- Fracking is coming
- What is Fracking
- Why we need to fight Fracking
- Frack Off – direct action network
- Lancashire: The front line
- Camp Frack – 17/18th Sept, Lancashire
- Transport to the camp
- Workshops in the Frack Off space
Fracking is coming
Fracking is coming to the British Isles but if we act now we CAN stop it. For this reason it is the most potent single environmental issue in the last few years and stopping it could have a hugely positive effect on the environmental movement nationally and globally.
What is Fracking?
Hydraulic Fracturing is a method used to free gas trapped in rock (that would usually be inaccessible) by cracking the rock using a pressurised fluid. Wells are drilled and the fracking fluid injected into them under high pressure to crack the rock. The fracking fluid consists of water, sand and a lot of chemicals. Millions of gallons of water are used to frack a well.
Why we need to fight Fracking
Fracking is a nightmare! Toxic and radioactive water pollution. Tap water you can set on fire. Severe air pollution. Earthquakes. Runaway climate change. To produce expensive gas that will soon run out. Like other forms of Extreme Energy (Tar Sands, Mountain Top Removal etc.) it involves a massive industrialisation of rural landscapes, combined with insidious pollution of the local environment while facilitating the headlong rush towards the destruction of the biosphere. Fracking has been banned in several countries already and we need to nip it in the bud before it gets a foot hold in the British Isles. More generally we need to be opposing this insane rush towards ever more extreme means of feeding the system’s fossil fuel habit and promote the radical change that is needed to ensure that there is a future.
Frack Off – direct action network
Frack Off is a grassroots network of people from across the UK who are concerned about the growing threat from damaging and unsustainable energy sources like fracking and are committed to doing something about it. We’re working hard to connect people who are defending their communities from this threat and equip them with the tools they need to resist. We believe in using a diversity of tactics but are mainly concentrating on those tactics that are are not the focus of more mainstream organisations: local community organising and direct action.
Lancashire: The front line
So far the most advanced plans for fracking in the UK are those of Cuadrilla Resources, which has planning permission for 5 test wells in Lancashire around the Ribble Estuary. Cuadrilla has drilled and fracked one well, drilled another and is in the process of drilling a third. Work has yet to start at 2 further test sites. Cuadrilla received a large amount of negative publicity because there were 2 earthquakes during their fracking operations on the first test well but this has not stopped them drilling more. If Cuadrilla start commercial gas production in Lancashire, they want to drill 400 wells initially, but this is just the beginning – in a few years we could be looking at thousands of wells in Lancashire alone.
However, at present Cuadrilla Resources is a relatively small start-up company which is spending millions of pounds of it’s investors’ money and not making any profit. It will be much easier to stop Cuadrilla now and refuse to let the fracking industry get a toe hold in the UK than it will be a few years down the line when the practice is established. Fracking has been banned in France and Spain so why not here?
Camp Frack – 17/18th Sept, Lancashire
Camp Frack kicks off at 6pm on Friday 16th September and runs until 12pm on Sunday 18th September (see www.campaigncc.org/campfrack). The camp is taking place at Old Manor Farm in Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, a short distance from the site where the Cuadrilla drilling rig is at the moment. The camp will bring together a wide variety of people working to resist fracking, from around the UK and even further afield. Frack Off’s Direct Action space at Camp Frack should be the most radical and vibrant space within the camp. Look out also for the REAF (Ribble Estuary Against Fracking) space where you will be able to meet some of the locals involved in opposing fracking.
Transport to the camp
Frack Off is organising transport to the camp from Brighton (and possibly other areas), leaving on Fri afternoon (16th) and returning on Sun evening (18th), for £25. Please contact us at info@frack-off.org for more information. There is also a coach from London being organised. Please get in touch if you know of any other transport that is being organised to Camp Frack.
Workshops in the Frack Off space
We are looking people who can run workshops in the Frack Off space so please contact us at info@frack-off.org if you’re interested in running a workshop on Fracking, Extreme Energy, Climate Change, Direct Action or related topics. Please check back to the website soon for a preliminary workshop schedule.
