President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed ‘friendly fracking’ to extract natural gas responsibly and bolster Mexico’s energy sovereignty. She explained that new technologies use biodegradable components and enable water recycling. Environmental organizations criticized the plan, stating that sustainable fracking does not exist.
During her morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum defended modern hydraulic fracturing technologies, distinguishing them from traditional fracking due to lower environmental impact. “The main environmental problem with fracking is that it uses a lot of water and gets contaminated with hard-to-clean chemicals. Now there are new technologies that use biodegradable components,” she explained.
These components break rocks to extract gas, allowing water recycling, including saltwater or coal mine water. Sheinbaum stressed consulting experts: “That’s what we want the experts to tell us, the impacts it would have, where it could be done and where not. There are new technologies and we must be open.”
More than 80 organizations, including the Mexican Alliance Against Fracking, rejected the proposal in a statement. They argued that exploring “sustainable” fracking contradicts the government’s commitment against the technique, supported by over 2,300 scientific studies over 15 years.
Specialists noted that options like treated wastewater or seawater have been tested in the United States but not widely adopted due to high costs of 5 to 10 million dollars per installation. They said Mexico’s gas reserves are insufficient for growing demand, questioning its role in energy sovereignty.
The government plans to form a scientific committee to assess the technique and reduce dependence on U.S. imported gas over the next decade.
