On Wednesday, as Cuadrilla Resources call a press conference to announce the results of their drilling for shale gas in Lancashire, the national anti-fracking network, Frack Off, demands an end to hydraulic fracturing for shale gas or “fracking” in the UK.
In the United States fracking has caused a huge catalogue of problems including poisoning of water supplies, serious air pollution and even earthquakes [1]. Academics in the UK have called for a ban on fracking [2] and local people in areas of the UK where it is proposed are extremely concerned [3].
Due to the impermeable nature of the shale rock the process is very different from conventional gas drilling, requiring that a huge number of wells are drilled across a wide area. It will result in a massive industrialisation of the countryside, with huge numbers of drilling pads, wells and pipelines[4].
Cuadrilla Resources are driving the push for the exploitation of shale gas in the UK, and their PR strategy is to concentrate debate on the small number of test wells they are drilling now, and divert attention away from the hundreds that would follow if they were to go into full scale production.
Despite claims to the contrary, fracking is completely unregulated. The Environment Agency does not consider fracking to be an activity that requires a permit and therefore there is no monitoring or oversight of it of any kind [5].
A perfect example of this is the controversy over the two earthquakes that occurred during the fracking of their first well at Preese Hall near Blackpool [6]. Cuadrilla announced that they would suspend fracking while a report was written involving the British Geological Survey, but in fact Cuadrilla are writing that report not an independent body [7].
Aiden Attewill from Frack Off said “Fracking is just scraping the bottom of the fossil fuel barrel. From the tar sands in Canada to Coal Bed Methane in Australia we are seeing more and more destructive forms of fossil fuel extraction all over the world, we need to stop putting off these problems and really address issues of resource depletion and climate change.”
Last weekend there was a protest camp and march to Cuadrilla’s drilling site in Hesketh Banks, Preston [Pictures attached]. The local anti-fracking group, Ribble Estuary Against Fracking, said “It’s not farming, it’s not sustainable, it’s an unregulated fossil fuel industry, we were not consulted and we don’t want it”.
ENDS
Notes for editors:
[2] http://www.co-operative.coop/PageFiles/344773080/The-Co-operative-Shale-Gas-Report-120111.pdf
[3] http://reafg.blogspot.com/
[6] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/01/blackpool-earthquake-tremors-gas-drilling
