Lancashire Fracking: Cuadrilla Now Wants To Frac 2 Wells It Has Drilled

As drilling rig parts begin leaving Preston New Road attention turns to resisting Cuadrilla’a plans to hydraulically fracture the two wells it has expended so much time and effort to drill. A whole new phase of the resistance to fracking in Lancashire is now beginning as Cuadrilla tries bring large amounts of hydraulic fracturing equipment onto the site, and Lancashire communities try to make it as slow and costly for them as possible.

Fracking company Cuadrilla Resources has taken the best part of 7 years to get back to where it was, following the 2011 earthquakes it caused in Lanacshire and the subsequent explosion of resistance to fracking. It has now drilled 2 of an orignally 4 planned wells at its Preston New Road (PNR) appraisal site, while its other new site at Roseacre Wood is having its planning refusal appealed in central government. A year and a half into activity at PNR the ongoing resistance is clearly taking its toll.

Cuadrilla appears to be about 6 months behind its original timeline, even after having quietly scaled back its plans to two instead of the initial four wells. Numerous contractors have dropped out of the project as resistance has spread to various support sites. Cuadrilla is currently winding down its drilling operation and planning to remove the drilling rig from the site and bring on its frac pump set, and start hydraulic fracturing of the 2 wells.

This new phase of activity, with increased flows of trucks equipment, chemicals, frac sand and waste, presents an opportunity to inflict further delays to the project, at great additional cost to Cuadrilla. The network or support sites and transport routes being used to service the site will shift significantly, with the supply of frac sand and disposal of the radioactive fracking waste being two major shifts.

This offers the opportunity to wake up additional communities to the threats posed by fracking. In particular whatever community Cuadrilla ends up trying to saddle with its radioactive waste, with Knostrop in Leeds being the nearest possibility. Take a look at our factsheet and find out what support sites could be near you.

Cuadrilla’s speculative business model means that they need good results from these test to get more investment, but that includes not just what they find under ground but the level of resistance they encounter. That is where communities across the country come in – by making Cuadrilla’s fracking plans as difficult, slow and expensive as possible!

Join the fracking resistance and support Lancashire’s threatened communities! Join or form an anti-fracking group where you live. Read up on how you can fight fracking where you live.

Check out our factsheet about Cuadrilla’s plans, your community may be threatened with impacts (e.g. fracking waste being dumped or transported through your community) even if you live hundreds of miles from Lancashire.