Along the North East coast from Hartlepool to Alnwick no less than eight licenses have been granted for an experimental technology called Underground Coal Gasification (UCG). The licences are just offshore and contain billions of tonnes of coal. Four companies are planning experimental UCG projects that pose as greater threat to the people of the North East as the gas fields fracking companies want to drill elsewhere in the UK.
By starting offshore, the UCG industry aims to minimise it’s visibility and resistance. However, it’s sights are definitely set onshore where costs can be minimised. Cluff Natural Resources were scared away from an onshore site in Warwickshire, by a strong, vocal, local campaign but have recently acquired two large licence areas north or Hartlepool.
Five-Quarter own four licenses containing 2 billion tonnes of coal stretching from South Shields to Alnwick. The scale of the project that Five Quarter has outlined in press releases and presentations would require multi well drill sites along the coast and a massive onshore processing plant. To gasify the 2 billion tonnes of coal in Five-Quarters licence areas would require over 2,000 pairs of wells to be drilled.
If you live in the North East and are considering raising awareness or starting a community group to oppose the UCG threat, the time to act is now.
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