Barbara Richardson, of Roseacre Awareness Group, gives her reaction to the announcement by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that he will decide Cuadrilla’s Lancashire fracking appeals. (See DrillOrDrop report)
So much for local democracy. These applications have been rejected at every level; by the residents, by the Parish Council, by the Borough Council and by the County Council. Even our Conservative MP, Mark Menzies, has stated publically that the decision should be left to local politicians
….. and rejected for good reason. This is about industrialisation of our countryside by an industry that is both dangerous and damaging to the environment, our health and climate change
Why should Westminster be allowed to decide what happens here in the North? They talk about devolving powers to the North yet this is in direct contradiction. Why should we be dictated to by a government being influenced by the oil and gas industry who stand to make millions from exploiting our precious resources for their own profit.
It is not just about the two sites at Roseacre and Little Plumpton; the whole of Lancashire is under threat, the whole of the UK even. Everyone will be affected in some way. Ask yourself why are other countries banning fracking or imposing moratoriums, why are there so many peer=reviewed reports proving it causes health problems, water and air pollution. There are just too many risks which far outweigh the benefits.
People need to wake up and see this for what it is. It is not about keeping the ‘lights on’ it is about corporate greed. It will not reduce energy bills. The jobs it creates will be short-lived and could have a serious impact on existing jobs, particularly in farming, food and tourism, whilst detracting from clean, renewable and sustainable energy solutions which would create many more jobs than fracking ever would.
This is a matter that should be decided by those elected to represent us locally, who fully understand the issues and will look after our interests and not by politicians in Westminster.
Reaction from Friends of the Earth, Preston New Road Group and Cuadrilla
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Fully understand the issues?? Are you sure? Yawn….
Well the local politicians do seem to understand the local issues better than the MPs – funny that isn’t it? Maybe they understand their constituents’ issues better? You know being locals and all that and not being parachuted into safe seats to support the whip.
The argument that this is all about fossil fuel corporate greed is somewhat naive and double standard.
If there’s no fossil fuels the we will have to use other form of energy let it be renewable or wood or nuclear. TThese form of energy will have a price depending on demand and supply and how cheap it can be produced in an acceptable way and so the company will charge and make some profits by providing the supply. The same with renewable if they are not in for profit then why they still need subsidies to survive in the real world of market driven demand. Surely if they are not for profit the just go ahead and bring on the market at market price.
I’m not sure that Barbara has a firm grip on economics (or reality for that matter). Since when does increasing the supply of any good not put downward pressure on prices? This is economics 101 folks. We can argue about differentials, and advantages to local prices, and that’s all true, but even at a basic high-level, a significant source of new gas would have to ease pricing pressures.
Babs is right that this could have a real impact on existing jobs. There are many downstream jobs to be created if the UK successfully exploits onshore gas. Having a secure, dedicated, inexpensive supply of clean natural gas could attract investment and create billions in wealth and tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, as it has in the US.
This is too important to let a dinky local council decide. We are all thankful that the democratically elected central government is using democratically constructed rules to takeover this decision. The UK needs secure, inexpensive, clean fuel, that can be extracted safely (and that is not intermittent) and shale gas is clearly the answer.
Secure inexpensive fuel will not come from Shale.
Suggest you go back to the drawing board.
Errr and WE are not all thankful!!
The fracking industry is a tool for social reform, planned by the conservatives, twenty years ago, and slowly being rolled out to transform democracy at every level.
The conservative motto is the greatest amount of money in the fewest hands. In essence this means setting up bankers, who are hand in glove with bob the builders construction industry, and oiligarchs and gaslords whose plan is to ”own” regions UK wide where they will pay police to do their bidding, (aka roll out austerity to justify getting rid of a national police service), pretend they are on the side of the community by em” a community centre, where spy patrols makes sure they are only talking about what the local feudal lord wants them to discuss.
Via EMS and other policies to deliver ”self regulation,’ environmental issues will be decided only by the manorial lord and not put up for discussion within the region under their rule. This is already being rolled out at Penketh and visit iGas pages to see how proud igas are of paying police etc, with nice smiley stepford wives posing around tables, while presumably their husbands are off fracking somewhere.
All services will be contracted out nepotistically to those who will do the bidding of these new lords, and voting will no longer be necessary as it will become ever apparent that whoever pays, says who gets power.
Elected mayors are a great way to parachute in anyone to do the bidding of those in power. It is easier to buy one person off with less money than it takes to pay off many elected locally by the community.
This feudal system is already being rolled out wholescale in Lancashire and is already begun by Barclays, bankorial lords, who own Third Energy and are even now using mega millions of our money, safely processed by HM tax office light touch regulation, to buy the greedy grubby and dirty across Yorkshire, who will be the faithful once the key aims of the conservatives get underway, and life will be wonderfully Disney like all the time on the fracking farm in the north. Osborne is taking the rise out of the north when he calls it the northern power house. He means the northern drill house, which will work more or less with Victorian poorhouses, where the old, infirm and unemployed will have to live because the bankorial lords need their homes to frack under.
60% of England’s once green and pleasant land will reek under the stench of gas plants, with natural habitats destroyed and health and safety a thing of the past due to ”more austerity” measures taking our money to get richer, while the poor get evicted from ever lowering priced homes, which will mostly become property of a few, mostly bankorial rulers, who will dictate the terms under which we live.
This is too important to let a dinky local council decide. We are all thankful that the democratically elected central government is using democratically constructed rules to takeover this decision. The UK needs secure, inexpensive, clean fuel, that can be extracted safely (and that is not intermittent) and shale gas is clearly the answer.
What clean natural Gas? You surely cant be thinking HVHF is clean.
How can something that depletes after the first year be called secure?
What 10s of thousands of jobs? Where did that figure come from?
I must question your grip on reality. Please don’t insult us with your comments when you clearly haven’t done any research!
It appears that Barbara has done her research as opposed to the writers of the two previous replies.
The risks to the environment cannot be dismissed. I have worked in the oil and gas industry for over forty years. In that time I’ve seen that the majority of wells have seepages outside the drill casing. In the case of onshore wells this can and has had disastrous consequences.
Perhaps the best solution is to frack in Buckinghamshire, let the PM have the effects of this so called safe and regulated industry.
From the IMF: The myth that fossil fuel is cheap.
Fossil Fuel companies are benefitting from global subsidies of 3.4 trillion per year.
Approx 10 million a minute every day.
The IMF says that is greater than the total health spending of all the world governments.
The issue will be taken out of the hands of national governments once the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is agreed and implemented between the European Union (“EU”) and the United States of America (“USA”).
The state of Quebec in Canada is being sued for $250,000,000 by a USA based fracking company following Quebec’s ban on fracking. Thanks to the USA and Canada having a so called free trade agreement the USA fracking company will use Investor State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) which is a secret non judicial mechanism with no democratic accountability to further its claim.
TTIP and ISDS will give corporations unbridled power over democratic governments.
It will enable fracking, the evisceration of the National Health Service, the import of genetically modified crops and meat produced using hormones currently banned in the EU.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“UK”) is being trussed up to be served up on a platter like a Christmas Turkey.
It’s time to take back the country from piratical corporate raiders and their lickspittle enablers lolling around the UK Parliament.