Thousands of Bulgarians protested throughout the Balkan country on Saturday against exploration for shale gas, worried it would poison underground waters, trigger earthquakes and pose serious public health hazards.
Protesters rallied in more than six major Bulgarian cities calling for a moratorium on shale gas tests through hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and demanding a new law to ban unconventional drilling for gas in the southeastern European country.
"I am opposed because we do not know what chemicals they will put in the ground. Once they poison the water, what shall we drink?" said Olga Petrova, 24, a student who attended a protest in Sofia.
In June, the centre-right government granted a license to U.S. energy major Chevron to test for shale gas in northeastern Bulgaria, with the hope that it could reduce the country's almost complete dependence on gas imports from Russia's Gazprom.
Shale gas is natural gas locked in rock formations that in the past decade has been found in abundance around the world and is considered a major source of future energy, but its drilling method has raised environmental concerns globally.
Fracking involves injecting water mixed with sand and chemicals into shale formations at high pressures to extract fuel. Critics worry that fracking fluids might get into groundwater-holding aquifers and contaminate them.
The possibility for shale gas wells in the Dobrudzha region, Bulgaria's main grain producer, is stirring growing opposition by environmentalists who want to safeguard drinking water and land.
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