In this week’s listings:
- A community group and a campaigner taken on the Communities Secretary in the High Court over permission for fracking at Preston New Road, Lancashire
- Final day for comments on the minerals plan for West Sussex and the South Downs National Park
- Parliamentary meeting on the case for shale gas
Plus training, film screening, meetings and information events.
Please let us know (click here) if any of these details are incorrect or if other events should be included. Events listing for the rest of March and beyond here
Monday 13 March 2017
Closing date for comments in final consultation on West Sussex and South Downs National Park joint minerals and waste plan. Details and links
Expected publication of recommendation of planning officers on IGas application for a shale gas well at Tinker Lane, north Nottinghamshire. Link to council website
Tuesday 14 March 2017
All Party Parliamentary Group on unconventional oil and gas meeting The Case for Shale Gas, with Gareth Redmond-King, WWF-UK and Ken Cronin, UK Onshore Oil and Gas, 10am-11am, Houses of Parliament (by invitation)
Wednesday 15 March 2017
First day of two statutory challenges by Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman against the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, to grant planning permission to Cuadrilla to drill, frack and test up to four shale gas wells at Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire. 9.30am, the High Court, Manchester Civil Justice Centre, 1 Bridge Street, Manchester M60 9DJ.
High Court support for statutory challenge in Manchester (see above). Details
Frack Free Ashfield film screening and introduction to fracking presentation, 7pm-8.30pm, Triple S Snooker and Social Club, Mansfield Road, Skegby, Nottinghamshire NG17 3ED.
Frack Free North Somerset open meeting, 7.30pm-10.30pm, The Bristol Hotel, 29 Locking Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 3BZ. Details
Public meeting by Frack Free Formby to discuss plans by Aurora Energy Resources to drill for shale gas in the former Formby Oilfield. 7.30pm, Cricket Club, Cricket Path, Formby, Liverpool L37 7DP. Details
Thursday 16 March 2017
Day two of two statutory challenges by Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman against the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, to grant planning permission to Cuadrilla to drill, frack and test up to four shale gas wells at Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire. 9.30am, the High Court, Manchester Civil Justice Centre, 1 Bridge Street, Manchester M60 9DJ.
Scheduled date for hearing for case against Peter Yankowski, a photojournalist arrested during a slow-walking protest of vehicles from A E Yates in Bolton. Manchester Magistrates Court, Crown Square, Manchester M60 1PR
Friday 17 March 2017
Friday against Fracking, protest outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site, Little Plumpton, nr Blackpool, PR4 3PH. Details
Day three of two statutory challenges by Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman against the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, to grant planning permission to Cuadrilla to drill, frack and test up to four shale gas wells at Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire. 9.30am, the High Court, Manchester Civil Justice Centre, 1 Bridge Street, Manchester M60 9DJ.
Closing date for consultation by Natural England on whether to confirm the West Pennine Moors as a SSSI. Confirmation would help prevent fracking from the surface of the area. Link to consultation
Frack Free York Benefit Extravaganza, 7.30pm-11.30pm, The Fulford Arms, 121 Fulford Road, York YO10 4EX. Details
Saturday 18 March 2017
Frack Free South Yorkshire fracking awareness stall and petition, 10am-1pm, Clock Corner, Baxter Gate, Doncaster. Details
Weekly Saturday gathering about Broadford Bridge well, 2pm-4pm, next to the Blacksmith’s Arms, corner of Aversane Lane, nr Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 9JH
Sunday 19 March 2017
Legal training day by Green & Black Cross and the Network for Police Monitoring, covering stop and search, arrested procedures and injunctions, 12 noon-6pm, Kirby Misperton Village Hall, Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire YO17 6XW. Details
Categories: Diary, Uncategorized
DRILL OR DROP? 
This week a review of recent carbon emission data by the IEA..
“The biggest drop (in carbon emissions) came from the United States, where carbon dioxide emissions fell 3%, or 160 million tonnes, while the economy grew by 1.6%. The decline was driven by a surge in shale gas supplies and more attractive renewable power that displaced coal. Emissions in the United States last year were at their lowest level since 1992, a period during which the economy grew by 80%.”
Sorry I’ve got to shout this “IN THE USA, LOWEST EMISSIONS SINCE 1992, BUT GDP UP 80%”
It is clear that on the other side of the world, in China, the political imperative to reduce air pollution will similarly displace coal, so it is possible that we are on the road to at least stabilising CO2, levels, perhaps faster than anticipated assuming India can be persuaded to follow the trend.
Study by McGlade & Ekins in Nature reported by the Independent…
“It may be that some UK shale gas resources are economically viable. We don’t know that and we won’t know that until we drill a lot more well than we currently have drilled,” said Professor Paul Ekins, director of the UCL Institute fro Sustainable Resources.
“If they turn out to be economically viable then the model would suggest that we use them and provided the local environmental impacts can be made acceptable then I would also say we should use them,” Professor Ekins said.
“But the caveat then is what fossil fuels should we not be using from somewhere else if we are going to stay within the carbon budget? That is a question that is not often asked,”
I would have thought the answer was obvious…firstly coal, secondly imported LNG.