Category Archives: News

Cash crisis for Scots driller as  community resistance grows

Cash crisis for Scots driller as community resistance grows

Scotland driller Dart Energy is in the throes of a major cash crisis, an Australian stock exchange announcement today reveals. Large-scale community resistance has prevented the driller from obtaining planning permission at Airth; led by the Forth valley Against Unconventional Gas group (FAUG). Dart is now perilously close to running out of money. Dart has […]

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Creeping Inferno: Underground Coal Gasification Threat Comes Onshore

Creeping Inferno: Underground Coal Gasification Threat Comes Onshore

  • New UCG licence application submitted
  • Onshore in Warwickshire countryside
  • 24 licences in UK already given away
  • All blocks just off the coast up until now
  • Could open door for UCG to move onshore
  • UCG involves burning coal underground
  • Toxic/Carcinogenic tars are a byproduct
  • Long history of contaminating groundwater
  • Large amounts of toxic waste produced
  • Larger area, including Coventry, threatened

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Dart Energy pulls out of China for US$12m loss

Dart Energy pulls out of China for US$12m loss

Scottish Driller Dart Energy today announced the company is pulling out of operations in China – for a US$12m loss. The company is selling its stake in Fortune Oil Plc (FLG), which has extensive Coal Bed Methane (CBM) operations in China. In 2009 the company bought 35% of FLG for US$19,730,000 (see Dart’s Financial Accounts […]

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Fracking In Balcombe: A Community Says No

Fracking In Balcombe: A Community Says No

  • Fracking threatening Sussex countryside
  • Cuadrilla have licences for 270 square miles
  • Planning permission to drill in Balcombe
  • Targeting layer within Kimmeridge Clay
  • Analogous to Bakken Shale in North Dakota
  • Would need thousands of wells to extract oil
  • Same severe impacts as in US and Australia
  • Villagers getting organised to resist invasion
  • Cuadrilla is trying to push ahead regardless
  • Need permits to start, but could be soon

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Newsnight fails Scotland on Dart Energy Threat

Newsnight fails Scotland on Dart Energy Threat

Why is it that Scotlands flagship news program completely missed the story? If you compare the content and tone of the 12 minute BBC piece with one and half minutes from 7 News in Australia the differences are stark. The real story in Scotland: 2014 UPDATE here… An Australian company called Dart Energy want to […]

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Celtique borehole deception in Sussex

Celtique borehole deception in Sussex

Sussex Driller Celtique Energie is preparing to test for shale gas and oil at two new sites in Sussex, even as it tells the public it’s not doing so. Thousands of wells, hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling and massive volumes of water, chemicals and sand (silica) are inevitably required to extract oil and gas from shale. […]

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Driller's share price crashes as Australia direct actions continue

Driller’s share price crashes as Australia direct actions continue

Investors have taken flight from an Australian Coal Bed Methane operator as community Direct Action escalated at its site in Doubtful Creek, New South Wales. The action are ongoing – see here for details. The share price of driller Metgasco has fallen by nearly 50% since the start of the February, due to efforts of […]

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Community Resistance takes on The Coal Seam Gas Industry and the state in New South Wales

Community Resistance takes on The Coal Seam Gas Industry and the state in New South Wales

Coal Seam Gas (aka Coal Bed Methane, see Dart Energy’s plans for Airth Scotland) has been hitting the headlines in Australia in a big way. When Metgasco tried to establish a site at Glenugie in New South Wales local residents were quick to react and started a blockade. Metgasco’s drilling contractor AJ Lucas (who own […]

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