UK - Lancashire County Council REJECT fracking application.

 

We publish the report in full from Greenpeace here. Ed

 

 

 

On Monday, June 29, 2015 5:44 PM, "Richard Casson, Greenpeace" <team.uk@greenpeace.org> wrote:

Hello,  Amazing news -- Lancashire just said no to fracking! In a resounding move that will send shockwaves through the fossil fuel industry, Lancashire councillors voted overwhelmingly against fracking firm Cuadrilla's plans to drill for shale gas. This is a huge victory for people power. Fracking would be bad news for Lancashire because it could contaminate water and pollute the air.  And it would be bad news for all of us, because burning more fossil fuels like shale gas could lead to catastrophic climate change. It's a win that will be felt far beyond Lancashire's borders. Click on the image to share it on Facebook and celebrate!     In Lancashire, local people have been rallying outside county hall for days. But for the past four years they've run an incredible, grassroots campaign that's inspired so many of us. They've fought hard to win this -- and just last weekend, 65,000 Greenpeace supporters backed their local fight once more by signing an emergency petition to Lancashire council. This morning I was in Preston. I was lucky to be there outside Lancashire county hall when the news came through and a huge cheer echoed through the crowd. People were hugging each other and celebrating -- the atmosphere was electric! This is a victory for all of us - and a great surprise because councillors were under huge pressure from the fracking industry and the UK government to let Cuadrilla go ahead. But over the past months and years, local residents, and organisations across the UK have campaigned to keep fracking out of Lancashire. We’ve signed petitions, emailed Lancashire councillors, and attended protests and fracking action camps. Today all that hard work has paid off, so please click to share the good news: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-victory Of course, Cuadrilla and other companies will keep trying to get fracking permits and start pumping chemicals into our soil. But we’ll keep fighting them every step of the way. And now we know the power we have against them, with each victory we will be one step closer to a frack-free UK -- for good. For now, though, we can celebrate. Thank you - once again - for everything that you've done and continue to do. Richard

UK - Government sells shares in Green Investment Bank.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/25/green-investment-bank-tories-14bn-sell-pay-down-deficit

At least they are consistent in their drive to frack the entire UK. Ed.

UK - Vote for Brexit - and get fracking.

Fracking poses 'significant' risk to humans and should be temporarily banned across EU, says new report

A major scientific study says the process uses toxic and carcinogenic chemicals and that an EU-wide ban should be issued until safeguards are in place

Andy Rowell

Saturday 20 June 2015

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A major new scientific study has concluded that the controversial gas extraction technique known as fracking poses a “significant” risk to human health and British wildlife, and that an EU-wide moratorium should be implemented until widespread regulatory reform is undertaken.

The damning report by the CHEM Trust, the British charity that investigates the harm chemicals cause humans and wildlife, highlights serious shortcomings in the UK’s regulatory regime, which the report says will only get worse as the Government makes further budget cuts.
It also warns of severe risks to human health if the new Conservative government tries to fast-track fracking of shale gas across the UK. The “scale of commercial fracking” unleashed by the Government’s eagerness to exploit the technique “should not be underestimated”, it cautions.

Read more: Lancashire fracking in doubt following critical report
Fracking turning US into bigger oil producer than Saudi Arabia

The report is due to be published tomorrow – in the week that Lancashire county council votes on two highly contentious planning applications to frack in the county by the company Cuadrilla. If approved, they will be the first commercial fracking sites in the UK.
Last week, council planning officers recommended approval of fracking at one site, Preston New Road, but opposed a second site, Roseacre Wood, but only on traffic concerns, not pollution from fracking itself.
The charity says it will send copies of the report to the Lancashire councillors before they vote.
Late last year, New York became the first US state with significant shale gas reserves to ban fracking for health reasons. Howard Zucker, New York’s acting health commissioner, said he had identified “significant” public health risks and the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, compared fracking to passive smoking, a practice that wasn’t understood as a health risk for many years.
The CHEM Trust report also focuses on the potential health effects of the hundreds of chemicals, along with sand and water, that fracking companies use to prise open rocks. It warns of “significant” pollution to air, groundwater and surface waters and threats to wildlife.
Some of these toxic chemicals have been linked to breast, prostate and testicular cancer in humans as well as coronary heart disease, the report says. It outlines how 38 fracking chemicals are “acutely toxic for humans” and a further 20 are mutagenic, or known or possible carcinogens.
The report gives specific examples of hazardous materials used in fracking, including chemicals “associated with leukaemia in humans” and “toxic to sperm production in males”. The trust warns it is “particularly concerned about the use of hormone-disrupting chemicals”.
It is also asking for full disclosure of the chemicals that will be used in the fracking process. Many of the chemicals used in the process remain secret. In the US, nearly 300 products used in fracking fluids contain at least one secret chemical.
The report warns of concerns about “the current regulation of fracking” in the UK, which has “weak points”. Since the passage of the Infrastructure Bill last year, “it is no longer clear how well groundwaters will be protected”. It is particularly concerned that “ongoing cuts in regulatory authorities” will only make matters worse, especially any cuts to the regulator, the Environment Agency, which lost 15 per cent of its staff last year.
Specific issues about fracking in Lancashire are raised, including the suggestion that fracking could harm wildlife in the Wyre estuary, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, home to 11 wading bird species of international importance and three of national importance, as well as important orchids and insects. “There is clear potential for fracking to cause serious pollution incidents with major impacts on the UK especially areas of recognised wildlife interest” the study concludes. 
The report makes numerous recommendations to protect health, groundwater and the British countryside. These include no fracking operations near drinking water aquifers, the undertaking of environmental impact assessments for all fracking sites, and effective monitoring even after fracking operations have stopped.

Read more: Rise of US fracking causes shift in North Sea oil
Company gains permission to drill for gas in North York Moors
Beer drinkers claim fracking poses 'threat to quality of real ale'

Dr Michael Warhurst, the executive director of CHEM Trust, said: “Our investigation has identified key problems with the way fracking is regulated and monitored. Given the potential for pollution and damage to ecosystems, CHEM Trust is calling for a moratorium on fracking in Europe until our recommendations are in place”.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We take the environmental risks associated with oil and gas exploration and production very seriously, including hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, and are committed to ensuring that people and the environment are protected.
“Our regulatory controls are in place to protect people and the environment.”

Small U.S. frackers face extinction amid drilling drought

Our heart bleeds - 550 employees and now down to just 6. What a joke:-

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/us-usa-oil-slowdown-insight-idUSKBN0OY0E820150618

UK - No longer any need for public consultation.

Read the report: http://frackfreeryedale.org/ea11/

Simply apalling. Hopefully the 26% of those eligible to vote in the last election who voted for the current government are really pleased with themselves.

California - someone missing the point?

California farmers resign themselves to drought: 'Nobody's fault but God's'

Despite efforts to dig deeper into the earth to get at diminishing groundwater, the spectre of desertification may cost Central Valley farmers too much to carry on. Read more here:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/07/california-drought-farmers-drilling-groundwater-environment

And yet the fracking continues with each well fracked using up to 4.4 million gallons of water : http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/03/12/how-much-water-it-takes-to-frack-a-well/  

Difficult to have any sympathy. Ed 

Majority of MEPs support eh idea of a moratorium on fracking ( UK )

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/10/majority-of-meps-support-fracking-moratorium-in-symbolic-vote?CMP=share_btn_link

UK - Public not trusting Cameron on National Parks

Ban fracking from national parks, say majority of UK public

Guardian poll suggests public unmoved by assurances that planning guidance has been tightened for shale drilling

Read more here:  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/04/ban-fracking-from-national-parks-say-majority-of-uk-public

USA- EPA seems to have pulled it off again

The American Environmental Protection Agency ( sic ) seems to have managed to have pulled off the production of a report that has allowed those in the oily, gassy industry to claim that fracking has little or no (!) effect on drinking water.

You decide:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/04/fracking-epa-drinking-water/28510779/

We already have. Ed.

UK - Labour leadership candidate calls for fracking moratorium.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/05/andy-burnham-to-call-for-moratorium-on-fracking

Bonne chance Andy. The good people of Angleterre returned a conservative government that openly advocates mass fracking. Ed

Democracy and Texas - a contradiction in terms?

With thanks to: www.desmogblog.com  Ed.

Breaking: Citizens Arrested While Defending Denton, Texas Fracking Ban

By Julie Dermansky • Monday, June 1, 2015 - 15:58

Three members of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group were arrested when they refused to move away from the entrance to a fracking site where work began today.
Before arresting them, however, Sergeant Jenkins, a 30-year veteran of the Denton police department, thanked Adam Briggle, a professor at the University of North Texas, and Denton residents Niki Chochrek and Tara Linn Hunter for the work they had done.

Read the full report here................

http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/06/01/breaking-citizens-arrested-while-defending-denton-texas-fracking-ban

UK - It's all about share price stupid. Told you so.

Since the Conservatives won a majority in the general election just over three weeks ago, there has been an increase in the number of planning applications submitted relating to hydraulic fracturing.
This observation comes after a marked rise in the share price of many fracking companies since fracking-friendly Amber Rudd was selected as Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Read more on this predicted surge:  http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2890376/fracking_surge_follows_tory_election_win.html