"earth focus," fracking, a memethod of getting oil at a rock, is raising concererns worldwide. coming up on "earth focus." >> the caribbean and does itit stretches out across the third of south africa's land area.a. mountains separate the land in two different habitats harboring the religious diversity and the desert in the world.d.

hear, a world-class astronomy project andd a farming industry that exports f food araround the world producing 3.4 milillion sheep yeyear. 7 million people rely on this desert for their daily existence. most of the arerea is extremely dry with about 7-10 inches of rain a year. despite a short summer rainstorm, all of the water comes frorom wells drilled into the ground a and pumped up intoo the sururface parking back to an older, s slower time. farmers, scientists, and to these are worried that without access to clean water like this, this vast area will be economically devastated. this is the name of the desert, but it is also the name of a shale deposit. this basin stretches almost across the country of south africa. look on as a curse for some and a blessing for others,s, locked

into the basin might be as muchh as 400 trillioion feet of shale gas, the fifth largest d deposit in the w world. since the moratorium on natural gas exploration was lifted in 2012, companies like royal dutch shell and others are lining up about south africa's door, waiting for the green light for what the m moment -- for what te government hopes will be green enerergy, jobs, development. >> one of the issuues we have with thehe long-term costs of fracking is that the governments and the oil and gas industrtries are very keen to promomote it on the basis that it bringss prosperity. what is this the talking about? are they talking about short- term gains for a few global companies and the government that is to be ruling a at the moment? that is what they call prosperity.

that prosperity is that the cost of the p prosperity of future generations, then i it is not worth it. >> this group is part of a growing resistance too natural gas production that apappeared o do whatever it takes to prevent exploration in this deposit. >> the problem of exploring is something there has never been a precedent of in the department of minerals. natural gas production in shale formations consists of three stages. drilling is down with huge wigs. it drills many wells using directional drilling techniques to fan out the wells like the drill had as much as 10 kilometers away in any direction. was the drilling is comomplete,t is taken away and service truc. this is a process cannot

hydraulic fracturing. the pipepes havave halls with te extreme pressure drives the fluid into the shahale and cracs it, releasing the gas and otothr chemicals. the millions off liters of polluted waterer mixed with fracking lewis returns to the surface where the liquid must b be disposed o of. often near this with the liquids and volatile compounds can evaporate into the air. for the 8-day year life of the well, trucks must take away the polluted mture. this canane 50% of everying comi up the wl, mostl volati organ compoun. popontial pommls with this press ararnot justelegated to the fraing of the well t

evy aspectf reducon. ththe in i iwhenhehey le out of theides oththe aft into the water t tab throughracked ses. al, thehemicalsre mixed and sofaand stod in a large nd and must bensulated om theollegehich is somemes nodone. once it drilled and productition, it can still be invivisibly polluted. as much as 9%9% of the methane d out of theay leak well. most shale basins are even flat and maintain a fairly regular deep layer with you a hard rock contractions that would allow water to move upward. dog did from the university of the free state supported natural gas extraction until he embarked on instead of the geology of the desert. he fears that political pathways

made by lava flows will allowow fracking fluidids and other ways toto r rise and d pollute theher table. and that goese lovee - - goest went to iraq, to the rock. our problem is 10 times, 100 times bigger. you don't find these in the u.s.. >> the product is underer such pressusure that t is always loog for these prpreferredd slow pat. it i is believed in it will find his way up the gas wells. >> what t will happenn aftfter -

100 years after the abandonment of the well. >> the latest signs from the gas fields of america seems to support his conclusion. according to the study, and another from cornell university, wells are leaking gas and other chemicals into the air of a rate of about three times what the industry can use. the government suggests that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created helping to offset the 24% unemployment. small-scale farmers believe that this is shortsighted..

>> it is thinking like this that scientists have been trying to instill in government a and publicic health posititions with oversight over the drilling activities. what is in the nature? nobody knows for sure and most companies and not telling. this group has worked with the u.s. national science foundation and the massachusetts institute of technology to uncover a list of 246 products used by the natural gas i industry. >> one of our staff set out to systematically set up a database in order to lookok at the long list of chemicals that we have at hand. those products that have health 1%-6% effect.ave 43% of the product on our list

contained in the quinn disrupt the chemicals that could interfere with the development of individuals before they are born and cause irreverersible changes in ththeir health led a life. -- later in life. are not willinghere to trade their long-term future for short-term gain. >> it will in fact our envivironment and our r undergrd water. >> northern poland. this is a picturesque land

forms, rollingng hills, and pristitine forests. the people of fish thehe indepepedent and proudud of ther home. some are worried. borland has found itself caught in a global hunt for natural resources. the region around t the city is rich in undergroundd gas and energy companies want to drill for it. to do so that have to use a a controversial l method knownwn a hydraulic fracturing. in the u.s.s., this h has been linkeded to a host of social an mental problems. these polish communities have heard the horror stories and don't want this in their backckyard. the industry disputes such consent. >> we alallow them t to go anank for r us. we allow them to speak based on

misinformation. >> this is growingng globally, into the u.s., i into europe, ad the world beyond. some countries have imposed a moratorium. others, including poland, have in place to it with over 100 concessions awarded. with overbraced it,t, 100 concessions at. this is an organic farmer. his farm s sits on a gas hot sp. he is worried about the impact on water sources in ee regioion,

rticularly of chemicals usedd in these processsses leak. hehe believes other fororms of pollutioion may follow. some do except t that poland's s rereserves are economicallyy impoportant but they are opposod to the frackining process itsel.

>> in this village in the grip of wininter, farmers a are alsoo concerned.d. they maintain they were given little information by the authorities or the gas companies before the drilling g began.

residents here say t the gas industry has presenteded a misleadingng image of f fraggin. fracking. the film maker behind "gas land" recently pledged sololidarity

with polish activists. >> there is no evidence that shale gas can be developed sustainably. there is no evidence that we can withstanand at this would mean for ouour climate. >> the i is no way to extract shale gasasithout using hydraulic fracture stimulation. >> your tracks the claims that committees have been left in the dark. >> i have been to poland. i've been in the meetings and villages with the gas companies, including chevrvron, and i exexplained what is happening,, what the process is. i don't believe that every single person has been left in the dark. >> he rejects that fracking will lead t to c contamination of wa. >> i don't believeve that we wil contaminate the drinking water or doing anything harmful to the environment. >> the crititics highlight concernsver drinkiking supplies. they say the industry has

embarked on a p.r. exercise to win over heaearts and minds. lolocal people sayay that the fracking has even n used the churches influence to convince people that it is s safe and tht will b benefit the community. we t tcked down the priests alleged to have been involved.

what's the potential i is brigh. it w will take some time. it will not happen overnight. pond is off for a greatt start with the early succecess that mighght be questioioble. you would expect to see that. you don't have an experience, knowledge, trying to get a pathway forward.

>> whatever ththe coming monthts and years old, those advocating fracking have their work cut out. down, you cangng smell gas. , you u can aree dinining smell gas. >> they h have takenn oil froroe nonorth sea. we will see what happens. >> hydraulic fracturing or fraacking involves pumping g a mixturure of water, s sd, andnd chchemicals into thehe ground in order to extract natural gas. the government lifted a moratorium on the f for anpaving thehe way

unprecedented-for gas. >> this is hugely contrtroversi. this is likely to lead to higher fuel bills. say that fracking is just part of a wider trend of exextreme enenergy extraction. >> we expect more to be done in the 14th round. as much a as 3-5 ofof the c cous up foror grabs and people are right to be concncerned about ts because the government is trying to change the system and local planningng. ththis is said that large investors can g go and gett apoveded. we are actctually seeing

production appliedor and wee have seen n areas of the coastline p preparing for coal exploratioion. three could come from o other countries but this has alalady arrived.d. >> to o cannot look at t a shels or frackining a as a single thi. whwhat we're l lookingng at is e energy. this is not just abobout technonology, this requires extreme fininance, extreme governance. to force these m measures throu, they are engineering thehe systm to allow the last exploration it -- the gas expxploration. >> the issue has become sensationalized. >> this has b bome the v viewpot or the image of fracking around the world. the media loves senensationalism and that h has now transcended e

entire scientific evidence that says that fracking is safe. >> fearing the worst, communities up and down the country have begun to mobilize. >> this is a it letetter t to dd cameroron who is signed by membs of parliament. immediatelliling for ann ban on shale gas. are d delivering it from all regions. >> i think committees arare quie right to be very worried about the impact of drilling and fracking. we know that t there are e real risks of water pollution, for example. what we are talking about here is p potentiaially a huge numbef

wells. in some cases, we're talking about 3400, somometimes inn incredibly sensitive areas. in scotltland, thesese local reresidents arare using bototh tradititional water pollution, air pollution, and also f fugitives -- fugitive methane emissions. >> this s rmer is s concerned despite living a c considerable distanance from the proposeded developmpment. >> i is all part of one big landscapes system with the mountains to the n north and the nationalal parks to the westst. it is s difficult to separatatet whwh is going on. thisis is quitete in landscscape

coexext. >> ththe potential impact on the reregion's farmlandnd has alsoo worried committees living near to castro and operations. >> m my biggest fear is ththat s and itd is a green area is a very y important area. wewe distributute our cropops tr the u.k. parent of this kind of industry here, the amoununt off wellththat they need to make it viable were completely destroyeyed. >> this willll not bring jobs or .ecurities for the farmers there are huge unknowns about healalth risks, risks t to the water, t the offers. is susceptiblele at thehe best of times. there arere all sorts of risks associated and we need toto address that. we need a reliable future. this is very short t and

potentially disastrouous. > opposition grew draramaticy following an earthquake linked to expxport tory g gas drilling. > it will devastate the whole country. i cannonot walk away from this. peoplele need to know abobout i. once you know the f facts, they will sayay, stop fracking. led to a temporaryy nationwiwide moratorium. although this has been lifted, some remain in limbo. >> we are not surprised. >> in sussex, it is unclear whether fracking will go ahahea. >> t this is a a process i woult wish on anyone ananywhere. i think it t is a poisonous, potentially very dangerous process. here, we live in a beautiful part of the world thahat is classified of an a area of f the outstanding natural beauty. people have livestock, farms.

we have beautififul streams running through. it is a lovelyly place to live.. fracking and the indudustrialization of the landndscaped cou r ruin at.. >> forcicing high volumeses of water and carcininogenic chemics into the ground at the kind of presessure that t would f fracty in your old rock, relying on your own cement cases,, t that a leleak, it will go through, it will go into the ground water. it will leak into the atatmospherere. water n needs water, water gogos from e everywhere e to e everyw, you cannot separate it. you cannot t legislate for the vagarieses of subteterrean geolology. >> proponenents say much of thee opposition i is based onn misiorormation. >> if sosomeone makekes a mista, it leaks out. ii think p people are e foolisho

thinink that that was s some otr enenergy t that comes that t and of risk from that pops out of the g ground and produces e eney that has no c consequences or risk. that is s not possssible. > thehey're t trying to c cos that thehey will ditarefully. safe fracking is the oxymoron of the decade. [captions made possible by kcet television]

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