association said that the University’s report should not cause people alarm. He pointed out that only one well had been recorded as experiencing integrity failure out of the 143 active wells in the uK since 2000.

Unlike the environmental groups he believed the study should be providing people with great comfort. People should be

reassured about the quality of operations and regulations in the UK oil and gas industries.

About The Author:

The author of this article has an extensive experience in Contaminated Land Consultants. Contaminated Land Insurance, especially in the field of Contaminated Land.

The writer is an expert in the field of music gifts with focus on Musical Jewelry Boxes & Musical Gift.