Photo: Frack Free Lancashire
Opponents of shale gas have promised “an unprecedented month of resistance against fracking in the UK”, starting tomorrow (1 July 2017).
Called the “Rolling Resistance”, the action comes as Cuadrilla prepares to begin drilling at its shale gas site at Preston New Road, near Blackpool.
The organisers, the direct-action network, Reclaim the Power, said:
“The Rolling Resistance will see creative and disruptive actions against fracking every single working day through the month of July.”
The start of the action coincides with the launch of a community information hub near the Preston New Road site.
A spokesperson for Reclaim the Power said:
“What happens at Preston New Road is a litmus test for the future prospects of the whole fracking industry. Reclaim the Power aims to stop fracking in its tracks at this flagship site, continue to quake investor confidence in this unproven, risky industry, and support and reinforce the ongoing resistance of local people against fracking in Lancashire.”
The spokesperson said groups opposed to fracking would “deliver a month of creative actions, public demonstrations, skill-sharing, workshops, direct action training, entertainment and family-friendly activities – saying no to fracking in Lancashire, and no to fracking anywhere else in the UK.”
Previous actions by Reclaim the Power have included anti-fracking action camps in Blackpool, Balcombe and at Didcot Power station, two weeks of action targeting the fracking industry’s supply chain this April, and shutting down the UK’s largest open cast coal mine in Wales in 2016.
A spokesperson for Cuadrilla said:
“People have a right to lawful protest which we respect. That said professional activists, under instruction from London based Reclaim the Power, have a track record of both preventing Lancashire businesses carrying out their lawful work and of seriously disrupting Lancashire commuters going about their daily business.
“We hope that there won’t be a repeat performance this time and if there is that the Lancashire police and judiciary will protect business and individual rights against illegal and intimidatory protest tactics.”
- The “Rolling Resistance” is launched tomorrow (Saturday 1 July) at 12noon-4pm, Maple Farm, Preston New Road PR4 3PE, with speakers including: Dominic M’Benga, Director of 4navitas, a local renewable energy company; Mike Hill, a chartered engineer; and Councillor Miranda Cox, Kirkham Town Councillor. The event also sees the unveiling of a Community Action Hub at Maple Farm, an exhibition and information point about fracking in Lancashire and the other energy solutions.
DrillOrDrop’s diary of events in July will be published later today.
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Hey GottaBeFirst! More opposition of the 66%?
The question is why would anyone want a Fracking Zone in their neighborhood?
I cannot think of a single genuine reason!
However I know of many reasons why not!
What about you?
What do you mean by a “fracking zone” ? The surface facilities or subsurface?
Logic chopping, irrelevant.
Are people not allowed to ask for explanations of terminology that they don’t understand?
Ask away, splitting the issue into separate parts is not relevant, its the whole process above and below ground is in question. As far as i can see, the fracking zone extends to the ends of the horizontal bores and into the fractures and beyond, so separating it into different issues is irrelevant.
Surface facilities are completely different to what’s going on below ground. As the shale is at least 1500m below the surface, I’ll answer the question and say it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if someone was carrying out hydraulic fracturing below my house . First, you are not going to feel any fracturing within the shale. Second, the fractures are not going going to propagate upwards more than a few 10s of metres from the injection well. Third, if the well is successful, and the gas is extracted, there’s not going to be any compaction.
That’s clearly not true is it? Ask the people of Blackpool? Its all part of the same process, there is no logic whatsoever in isolating one aspect and saying that is the only part of the process? It doesn’t matter how deep the extent of the well is, that is not the problem, the vertical section connects to the surface and the cement bond is all that stands between all that injected and extracted chemicals and elements reaching the surface, and that does not even address the natural fissures and faults that lead to the suface, even if they are many kilometres away? As i have said before the cement is not a bond at all and is only a plug and is only measured by interpreted and self regulated electronic data in a few locations, and that only measures the bond to the casing, not the surrounds, no one can see down there in situ. Horizontal bores can extend for many kilometres and will upset all sorts of weak strata stability, and then the fracking process and extraction process itself puts al sorts of additional stress on the plug, and subsequent and nearby fracks put even more stress, and ageing and chemical deterioration, none of this is a separate issue, its all part of the same process.
There is simply no way that it can be isolated into separate elements for expediency or any other reason.
Hi Peter, sorry i did not get to you back sooner, busy day.
This is a little of my take on it all.
I Suspect that most people have been so mired in the deliberate distraction of false austerity, low pay and rising prices, social and terrorist threats, government and media fear mongering, crazy world events, and the media disinformation and censorship industry, that the reality of fracking and o$€¥£&g and many other issues generally has been kept well out of their immediate attention. Too much bread and circuses to keep people distracted.
The anti anti’s often crow that people are not interested, I suggest the deliberate disinformation and censoring mechanisms in owned media and government are rather more to blame. Young people are not so easily fooled, and many adults too, of all ages, they are not so media locked down and trawl the internet for their own information and make up their own minds. Many of us do the same, which is why there is an ongoing war against independent media and even deliberately swamping the media with 90 day wonders, that way, more important issues are sidelined and fade from the public gaze before they become a threat. The whole fake news and demonetisation of alternative youtube blogs and the preponderance of troll bots are just some aspects of that.
People are waking up however, and 450+ people at Lytham shows that many more want to know than the anti anti’s would want to have us believe, and the 66% that dont want tracking near them proves it. That is just the beginning, the more people who understand that, soon realise, they don’t want tracking and associated o$€¥£&g anywhere and the truth finally dawns that it doesn’t matter how far away the industry is from them, horizontal extraction methods, will sooner or later get to them and everyone will get hurt.
People have relatives all over the country, and will wish to protect them too.
Perhaps sooner or later, everyone who cares for anyone will oppose this industry, or at the very least, demand very strict independent properly funded and staffed regulatory controls and regulations with real teeth,and a mandate to do just that with support from government (probably not this one). The days of self regulation are ending, then perhaps we will begin to see those infamous gold standard regulations operated as a reality, not a sick joke.
Sorry a bit long, but worth saying.
peter roberts, I don’t want a fracking site next to my home either, but one exists and I can tell you that we don’t notice it.
No one would wish to have a drill pad near their home. Just as no one wants a highway near their home. No one wants train tracks near their home, or power plants, or heavy manufacturing operations, water treatment plants, or high voltage electric lines. But guess what? Yeah, you got it. Society isn’t going to function too well without these things if everyone says that they cannot exist.
This is why some projects are pursued for the national interest. That’s one of the jobs of democracy – putting the interests of the whole first, trying to maximize the “greater good.”
So, this is straw man argument to say that people don’t want fracking operations near their homes. We shouldn’t expect them to. We know for a fact that people DO want all of the good things that come from domestic gas – from reduced co2 emissions, to plentiful and inexpensive fuel sources, to inexpensive electricity and heating, jobs, wealth, and a more independent foreign policy.
There will be financial inducements (bribes in other words) for land owners with any influence who may be affected. The govt is adjusting the law to allow for direct payments.
I understand the NIMBY’s but they are just going to have to understand they cannot stop this, they will not prevent exploration. And if exploration proves positive for more feasibility studies then that’s what will happen. I would suggest just let the test wells go ahead, who knows maybe it will prove not viable. The anti’s must really believe it’s going to prove positive hence the step up in activity.
Plenty of money to see through our operations, it is merely a matter of following a process.
There is always something amusing about MUPPET’s perhaps its the thought of where the operator has his arm?
As for RTP, that organisation is being watched closely by the authorities including their funding sources, I would suggest no one that is not associated with them already does not get involved now. Keep protesting by all means but just do it your own way and prevent your name for appearing on a list.
We have lists too GottaLittleList,
This is our song.
With deepest apologies to
Gilbert and Sullivan: The Mikado
“As Some Day It May! Happen”
As some day it may happen that a fracker must be found
We’ve got a little list – We’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed – who never would be missed!
There’s the pestilential nuisances who write such monographs
All people who have dirty hands and irritating laughs
All frackers who are down in hates, we wipe the floor with ’em flat
All persons who in shaking lands, take woodlands and make them flat
And all third persons who on spoiling tête-à-têtes insist
They’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed!
We’ve got ’em on the list – we’ve got ’em on the list
And they’ll none of ’em be missed – they’ll none of ’em be missed
There’s the mob show infiltrator, and the others of their case
And the hydroflouric acid pest – We’ve got him on the list!
And their massive carbon footprint behest and stuff it in your face
They never would be missed – they never would be missed!
Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone
All treacheries but his, and frack every country and his own
And the lady from the government, who is soon to go bye bye
And who “doesn’t like the chances, and probably would lie”
And that singular anomaly, the crazy capitalist
I don’t think they’d be missed – I’m sure they’d not he missed!
We’ve got them on the list – we’ve got them on the list
And I don’t think they’ll be missed – I’m sure they’ll not be missed!
And that extremely biased nuisance, who just now is rather rife
That prejudicial humorist – we’ve got him on the list!
All funny fellows, comic men, and clowns of fracking life
They’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed
And apologetic statesmen of a compromising kind
Such as – What d’ye call him – Thing’em-bob, and likewise – Never-mind
And ‘Bo- ‘bo- ‘ris- and What’s-his-name, and also You-know-who
The task of filling up the blanks I’d rather leave to you
But it really doesn’t matter whom you put upon the list
For they’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed!
You may put ’em on the list – you may put ’em on the list
And they’ll none of ’em be missed – they’ll none of ’em be missed!
GBK. Cheer up. To me this sounds more like a welcoming party (they have music dj) for the arrival of the drilling rig. So they are celebrating the program not protesting against. Well I meant if they dont block the traffic that is.
I am happy TW I have had a good day. I am all for legal protesting, not sure people should maybe spend too much time on it though as it will only depress them when they realise it is not actually preventing what they are campaigning for. We have heard their voices loud and clear but what they are being misled with is the fiction that more awareness about fracking will somehow create a national wave of anti fracking. People that have any interest in the matter are clearly not as against it as we are constantly led to believe by the antis, in fact the majority of people are either pro or simply want to see what happens. Campaigners will always have a disproportionate voice in relation to their size as is the case here.
I have heard the type of music they play and it isn’t my cup of tea, sorry. Won’t be attending.
[Edited by moderator] Maybe we should give them a break because if they dont protest against something what are they going to do with themselves for the rest of their lives? [Edited by moderator]
Make a better world for our children?
Perhaps all you protestors should spend your valuable time doing something useful – try and stop this which is a much bigger issue than a few shale gas test wells:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/30/europes-contribution-to-deforestation-set-to-rise-despite-pledge-to-halt-it
Perhaps all you oilers and gassers ought to join us protesters and we ought to spend our combined valuable time and actually do something really useful together? The one you suggest is one, Fukushima is another, inequality, wars, starvation and disease, there is an endless list, apart we can do a little, together we can achieve a lot.
Why single out one group? Its all our responsibility, politicians wont do it, too busy pocketing the cash to care about anything really important!