President Claudia Sheinbaum assured that, while “the decision is not yet made,” it is necessary to view hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, “with a sovereign eye” and with maximum reduction of environmental impacts.
Accompanied by the rectors of UNAM, Leonardo Lomelí, and UAM, Gustavo Pacheco, as well as the director of IPN, Arturo Reyes, the head of state presented in the morning conference a multidisciplinary group of 17 specialists, who in two months will present an analysis with conclusions on the viability of new technologies for the exploitation of unconventional gas with low environmental impact and where it would be viable to exploit it.
More than 80 organizations, including the Mexican Alliance Against Fracking, have warned that exploring a “sustainable” version of fracking “may sound promising in speech, but in practice, it does not exist.”
In response, Sheinbaum, who was a staunch opponent of fracking, justified that her government has observed that “there is enormous innovation in this area, which allows for no longer using such polluting chemicals, but using biodegradable chemicals, and also water recycling.”
“To all legitimate movements that are against fracking, we first want to say: we are involving the best scientists in Mexico on different topics to tell us if there are indeed new technologies for the exploitation of unconventional gas and where it would be viable to exploit it,” she noted.
The doctor in Geosciences from the Autonomous University of Coahuila, Luis Fernando Camacho Ortegón, assured that fracking, with current technology, has reached a “very stable” level of safety.
The rector of UNAM, Leonardo Lomelí, highlighted that what the researchers will do is take into account all costs, existing technologies, and the benefits that can exist for the populations, and communicate it to Mexican society: “We will do it with the utmost responsibility.”
The rector of UAM, Gustavo Pacheco, agreed that the dependence on imported natural gas, particularly from the southern United States, represents a vulnerability that Mexico must overcome.
