The three men (l-r), Rich Loizou, Richard Roberts and Simon Roscoe Blevins, with partners outside Cuadrilla’s fracking site at Preston New Road, 18 October 2018. Photo: Refracktion.com
The three anti-fracking campaigners released from jail by the Court of Appeal yesterday said they would continue to take direct action against fossil fuels until they saw change.
Returning to Cuadrilla’s shale gas site today, Richard Roberts, Rich Loizou and Simon Roscoe Blevins said it was time to take a stand against fossil fuels for the sake of the climate.
Soil scientist Simon Roscoe Blevins, 26, told journalists and supporters:
“Lancashire said no to fracking and that was overturned. And that’s why people are taking direct action. Not that we want to, not that we haven’t got better things to do but because we have to. And we have to do it now.”
The three men were jailed on 26 September 2018 for 15 and 16 months after being found guilty of public nuisance. They had climbed onto the cabs of lorries to slow down deliveries to the Preston New Road fracking site. The protest, in July 2017, lasted a total of 99 hours.
The men spent three weeks in prison before yesterday’s hearing, at which the Lord Chief Justice said the jail sentences were “manifestly excessive”. Their prison terms were replaced with two-year conditional discharges. (DrillOrDrop report)
Rich Loizou and Richard Roberts (with microphone), outside Cuadrilla’s fracking site at Preston New Road, 18 October 2018. Photo: Refracktion.com
Piano restorer Richard Roberts, 36, said it was time to step up the action on climate change:
“It’s not something you do on a whim. It’s because we had no other option. We learned at school in the 1990s in GCSE Geography the impact of burning fossil fuels on the world and on future generations.
“It’s been so frustrating to get to 2018 and we still don’t see concerted action from government on this. We’ve pursued democratic means, we’ve done petitions, for decades. That’s been done, and now it’s appropriate that we escalate and that we do take direct action to stop fossil fuel industries and we will continue to take action until we see change.”
He said the three had been reminded while in prison of the impacts of climate change on people across the world, through floods, famine and drought.
“That’s made us realise that what we’re going through can be tough but we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to take a stand, we’ve got to escalate, we’ve got to take this really seriously.
“Let’s see the 2020s as a serious concerted change from government, from communities, towards a sustainable future, where we don’t need the gas because we’ve insulated our homes properly and we’ve scaled up renewable energy.”
Rich Loizou outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site, 18 October 2018. Photo: Refracktion.com
Teacher Rich Loizou, 31, said the three had been helped while in prison by letters and messages of support. A rally in Preston on Saturday 6 October attracted about 500 people. He said:
“To hear there was music and demonstrations. From our cell, we could hear the drumming, we could hear the cheering. It really kept our spirits up.”
The three are thought to be the first people sent to prison in the UK for taking part in anti-fracking protests. They were also described in court yesterday as the first people sent to prison as punishment for taking part in an environmental protest since the mass trespass on Kinder Scout in 1932.
Simon Roscoe Blevins said:
“Everyone [in jail] thought it was ridiculous that we were sent to prison, which it is, because it’s the 21st century, it’s Britain, we shouldn’t be doing this. People shouldn’t be sent to prison for protest, especially when it’s necessary.”
The men’s legal team is now considering an appeal against their convictions. A complaint is being investigated by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office into the judge at their trial and sentencing. His sister had publicly supported Cuadrilla’s shale gas plans in Lancashire and shale gas in general.
The three men are expected to take part in a National Climate Crisis Rally at Preston New Road on Saturday 20 October 2018.
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Perhaps Kisheny there is another motive behind this push for turbines and solar panels? Where there is an industry, there are those who benefit by it’s expansion. We are told these investors get everywhere!
Not a big fan of solar for UK. It has it’s place but unless climate change accelerates we are in the wrong part of the world. Wind? Yes, out at sea, and integrated with a Fisheries policy to create marine “nurseries”. How do we fit forests of turbines on land when we are supposed to cover more land in trees? I prefer the trees. Besides which, too many of them and there are reports they would increase UK temperatures due to disrupting wind patterns.
And, down the road there is hydrogen and fusion. Not sure today’s alternative energy sources will be tomorrows. Governments of all shades are not good at getting these decisions correct-see Germany. I suspect the USA, ironically, will do better at this than most largely because Government are not so controlling.
Interesting article , maybe Sher should have a plan for the future disposal of their solar panels, that is after all its cadmium has been washed out of them ending up in our water system…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Hi there, I totally agree with the need for more action and I have been involved in a number of NVDA’ s re. CC I addition to which my son was born in Preston so even though I now live in Aberdeen, I would be up for getting involved!! In fact I’ll be down in Liverpool at the start of December for a gig and I would love to meet up with you all and take things from there.
2 small whales in Blackpool, http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_uk_events.html
Thanks, Paula.
A third tremor has now appeared on the BGS Earthquakes page for midnight last night.
TwoOne of the tremors is recorded as 2km down, which is roughly the depth at which Cuadrilla are fracking.The locations are all around 1.7km west of the site, so roughly in the direction of the horizontal well.
The tremors are all very small, and so will not be registered on Cuadrilla’s seismic portal.
Actually, 2 of them are recorded as 3km down, which is significantly deeper than Cuadrilla are fracking, as far as I’m aware. The 3rd one is recorded as being 2km deep.
All 3 of them are miniscule, measuring -0.2, -0.8 and -0.3 respectively. To give you an idea of what that means, -1.0 would be one thousand times smaller than a tremor that measures 2.0. A tremor of 2.0 is barely felt by humans even if they are standing on top of the epicentre.
The poor flow test results from Preese Hall came from information obtained from fracking which triggered a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. That was the world’s second largest earthquake ever recorded from fracking in shale.
The BGS state that seismicity is linked to volumes of fluid injected.
More fluid, more gas, more seismicity.
Little frack, nothing back.
After causing a 2.3 magnitude earthquake Cuadrilla asked for a 1.7 magnitude threshold. The BGS noted that figure could carry a 0.9 magnitude post event rise resulting in 2.6 magnitude.
Each 1 magnitude rise is 10 times stronger than the previous level.
If Cuadrilla need the 2.6 magnitude threshold to try to entice investment then the difference between the 2.3 magnitude already experienced and a potential 2.6 magnitude earthquake would be very substantial.
Isnt it background tremors that occur all the times?