Protest outside Cuadrlila’s Preston New Road site, 15 March 2018. Photo: Reclaim the Power
Campaigners used two scaffolding tripods to block the entrance to Cuadrilla’s shale gas site near Blackpool this morning.
The action, which began at about 4.30am, was by members of the national group, Reclaim the Power, which coordinated a month of protests outside the site last summer.
Two people from Oxfordshire were suspended on harnesses from the tripods, while others were photographed carrying banners reading “Until We Win”, Not Here, Not Anywhere”, and “Keep it in the ground”.
Fylde Police said it had established a contraflow on the A583 outside the site and delays were expected throughout the day.
Fylde Police Facebook post, 15 March 2018
One of the campaigners, Louise Simpson, said:
“Fracking gas here in Lancashire or anywhere will only worsen the climate crisis at a time when we know all fossil fuels must stay in the ground. RTP will be here until fracking is no more.”
“Impacted communities – mostly poor, predominately in the Global South – are already enduring the effects of climate change from flooding, to drought, to more frequent and severe extreme weather events, leading to food insecurity and forced displacement.
“It is our responsibility to say ‘no’ to all new fossil fuels, as the local community here in Lancashire have done, and take direct action to ensure that ‘no’ is followed through.”
Henry Belcher, another member of the blockade, said,
“We take this action as a last resort, in solidarity with communities leading the resistance to fracking and wider fossil fuel extraction locally and globally.
“From fracking in Lancashire, to oil pipelines across North America, and coal mining from Colombia to Vietnam, local communities are saying ‘no’ to new fossil fuel infrastructure, but are systematically ignored by the fossil fuel industry, banks and governments who use violence to repress them.”
“Communities most proximate to fossil fuel extraction deserve a democratic say over how their land is used and how their energy is produced. There will be no climate justice without land rights and energy democracy. No climate justice without Indigenous sovereignty. No climate justice without global solidarity.”
Protest outside Cuadrilla’s shale gas site, 15 March 2018. Photo: Reclaim the Power
Reclaim the Power is organising a national demonstration outside the Preston New Road on tomorrow (16 InMarch 2018).
The group said its Jig at the Rig event, from 8am- 6pm, was expected to attract hundreds of people.
Cuadrilla is currently drilling two horizontal wells at Preston New Road and is expected to begin fracking in the summer.
Cuadrilla reaction
In a statement, Francis Egan, Chief Executive of Cuadrilla, said:
“We are aware that Reclaim The Power are holding a series of events tomorrow to protest outside our shale gas exploration site at Preston New Road. We hope that, unlike previous occasions, those involved behave responsibly and ensure that local residents and commuters are not inconvenienced by any road blockages and unlawful behaviour. Last July Reclaim The Power’s campaign caused lengthy road blockages which severely hampered local traffic, diverted significant police resource to keep the highways safe and resulted in nearly 100 activists being arrested, the majority coming from outside the county. We respect the right to lawful protest and ask Reclaim The Power to adhere to this and respect the right for local people, including our own employees and contractors, to go about their daily business without any hindrance.”
Arrests
Lancashire Police said there were six arrests outside Preston New Road last month (February 2018), mainly for allegations of obstruction and public order offences. The total number of arrests since protests began in January 2017 now stands at 337. Of these 312 resulted in charges. There is no data on the number of prosecutions or convictions.
Lancashire Police said the total cost of policing the protests from January 2017-February 2018 was £6.58m
Categories: protest
DRILL OR DROP? 
Climate protesters..don’t make me laugh.like saying animal lovers then releasing thousands of mink into the countryside to reek havoc on our wild life.wonder how many of these groups are Russian sponsored.
zzzz 😴😴😴
Ian undermines his own viewpoint by using absurd and false metaphor and zero-evidence suggestion. Must have had difficulty finding an evidence-backed argument against climate campaigners.
Could xenophobic comments such as Ian’s please be removed.
Honestly you guys, keep playing the Russian boogie woogie man card too often and the freshly printed ink will rub off and the we can all see official tory party propaganda logo printed upside down underneath?
Since you wish to play the “who pays the fearyman” card, then we could also ask, who pays for such crass anti protest pathetic propaganda?
Is this former NATO boss and ex-Danish PM also part of the Tory Party Propoganda Machine?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/19/russia-secretly-working-with-environmentalists-to-oppose-fracking
Are you?
Well this is revealing isnt it?
Here is Ian R Cranes video today which addresses such issues and perhaps hints that this has much wider implications than we have been led to understand?
( https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-lbcastemail&v=SL0t9jmdbkU )
Because of the seriousness of all this fear mongering and fear porn, and conspiracy theory being spread like natural gas derived fertiliser around the complicit media at the moment, perhaps it is inappropriate to say enjoy, instead I would say, stay informed about what wider agendas are being promoted here and beware of over simplistic knee jerk reactions to events from professional knee jerkers?
‘Andrew Pendleton, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, added: “Perhaps the Russians are worried about our huge wind and solar potential and have infiltrated the UK government?” ‘
I fell over and grazed my knee yesterday. It’s been said that a number of politicians and other senior figures swear blind they saw President Putin push me.
Should I believe what they say Jeff, Ian and Martin ?????
I’m sorry gents , this is the wrong platform to play the , blame Russia game , you see , people on this forum are generally more well educated and they live in the real world …
For a more receptive audience , may I suggest you confine such posts on the big bad Russian boggyman to the Houses Of Parliment webpage, there you will find a number of other people happy to fan the flames of world war three.
As with all serious incidents and accusations , I will wait for the conclusive, undinable evidence before passing judgement .
( Let’s not forget Iraq and WMD )
I doubt Russia would bother since we only get 1% of our gas from Russia. Of course you Backer Frackers know that quite well but the words “Gas” and Russians” is sure to push someone’s buttons.
‘to keep the highways safe’ very funny Cuadrilla who wants to trundle down narrow country lanes with HGVs and send 1,000s of trucks with radioactive and hazardous waste unnecessarily across the country!
Welcome back to PNR RTP – you’re doing a great job.
Well done Reclaim the Power and the young people who are fighting for their future!
An industry being repeatedly pummelled by communities and groups working together to protect our health and environment from a new dirty fossil fuel for which we have no need.
‘Until we win’
Great job reclaim the power
That means each arrest cost about £1.1m
Actually it doesn’t gleble. Back to school.
More interesting that Cuadrilla have yet to apply for an injunction. Doesn’t look as if these souls are causing too much inconvenience. Try a bit harder-then your activities will adjust the position at PNR as it has elsewhere.
Any industry which has to use injunctions against the public’s use of legal, peaceful protest is admitting that it has failed to gain any social licence and will never be sustainable long term.
if they stopped the drilling, the police wouldn’t have to spend money in patrolling protests! ah… isn’t that logical?
Updated evidence for UKOG to use in court on Monday. Well done RTP.
While Russia may want to deal with their ex-spies in their own underhanded ways the anti-frack infiltration is absurd for various reasons not least because shortages could drive the UK more towards North American supplies and/or alternative European and Nth Sea pipelines which are …er… in the pipeline. They’d be better off encouraging UK shale development knowing it’s going to extend our mindset of FF dependency – then their cheaper, less environmentally damaging gas would look more and more attractive. If you really want to bother there Russians by way of energy independence then go all out for renewables.
The circus is coming to town once again.
There are a lot of industries without a social licence Pauline. No need to get excited about this one, especially when two thirds of those questioned were not against it.
So, less than one third, and declining, decides? No chance.
lets put this puppy to bed right now, two thirds weren’t implicitly for it either Martin. In fact 16% were in support, but don’t let facts get in the way of a good rant.
Martin always claims ‘s all the “undecided” are on his side. It’s a strange kind of logic.
SSDD Martin, nothing to see here, move on…..
Maths 101
Here is your starter again for 10
32% are against fracking – twice as many as support
16% are in support
53 % don’t know
In the general election 29% voted Conservative. 31% did not vote at all (don’t know).
To accept a minority [of just 29% of eligible voters] government’s support for a clearly questionable industry is just insane!
https://drillordrop.com/2018/02/01/small-rise-in-support-for-fracking-latest-government-survey/