Protesters outside the Deloitte building in central London, location of the UCG conference
Residents from Swansea teamed up with activist group Frack Off this morning to protest against Underground Coal Gasification outside an industry conference in central London [1].
Swansea Bay has been chosen by extraction company Clean Coal Ltd as a test site for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)[2], the controversial method of gasifying un-minable coal by part burning it underground [3].
Swansea resident Sarah Hughes said,
“I’m terrified. Swansea has been chosen as a UK test case for an extraction method which has caused disastrous environmental and health impacts elsewhere in the world.”
She continued,
“The idea that they can set fire to a load of coal under the sea so close to where people live and expect no negative consequences is completely insane.”
UCG has caused controversy most recently in Australia where the process resulted in the toxic hydro-carbon Benzene contaminating the groundwater and being found in the fat of grazing animals [4].
Frack Off activist Pete Reynolds said,
“People think the only threat from unconventional gas is Shale, but the UK is also being inundated with planning applications for coal-gas extraction”
He went on,
“There are already 60 granted planning applications for companies to go after Coal Bed Methane [5] in the UK, the extraction of which often requires fracking. Underground Coal Gasification is the nuclear option, it has the potential to be more environmentally destructive and harmful to human health than either Shale gas or Coal Bed Methane.”
END
Further information
Notes for Editors
[2] https://frack-off.org.uk/
[3]http://groundtruthtrekking.
[5] https://frack-off.org.uk/
