Preston New Road site 13 October 2018 Photo: DrillOrDrop
Cuadrilla confirmed this morning it had postponed the start of fracking at its Preston New Road site near Blackpool until Monday.
A company spokesperson said:
“Due to weather conditions yesterday and this morning we will now start pumping on Monday. In high winds we couldn’t use the crane to manoeuvre some equipment into place.”
Today’s start for the first high volume hydraulic fracture in the UK since 2011 had been announced by Cuadrilla yesterday after the lifting of a High Court injunction.
This morning journalists and anti-fracking campaigners gathered outside the site on Preston New Road at Little Plumpton.
Craig Bennett at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site, 13 October 2018. Photo: DrillOrDrop
Friends of the Earth chief executive, Craig Bennett, who was at the site this morning, said:
“If a bit of Lancashire weather can stop fracking it raises questions about the suitability of this site. The wind may delay fracking but it won’t blow away the protesters.”
Opponents of the process said they would be back on Monday to mark the start of fracking at the site. This will be the first UK frack of a horizontal shale gas well. The most recent high volume fracturing – also carried out by Cuadrilla in Lancashire – was linked to small earthquakes.
Under the terms of the planning permission, fracking can be carried out at Preston New Road from 8am-9pm Monday-Friday and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
Cuadrilla is due to carry out about 45 separate fracks on the first horizontal well. Each frack takes about 90 minutes.
Fence at Preston New Road site 13 October 2018 Photo: DrillOrDrop
Protestors at Preston New Road site 13 October 2018 Photo: DrillOrDrop
“Fight goes on”
Anti-fracking campaigners said they would continue the fight against fracking at Preston New Road, despite losing a legal challenge at the High Court this week.
Retired businessman, Bob Dennett, had sought an injunction against fracking after arguing that emergency plans for the Preston New Road site were not adequate to protect local people in an incident.
The injunction was not extended and Mr Dennett was refused permission for a judicial review of Lancashire County Council’s emergency planning. But he said yesterday he would seek to challenge two points in the ruling at the Court of Appeal. DrillOrDrop report
The anti-fracking campaigner, Dame Vivienne Westwood, and her son, Joe Corre, are expected to visit people at the site entrance at about 12 noon on Tuesday 16 October 2018.
Reporting from outside Preston New Road this morning was made possible by donations from individual DrillOrDrop readers
Categories: Industry
DRILL OR DROP? 
Wonderful peaceful direct action by Mother Earth caused another £90k loss to Cuadrillas investors!
Plus another £90k loss on Sunday!
Then who knows how much next week when the real human environment protectors turn up at Preston New Road ?
Basically the filthy frackers are screwed along with their equally filthy facilitators at Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Constabulary.
Cuadrilla haven’t turned one pound in Lancashire and never will!
Won’t be belong before their investors wise up and move on!
Peter, [edited y moderator] You’ll soon see your rag tag army are no match to us normal people [edited by moderator]
the lack of drilling makes work for idle hands…….
you should be in bed; you have work on Monday….
Well there was 4 protestors at the PNR site yesterday…
Rather more than that which simply proves how little you actually know about the local area Kisheny. I know because I was one of them 😂
My partner drove past and saw four at most in their hut… Where do you live reflection???
Ruth was at Preston New Road in the morning, when fracking was a possibility, and estimates that there were more than 30 protestors between 0830 and 1130.
Thank you Paul .
I guess that’s the difference between a diligent reporter who gets off her backside to research and somebody who is just [edited by moderator] on a comments board with no evidence to back up their snarky post.
Right on reflection…
Burn fossil fuel to demonstrate their hate for errr… Fossil fuel…
They obviously soon drove off or walked or got on their bike… Hmmmm…
Didn’t stick around long back to their nice warm gas central heated houses then…
Paul the poster/moderator???
Keep up – there has been protest at the gates every hour Cuadrilla the gates are in operation. When they go away so do we.
NASA climate scientist , Professor James Hansen
FRACKING …… Is the world’s WORST fossil fuel
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/13/top-climate-scientist-james-hansen-attacks-uk-fracking-plans
NASA climate scientist , Professor James Hansen
RE- above link
Writes to Claire Perry warning her that the decision to allow Fracking to get going in the UK was a serious policy error that would contribute to ” CLIMATE BREAKDOWN “
NASA climate scientist , Professor James Hansen
RE- above link
WARNING letter to Minister Claire Perry.
ONLY 12 years left to avoid catastrophic Climate Change .
WARNED….. Minister Ms Perry , that young people could inherit an environment “out of their control” if fracking was pursued.
Well, Peter, I thought Cuadrilla were only allowed to frack 9-1 on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays. Therefore I suggest, once again, you may be too excited but hardly accurate.
I suspect the Cuadrilla investors may be less excited but a bit wiser.
Martin, I think Cuadrilla expect to frack any time they want and will have told their investors that when promising golden standard returns!
However although they seem to me to be able to get whatever they want from Lancashire County Council, the environment agency and the English government they were unable to get the English weather to comply!
I’m hopeful that this will continue to be the case!
Yes, Pauline, a shame that the news is telling those without the blinkers that 3 people have lost their lives because of Storm Callum, apart from flights being cancelled. Or, is that just a figure of speech?
(Ref. figures of speech, have you heard about a sense of humour?)
Meanwhile you wish to sneer at Cuadrilla for following good practice, but you also want to claim they are running a dangerous operation, as lorry tyres need washing! I can tell you who is achieving the good PR, and it is not the antis. But then, as this site shows, many antis have given up trying to convert the majority to their way of thinking and only wish to maintain some excitement amongst themselves with increasingly ludicrous, fake news messages.
Storm Callum, Hurricane Michael and all the other climate related catastrophes the earth is suffering are precisely the reason why so many are turning against fossil fuels. As for sneering. That’s your speciality.
It is typical of those who specialise in virtue signalling such as that we see here Pauline, as usual they are many times more guilty of their own accusations towards any others not of their own ilk.
No Care….or Claire…in the Community for them, they are just following Gallopin’ Perry until she collapses of her own industry generated climate change “act of god” storm and show not one iota of any concern other than to try to use the deaths of people outside their own safe profitable protected razor wire fences for cynical political point scoring.
An act of god cant be legislated for, unless it is to ensure that emergency procedures are in place to protect everyone in the country, not just a miserly greedy self serving few behind massively overprotected elitism razor wire fences and boardroom doors. and we see what happens when that subject raises itself above the parapet.
What can be legislated for is acts of man, and the fact that this industry and government have sought to absolve themselves of any wider responsibility for safety to the tax payer, is just another example of how this country has become a selfish corporate dictatorship who see only other people as being subject to the law, not themselves.
And then we see that they just smugly award themselves get out of jail free cards at every screwed up twist and turn of events and their crowing acolytes snigger about it at every opportunity, even using the deaths of people to try to score their “life is cheap” throw away points, as we have seen here.
If we didnt know what all this really was about before, we do now.
They have shown us that it is us they want behind their razor wire fences, this is just the prologue.
I suggest Peter you look at the terms of the planning permission.
Sorry, when you continue to post fake news and the real information is available and detailed by Ruth, it shows desperation.
So, Pauline, if Storm Callum is a climate related catastrophe, why would there be any merit in Cuadrilla starting fracking during such? DYOR-quite easy to see that the responsible part of oil and gas industries world wide try and adjust their operations for such storms forecast.
Gold standard.
MARTIN ,
Considering you ALWAYS have so much to say . DID YOU MISS THIS ??????
NASA climate scientist , Professor James Hansen
FRACKING …… Is the world’s WORST fossil fuel
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/13/top-climate-scientist-james-hansen-attacks-uk-fracking-plans
WHAT ABOUT THIS MARTIN ?????
NASA climate scientist , Professor James Hansen
RE- above link
Writes to Claire Perry warning her that the decision to allow Fracking to get going in the UK was a serious policy error that would contribute to ” CLIMATE BREAKDOWN “
MARTIN ,
ARE YOU PLAYING the children’s playground game of pretending that you can not see the great BIG Elephant in the room ???
This is a very serious warning from a very well respected scientist .
What do YOU have to say ???
MARTIN,
I’m posting the ” real information ”
The people living close to the Cuadrilla PNR site may be more concerned about this , than small aspects of the deck chair ” planning permission ” ( arrangement ) aboard the great ship, Frack Titanic.
The Harms of Fracking’: New Report Details Increased Risks of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-harms-of-fracking-new-report-details-increased-risks-of-asthma-birth-defects-and-cancer-126996/
How concerned are you about this ???
Storm Callum? You are joking. This is normal UK weather but given a name so suddenly it is due to climate change? Build on flood planes = flooding.
This is just the beginning. The point is that extreme weather events will be more frequent and much worse. We’re just narrowly escaping this hurricane: http://portugalresident.com/hurricane-ophelia-“could-hit-portuguese-coast-by-weekend”. In case you don’t know Europe normally doesn’t suffer from hurricanes. The Atlantic has been producing many more of them recently, which isn’t normal.
Keep burying your head in the sand and denying the reality of what climate scientists have predicted since the 1970s. If Texas oil refineries have the audacity to ask their government for funds to protect them from climate change, it won’t be long before Cuadrilla et al will ask our government for more taxpayers money to protect them from what they cause, oh the irony! No doubt Perry will be malleable and compliant to all their demands. Utter swivel-eyed lunacy.
Martin, please understand that the terms of planning permission have been proven to be nothing but moveable goalposts!
Traffic management plan:
‘Curfew on overnight hgv delivery’ removed after 60 breaches in just 2 hours to get the original drilling rig onto site!
‘No right turn into site’ removed at Cuadrilla’s request.
Flaring:
Duration of flaring extended at Cuadrilla’s request.
Wheel wash facility;
No longer required reduced to a domestic power washer or two.
Accordingly as it will mean more fracking quicker I fully expect that the fracking process curfew will be removed at Cuadrilla’s request in due course!
I also expect Cuadrilla to sell their PEDL on asap because actual full scale production, at many sites around the Fylde, will never actually happen for logistical and Environmental reasons. And was never going to!
MARTIN,
Taken from the above link
After the assessment of 1200 PEER REVIEWED articles, the study finds that fracking – shooting chemical-laden fluid into deep rock layers to release oil and gas – is poisoning the air, contaminating the water and imperiling the health of Americans across the country.
“Fracking is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” says Dr. Sandra Steingraber.
What do you have to say about this ??
MARTIN , taken from the above link
” FIRE RISKS ” at Fracking sites .
What FIRE CHIEFS say.
QUOTE, Fracking sites have caught fire – others have exploded, as happened last month in Belmont County, Ohio – torching chemicals whose dangerous components local fire chiefs may be surprised to learn are an industry secret
What about this ??
MARTIN ,
Look and Learn
SEE how this Fracking nightmare could unfold over here
A COLOSSAL FRACKING MESS
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/06/fracking-in-pennsylvania-201006
What are your thoughts on this unfolding nightmare in the USA ??
Jack
I appreciate you asked Martin but this question sticks out
In the uk you need to tell the fire brigade what you have on site.
There is no exemption for frack fluid.
Now…. that does not mean you send them a copy of your list of onsite chemicals each time one is added.
They will know what the main risks are ( as you meet them from time to time ), and update them if anything really different turns up.
Plus your very own Site ER plan will relate to what you have.
Then when they turn up, you meet them and brief them. You do not want them just charging on and making things worse rather than better and also putting themselves in harms way.
For a well Site it should be relatively simple, but for a distribution warehouse, that is a large register. Or maybe a large storage site with no one in attendance?
Google … large fire at walesby … to see a large smoky fire, storage site, not well known contents, residents told to stay indoors, close windows and so on. The fire burned for weeks and we thoroughly enjoyed the smell 5 miles away when downwind.
Worse than a frack Site fire, I think so. Well reported? Nope.
HEWES62,
Re-On-site, UK Fire Regulations.
I take note of the points you make
Any pro frackers, please answer these questions. Where is the water coming from to facilitate the fracking? Where is the toxic waste going to? What happens when the concrete sleeve on the drill hole cracks and the unknown highly toxic chemicals leach into the aquifers poisoning the water FOREVER?
Kevin
I suspect you have an opinion on the answers but here goes….
1. United utilities…the local water company. See their website which says exactly where the water comes from.
2. Don’t know, but can ask. There are a number of sites permitted to take the flowback but Cuadrilla have to analyse it and say what is in it prior to sending it ( and tjevsite agreeing to take it ). The good news is is that we will know soon enough.
Questions 3 and 4 are a bit difficult as you have assumed failure of the well bore cementing.
However, for the concrete sleeve on the drill hole …. there are a number of old wells in Nottinghamshire where the concrete surrounding the well has cracked ( due to age or on the removal of the pump.). So far nothing is hapenning, other than some cracked concrete is developing a fine covering of moss ( although I suspect you refer to a failure of the well bore cement ).
In which case ….whoch unknown toxic chemicals do you refer to. In the UK the chemicals have to be listed, and I would refer you to the various information on frack fluid make up on the web.
Or we can say, there will be no release of unknown toxic chemicals.
I would say Jack, that a NASA scientist should have better things to do than lecture the UK on policy. Obama liked to do the same, and it rebounded badly.
If this scientist is unable to persuade the authorities in the USA, he should not think that the UK will be a more fertile field for his comments. I hope Claire suggests the same to him as she did to Carswell. (No, I will not supply a link. If you are that interested in the UK you can DYOR.)
And when you quote 2010 (even before your Dead Sea Scrolls) as “unfolding” it is absolute twaddle.
You may not have observed in the UK we have solar panels and wind turbines catching fire. Selective, or not that aware of UK news? Actually, both, and we know why.
In summary, desperate nonsense.
MARTIN, you say ” desperate nonsense ”
Are you having a laugh with that abysmal response ???
Ladies and Gentlemen , please look closely at what I have posted above and then read MARTINS response .
MARTIN are you by any chance on an equal par to this world leading Climate Scientist ????
James Edward Hansen
March 29, 1941 (age 77)
Denison, Iowa, U.S.
ALMA MATTER
University of Iowa
KNOWN FOR
Radiative transfer[1]
Planetary atmospheres[2]
Climate models[3]
AWARDS
Klopsteg Memorial Award (2011)
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2016)
SCIENTIFIC CAREER FIELDS
Atmospheric physics
Institutions
Currently Columbia University. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies 1967-2013
THESIS
The atmosphere of Venus : a dust insulation model (1967)
DOCTORAL ADVISOR
Satoshi Matsushima
WELL MARTIN ARE YOU MARTIN ?????
You make make wide and sweeping statements in your above post… Let’s see what you back it up with Will it be the usual SWEET NOTHING.
MARTIN ,
You say , quote, ” If this scientist is unable to persuade the authorities in the USA, he should not think that the UK will be a more fertile field for his comments.”
SIMPLE ANSWER,
It’s known by ALL life forms from the common garden earthworm up, that the Fracking Industry already has its tentacles buried deep in to the PRO-Fracking American government.
Who in its subservient way to appease the Fracking Industry has adopted a policy of, See No Evil , Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil against the industry .
Do YOU want me to present the evidence that backs up this ????? Although I have already done this many times before , I’m happy to cut and paste the same links again .
[Typo corrected at poster’s request 🙂 ]
JTL, you should ask him directly if he’s a climate change denier. If he is, then he really isn’t worth the bother, it’s time wasting. It’s like trying to explain to flat-earthers that the Earth is actually shaped like a sphere.
DestroyPowerNotPeople .
Point taken.
Are you a Climate Change denier MARTIN ??
You mean those pesky Democrats who got the whole ball rolling, Jack? Shocking. Lock her up!
[Edited by moderator]
Devastated you haven’t read what I said on two or three previous occasions.
Saw an interesting quote a few days ago Jack, basically that those who get their knowledge from Giggle are not knowledgeable. Sorry for that devastating piece of information.
MARTIN
[Edited by moderator]
Once again I will ask this simple, straight forward question , are you a Climate Change denier ???
Moving on, WHO HAS LOST ?????
It’s certainlynot me .
Ladies and gentleman , please may I have your attention … I ASK YOU ALL to please read over MARTIN’S and JACKTHELADS posts on this page .
You will note how MARTIN goes extremely quiet on many topics that are put to him and you will also note how he NEVER backs up anything he says with any evidence , EVER .
Basically what MARTIN only ever gives is HIS opinion , nothing more
MARTIN , are you going for SILLY COMMENT OF THE YEAR AWARD with, quote, ” Saw an interesting quote a few days ago Jack, basically that those who get their knowledge from Giggle are not knowledgeable. Sorry for that devastating piece of information.”
PLEASE BACK UP that laughter making comment with some proof/evidence ……. Or is it just a made up silly thought you had ????
Any deniers of damage done to people’s health and the environment by fracking in mature locations please refer to the List of the Harmed from North America, a 200 plus page report, regularly updated, each page with several incidents each incident with multiple victims.
Although the fracking at Preston New Road is currently short horizontal with matching low power the resulting lost contaminated fluids will even now be leaking into our water table.
Thanks to Cuadrilla and Schlumberger for that! Hope they both carry substantial amounts of Third Party Liability insurance!