Activists angry at fracking claims

CAMPAIGNERS against plans frack on Salisbury Plain have criticised a councillor who said the process was “not dissimilar” to conventional oil drilling in Hampshire and Dorset.

March 3, 2016

Live updates from Cuadrilla fracking inquiry Day 13 – residents around Roseacre Wood

Live news as it happens at the 13th day of the inquiry at Blackpool Football Club into Cuadrilla’s fracking plans for the Fylde area of Lancashire. Check our Inquiry page for more information, posts and links.

Robin Green, barrister for Roseacre Awareness Group and Treales, Roseacre & Wharles Parish Council, presents his case.

March 2, 2016

Health case against shale gas exploration is convincing, expert tells fracking inquiry + key health issues from Day 12

The health risks of shale gas exploration are too great to justify it going ahead, the inquiry into Cuadrilla’s fracking plans heard today.

Public health expert, Dr David McCoy, said some professionals advised against shale gas production because the hazards were too significant. But he said this warning could also apply to exploration.

2 Mar 2016

Upton-by-Chester could be targeted for fracking after all

An energy company boss has revealed that Upton is still on the potential target list for fracking even though campaigners recently celebrated IGas pulling out of an operation to test for coal bed methane (CBM).

Tom Pickering, operations director, Ineos Shale, indicated the Duttons Lane site may be revisited with a view to fracking for gas from the shale layer which lies deeper underground.

2 March 2016

Protestors demonstrate against plans to take fracking decisions out of local hands

PROTESTORS in Helmsley have taken to the streets to demonstrate against Government plans to take decisions on fracking out of local hands.

The demonstrators, holding placards emblazoned with anti-fracking slogans, gathered on Saturday outside Malton and Thirsk MP Kevin Hollinrake’s constituency surgery at Helmsley Arts Centre.

Ian Conlan, from Frack Free Ryedale, said: “North Yorkshire County Council, handling the KM8 application to frack, has its hands tied thanks to Government rules that force the council to ‘trust’ the Environment Agency to regulate risk. This means residents’ well-founded concerns such as drinking water contamination and air pollution, house prices and insurance, are not allowed to be taken into account.”

North Yorkshire County Council has been considering the fracking application by Third Energy for more than six months, with the deadline being pushed back twice. However, the authority of the council may yet be overruled. In Lancashire, the UK Government aim to quash the county council’s ruling against fracking because they feel it is a matter of “nationally significant infrastructure”.

Read more: http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/14313882.Protestors_demonstrate_against_plans_to_take_fracking_decisions_out_of_local_hands/

2 March 2016

Green Party reinforces its opposition to fracking at Harrogate conference

The Green Party has vowed to act on government plans to take decision making on fracking planning applications away from local councils.

At its 2016 Spring Conference in Harrogate the Greens became the only national political party to take a campaigning stance following criticisms of changes to planning guidance announced last August [1].

The plans were revealed in January in a leaked letter sent last July that discusses proposals for a “government shale gas strategy”, aimed at achieving a “maturing shale gas production industry” within 10 years [2].

The party is considering campaign strategies and calls on local and parish councils to write to the government to register objections.

Scotland

2 March 2016

Tycoon told Sturgeon of ‘shale revolution’ as minister unveiled fracking moratorium

NICOLA Sturgeon was being lobbied over the benefits of a ‘shale gas revolution’ by Scotland’s leading fracking champion while her energy minister was announcing a temporary ban on the technique.

Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire boss of Ineos and the Grangemouth petrochemical plant, met the First Minister at the same time that the Scottish Government was announcing a moratorium on fracking at Holyrood.

A previously secret account of the summit reveals that the company told the SNP leader that it “understood, though didn’t agree with current public opinion” on the issue and agreed to engage with her new policy.