Recommendation Drafting: Convention on Fracking

The World Assembly,

UNDERSTANDING that the necessity of fuel resources requires member-states to engage in the use of a variety of mechanisms in order to sustain the quantitative supply of fuel resources necessary to preserve national commerce and 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 found 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 that contains proppants, which 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 without the closure of the fissures, 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 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.

I've gone and posted the following recommendation because the vote is drawing to an end and no one else has commented:

On the surface, this resolution may seem reasonable. However, a deeper look at it reveals several flaws that really compromise its effectiveness. In some areas, it's completely arbitrary or lacks scientific reasoning. For example, the fifty mile restriction in clause 3 is completely random. The author may as well have shot a dart at a board and picked the number they hit. Furthermore, earthquakes caused by fracking are not scientifically confirmed. Which is not to say that this can't be the case, but there is no scientific consensus in this regard. The resolution is also full of loopholes. Clause three can easily be rendered entirely useless by revoking the charter of an incorporated town or city, which would theoretically allow fracking to be done in someone's backyard. So clause three fails to accomplish anything besides maintaining the status quo. Furthermore, clause 5 limits itself to corporations for some reason. Member nations are not required to penalize other types of companies. This was probably another oversight.

If you would like to see effective legislation on the topic in the future, or if you are opposed to the idea of ineffective legislation, the Ministry strongly recommends a vote AGAINST.