E-mail: media@frack-off.org
Phone: Nathan- 07858614861
Twitter: @frack_off
Website: www.frack-off.org
Yesterday saw a day of anti-fracking action as ‘Frack Off’ activists stormed a drilling rig in the morning and staged a ‘frack mob’ in the afternoon.
At 5.30 this morning, nine members of anti-fracking network Frack Off halted work at Cuadrilla Resources drilling site in Hesketh Bank. [1] They ran on to the fracking site and climbed up the 30-meter high drilling rig using climbing equipment. One protester was jumped on by a security guard as he ran through the site but managed to get away and carry on climbing. Two of the climbers were later given cups of tea by the workman at the drill as they were sat on top of the drill.
This afternoon, 100 protesters staged a ‘frack mob’ outside the Copthorne Tara Hotel with gas masks, protective suits, and noise makers, to protest against a £1,500-a-ticket Shale Gas Environmental Summit,[2] which they argue that the event is a blatant piece of ‘Greenwash.’
These actions coincided with the publication of Cuadrilla Resources, pioneers of hydraulic fracturing in
the UK’s final report on earthquakes, which confirmed that their test well did cause the earth-tremors in Blackpool earlier this year. [3]
Sophie Choudri, 24, a who attended the frack mob, said “The conference is all about spin and greenwash. It is just the fossil fuel industry PR machine trying to tell the people in power that they should let them make lots of money.’
She continued “The seismic report alone demonstrates just how dangerous and uncontrollable a process hydraulic fracturing is. But it also suggests that we should be particularly careful about believing anything companies such as Cuadrilla say about the process. The fact that there were unexpected earthquakes shows how little research has been done into fracking. If companies like Cuadrilla didn’t know that fracking would cause earthquakes, how can we believe them when they tell us that it won’t poison our water? ”
Colin Eastman, who climbed the drilling rig, said, “Conventional fossil fuels have begun to run out and the system is moving towards more extreme forms of energy like fracking, tar sands, and deep water drilling. The move towards ‘extreme energy’ is literally scrapping the bottom of the barrel, sucking the last most difficult to rech fossil fuels from the planet at a time when we should be rapidly reducing our consumption altogether and looking for sustainable alternatives. In the UK fracking for shale gas is planned alongside, not instead of, extraction of conventional fossil fuels like coal. ”
Hydraulic Fracturing, or ‘fracking’ is a controversial method of natural gas extraction, in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected into the ground at high pressure, cracking shale rock and releasing the gas. It has been the subject of much contention due to numerous reports linking the method to water contamination, health problems and earthquakes. The industry is in its infancy in the UK, and there are plans for up to 800 wells in Lancashire alone [4]. Frack Off is a national grassroots anti-fracking network who launched their website by unfurling a banner 500 feet up Blackpool tower earlier this year [5]. See www.frack-off.org for more information.
ENDS
Media Enquires: Nathan- 07858614861 (for onsite enquiries)
Media@frack-off.org
For more information go to: www.frack-off.org
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/02/fracking-protesters-storm-shale-gas-site
[2] Environmental summit details:
http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=0&ref=3742
[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/02/fracking-cause-lancashire-quakes
[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/21/gas-field-blackpool-dallas-sea
[5] press release for the banner drop:
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/08/483055.html?c=on#c271508
