Polish exploration for shale gas, including hydraulic fracturing, had not significantly affected the state of the environment. That is the main outcome of a project called “An assessment of environmental risks caused by the process of prospecting, exploration and extraction of unconventional hydrocarbon deposits” which was commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Environment. 

According to the press release, investigations and analyses were carried out  before, during and after the fracturing operations. The research works included:

• the exploration of the local conditions and the planning of field investigations,
• the research on the baseline/the state of the environment prior to the launch of exploration works,
• the investigations in the course of the drilling of a vertical/directional borehole,
• the investigations carried out as a deposit was opened using hydraulic fracturing and production tests were performed,
• the survey on the state of the environment after the conclusion of the works on the site,
• the survey on the state of the environment after 1 to 2.5 years (depending on well site) have passed since the conclusion of the works.

Investigations did not identify any significant and permanent changes in the chemical composition of groundwater and surface waters, or a deterioration of the soil parameters in agricultural terms, or higher concentrations of radioactive elements (radon) in soil. The operations did not affect, either, the status of groundwater resources (they did not lower the groundwater table). In several cases, the parameters analysed were found to increase on a temporary basis in the soil air. It was found that this had resulted from the accumulation of contemporary products of natural biological transformations under the foil sealing the investigated areas or, in one case, from Carboniferous coal seams.

Brief exceedances of the permissible noise levels and temporary increases in the values of certain parameters analysed in the air (sulphur and nitrogen oxides and organic compounds) were found in the course of the operation of high-power internal-combustion equipment and high-efficiency pumps and in the course of fracturing.

Major results were presented 27 March 2015 (English, Polish) and are available as a report on seismic monitoring and an overview of all other results. Currently only in Polish; a translation into English is underway and will be published in about two months.  According to the Polish General Directorate for Environmental Protection, detailed field data from measurements at individual well sites willl not be published. However, the data are available upon request.  

The results of the research will be used for preparing a set of good environmental practices for operations related to shale gas. Publication of these recommendations is planned for 2016.