Investigative journalist and environmental writer. Specialising in UK onshore oil and gas, fracking and the reaction to it.
More people would prefer a windfarm than a fracking plant if they had to choose which was built in their local area, according to the pollng organisation Survation. In a study for yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, Survation found that 68.1% of people would choose a windfarm, compared with […]
The National Trust is fending off protests about comments made by its Director General, Dame Helen Ghosh, in today’s Times that the organisation was keeping an open mind on fracking but was unlikely to allow wind farms on its land. Up to 3pm today, the Trust had sent […]
Widespread fracking could encourage people to support alternatives to fossil fuels, the director of Gasland 2 told a screening of the documentary in Lewes, Sussex, last night (23/10/13). Josh Fox said: “The way to get the world off fossil fuels is the number of places they want to […]
George Osborne says he doesn’t want Britain to be left on the sidelines over fracking because protestors fear it will harm the environment. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Chancellor told a Thomson Reuters event in London “Of course there are proper environmental regulations there to protect local communities, […]
Campaigners against Cuadrilla’s exploration for oil at Balcombe came to Lewes for the first grassroots screening in the UK of the anti-fracking film Gasland 2. The event, also attended by the film’s director Josh Fox and producer Deborah Wallace, packed Lewes Town Hall last night (22/10/13). On-shore oil […]
Balcombe Parish Council has posted a video of the first part of a meeting between villagers and the Environment Agency which discussed regulation at Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site. About 270 people attended the meeting, on October 9th, with more listening outside. At the meeting, the Environment Agency confirmed […]
One of the criticisms of hydraulic fracturing is that it uses large volumes of water. But how much is large? That’s not easy question to answer. Firstly, the volumes are expressed variously in imperial and US gallons, cubic metres and litres. Sometimes the figure is quoted is per […]
Balcombe Parish Council has delayed its village ballot on attitudes to oil exploration in the village because Cuadrilla’s latest planning application needs revision. West Sussex County Council has reported that Cuadrilla has not provided information needed to validate the application to test oil flow rates at its exploration […]
Dates for 12 more trials were set today for campaigners arrested in the summer’s anti-fracking protests outside the Cuadrilla oil exploration site at Balcombe. The MP Caroline Lucas and four other protestors will stand trial at Brighton Magistrates on March 24th next year, charged with obstructing the highway […]
Six anti-fracking protestors who locked themselves to a fire engine outside Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe became the first people to be convicted following this summer’s protests. But a district judge at Crawley Magistrates Court today accepted they were acting according to their beliefs and conditionally discharged […]
