Press Release - Fracking

Today's press release; written in response to a shale gas mining company's application to start horizontal drilling in our community.
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RAFF   

 www.stopfyldefracking.org.uk

Press Release

RESIDENTS ACTION ON FYLDE FRACKING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   -   9am, August 23, 2012

Organising Opposition to

Fracking in the Fylde

Following this week’s announcement by shale gas firm Cuadrilla Resources that it will be launching a planning application to begin drilling horizontally at its Westby site in Lancashire, local residents’ groups are planning further actions to raise awareness of risks and rally opposition. 

Tina Rothery of Residents Action on Fylde Fracking (RAFF) said: “At meetings across the region, we have heard the deep concern of residents over the risks this form of gas exploitation poses to communities. Horizontal drilling at Anna’s Road is another step in the wrong direction that is certain to fuel further (justifiable) fears.”

RAFF has set up an ‘Information Point’ in Ansdell in order to assist local residents with access to a broad range of anecdotal and research information and provide the opportunity for those affected to find out how they can engage in opposition activities.

Cuadrilla’s hydraulic fracturing of the Bowland Shale (‘fracking’) in order to extract shale gas remains suspended while the firm awaits the outcome of a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) investigation.

Miss Rothery added: “The ‘fracking’ part of shale gas exploitation is still suspended and with good reason; the risks have not been adequately explored. The seismic danger already evident from last year’s earthquakes though, is just one risk aspect; the potential contamination of our water supplies, the change to an industrial landscape, the harm to human and animal health from methane emissions and the long-term effects are what residents talk about.”

Other opposition groups too have expressed concern about the application to drill horizontally with the Green Party, Friends of the Earth, Ribble Estuary Against Fracking, Frack Free Fylde and others reacting to the news this week.

Francis Egan, Cuadrilla’s CEO, said: “I don’t think drilling horizontally will affect people. We have chosen this site (to drill horizontally) because it is reasonably far from urban areas and it’s a good place to do it without causing too much fuss.”

Miss Rothery says: “Mr Egan’s statement that he ‘doesn’t THINK’ the horizontal drilling will affect people is ridiculous. Of course it will affect the community not only with the work itself but because it is clear that even though this industry is not properly regulated, it is going ahead.”

“We urge the LCC to consider this application and its implications very carefully and then reject it until risk assessments for health and environment are undertaken. We also urge all concerned residents to attend the public meeting about the new well on Tuesday, September 4 between 5pm and 8.30pm in the function room at Pipers Height Caravan Park, on Peel Road.”

Fylde Council’s Technical Adviser, Mike Hill also spoke this week and expressed his disappointment with shale gas drilling monitoring plans by government bodies. Mr Hill says he is worried by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) plans to split the duty and says neither body is carrying out sufficient on-site monitoring.

“The people I am talking to in London are very well paid by us to protect us, I expect them to do that and they are not. What is missing in the UK is monitoring and that has to be in place.”

DECC is the government body with overall responsibility for fracking and are set to decide whether to give Cuadrilla Resources the go-ahead to resume drilling. The HSE takes charge of workers’ safety, but Mr Hill claims neither body is carrying out sufficient on-site monitoring.

The RAFF Information Point is being held every Thursday between 12-2pm at:  29 Woodlands Road, FY8 4EP (next to Kelly’s Newsagent’s) .

ENDS
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Scriptonite Daily - News and Views From Here, There and Everywhere: You Don’t Have To Be a Rape Apologist to Have Conc...

Scriptonite Daily - News and Views From Here, There and Everywhere: You Don’t Have To Be a Rape Apologist to Have Conc...: The recent days of the Julian Assange case have seen the biggest diplomatic incident since the Iraq War.

"The largest group I’ve encountered – though you won’t hear much from them over the hysterical screaming of the others - is a group who say simply this: These allegations are serious and need to be answered.  However, we do not trust the US government or our own not to a) have set up this whole thing, or b) to capitalise on it by extraditing him to US and taking out Wikileaks."

Symptoms, diseases and poles...

It’s been a pretty life changing nine months since I took a tent and became a part of the Occupy movement in London. Following eviction I came home to Blackpool in Lancashire and found Cuadrilla (mining company) breezing through with plans for shale gas exploration and exploitation of the Bowland Shale in the region known as The Fylde; a well-populated area of prime agriculture and tourism. It feels like having been been a part of tackling the primary cause of society’s illness with others in the Occupy movement, I now find myself with equally determined others, dealing with a symptom; albeit a really urgent one that must be tackled now, before any further harm is allowed to be done both here and in the rest of the UK.  

I sense a futility in easing symptoms, whilst the disease rages on; damaging so many aspects of society and am torn as to how to divide energy and time. It is as if involvement with single-issue (symptom) fights, entangles us in something that is all-consuming and leaves little left for cause-of-disease fighting. I haven’t found a balance or solution, just keep counting on winning the battle against fracking, quickly and cleanly with a sharp slice of truth through the ludicrous PR, marketing and lobbying.  

Protest groups are always with us - whilst enduring solutions remain evasive

I wonder if this is what always happens? Do people act when they recognise a danger/injustice and then get so caught up, they cannot get out and tackle the true cause? Maybe that's why protest groups are always with us and enduring solutions, evasive? The struggle against corporate greed’s unjust control over our governments is fought in pockets of resistance and I see the Occupy Movement as a potential solution; through its ability to unify these pockets and focus attention on the cause rather than the symptoms.

There is though an advantage of being part of Occupy and then going on to join local groups that are so admirably standing their ground. The link between cause and symptom is ever-more clear and sadly, the resulting view, ever-more ugly. Whether it’s fracking, banking, privatisation of services, LIBOR manipulation, corruption in government, dodgy election results, misleading media, intimidation of whistle-blowers and protesters, wars created for efficiency and profit in energy sector or any of the other clearly insane activities – it is the one disease of system that is at their root.

 Bloodied mothers & raping for resources

Watching the news, I’m bewildered by the tragic, confused faces of children; set against backdrops of war, with bloodied mothers by their sides. 

I don’t recognise landscapes raped for resources - being heralded as a way ‘forward’.  

I’m just plain dumb-struck that none of the bankers, financiers, lobby-loved politicians, lords or CEOs have appeared in court in light of the countless scandals (crimes) they are embroiled in.

But most of all, what I don’t understand are the people; the individuals who fulfil roles in councils, governments, banks, big media and big companies. How do these individuals carry out their soul-less tasks each day; tasks each must be aware, will eventually result in harm to people, harm to planet, harm for the future?

Whether it’s a Councillor, easily bought with promises of power; a politician no longer heeding his electorate and instead feathering his own political nest; one of the cogs in one of the wheels in some part of the financial sector that contributes to the whole that puts governments (and therefore people) in debt; or the CEO who knows the next cut to cost, though it will pay out big, may just involve a bit of risk to the environment, the people living in that environment and the future generations that were rather ‘banking’ (!) on that environment – each and every one of these people is an individual, of the whole that is ‘we the people’.

These granddads and mothers, husbands and aunts, they’re responsible for and to future generations, like the rest of us; yet, I watch their lips move and the sounds come out and I do not recognise them as being ‘people’. They are mouthpieces for whoever pays the money and seem more enslaved by their own lifestyles than those of us who haven’t clamoured up the pole to their level of ‘success’. Yet they seem trapped - too scared to slip down the pole. 

That there’s even a pole, disturbs me

They cling tight to their place in the hierarchy, grasp hard at the handhold in the pocket of the guy above and clench buttock cheeks in determination to remain, invisibly chained to the greasy pole marked ‘success’. But what is their success? Measured only in wealth and status perhaps it could rank them high but this measurement would be a slap in the face for fairness and true insight; it is proven (and individually known by the vast majority) that ‘success’ may include money and status but does not require it. Genuine success smells better than money and fits more comfortably than a manufactured status suit. 

How can they do what they do, when they know (must know), what we all know? How can they tick a box that harms lots of people, places and futures? How can they give the nod to laws that make the future’s uncertainty – certain? How can they contribute to holding us on course, for ever-more unjust, abusive situations?

What happens when they go home? What happens when the warmth of family, pets and relaxation covers them? What happens inside their heads after having just said, “My day was fine” to someone who cares that they exist? What happens when they tuck into bed; does the dark truth of their day’s deeds finally hit them?

Sorry: watching the news...

Watching the news and realised it is a series of apologies all in a row:

 -Banks are sorry and promise not to let it be seen that thay do bad things again.
 -G4S is sorry they didn't do their job - or anything resembling it.
 -Simon Harwood is sorry that Ian Tomlinson (an innocent bystander) died as a result of his behaviour.
 -Ian Tomlinson's step-son was sorry too; he's sorry that it hurts and that he isn't being clear to the news crew because he is so obviously, so deeply upset.
-The police are sorry that they accidently hired PC Harwood after not getting his background checked or knowing his history of violent, aggressive behaviour - they admit 'we got that wrong'...
...I expect Ian tomlinson's family are really relieved to hear that.

p.s.
Somewhere in the world, a big energy company is sorry they spilled some more oil, another banker is really sorry he needs to cause more austerity and another politician is wondering what 'sorry' means... whilst Cameron & Boris tell us it's ok cause we ARE all enjoying the joy, the colour, the wonder of the very fabulous London Olympics 2012

Frack Off ! , Anti fracking song by GRASS

Drills on their way as direct action fails - Business - Blackpool Gazette

Drills on their way as direct action fails - Business - Blackpool Gazette

Terrifying to know this is rolling our way and how tough it is to get the answers we need... inspiring though to watch the communities of the Fylde coming together to find out the information that the authorities/mining companies aren't sharing fully or entirely truthfully. This this will be far from the shoe-in that Cuadrilla (the mining company) is expecting.

Just two little earthquakes so far during testing... 400-800 wells planned though and they're still not talking about the radiation in the flow-back water. Still not talking about the 'permitted' chemicals that will be brought in on our roads - just the 'likely' ones! Still not talking about the effects of a road accident involving even one of these deliveries. Still not talking about the 350+ trucks required to serve EACH of the 400-800 wells. Still not talking about the full extent of the risks.

I want more Councillors like Elaine Silverwood, Linda Nulty, Alan Clayton, Ken Hopwood and others who do bother to explore further and engage with the communities in an attempt to get to the truth and extent of the entire proposal for fracking the Fylde, from start to finish.

Saying Goodbye to (this) Occupy...

At the risk of going all Celine Dion… I DO know we’ll go on. Occupy is an infant taking early steps and for all the future promise - I will miss this infancy - every bit as much as I will admire the stages to come.

I write fresh with the knowledge that my days and nights at Occupy the London Stock Exchange have been forced to end; sure there are a huge number of events already planned that will indeed involve my tent and sleeping bag… but it will never be this one holistic experience that has ‘bubbled’ into an Occupy community since 15 October 2011.

The bursting of this bubble will cause a spillage that like mercury, will find its reflection in the communities it meets along the way and it will grow. It will spread horizontally so that all it attracts can be neither too high above it nor too far below. How can the exploration of truth, the seeking of solution to social injustice and the genuine good in-tent of the Occupy movement be stopped? Why would anyone other than those in power (or misled by media), want it to be? What will replace it if it is? What will those in power be free to do if there is no witness by the people?

But those are other thoughts too much for tonight.

For now, I will ache for the loss of all these amazing moments that play in the reels of my mind; the late night talk that was never small; the little miracles that occurred in little lives as we formed an entirely, unquestioningly inclusive community; the crazy frustration at the ridiculous amount of time it takes to decide anything by consensus; the sheer bliss of incredible achievement when proposals did get consensus and you realised this meant that vastly varied people, from quite possibly every background possible, actually bloody agreed on something! The late night stroll to the loo that was sometimes a pleasure as soft voices wished you well and kept an eye on your safety or absolutely terrifying as you navigated the safest looking path through the tents to avoid the bad, the mad, the angry, the drunk and the many unknowns that passed through or emerged from amongst us.

Most memorable of all are the faces. James who had been homeless on the steps of St Paul’s for 10 years when we got there, Joey (also homeless) who needed us as much as we needed him and the raw humanity he brought and Tammy Samede; it is Tammy that impacts me most as I recall when she spoke her first words on the mic to a packed General Assembly (GA) facing St Paul’s, to ask why her god would judge her ‘out here’ but bless her ‘in there’ – once she had started, there was no stopping her truths and she bluntly expressed them on the best occasions to the most deserving people.

Self-empowerment was the gift that many get to take away from Occupy LSX (1); it was dished out in various amounts but I can honestly say that just about everyone I got to know, got a share of it. Humility too came in equal or higher doses.

For every whinge I wanted to make when it was cold and loud and I missed comfort and wondered what the hell I was doing in a tent in the middle of London at the steps of St Paul’s – I recalled the encounters with others for whom this was a huge step up from what they were used to. Our camp was truly diverse and that’s what made it the most intense place of learning I have ever been (and I’ve been a lot of places).

Most of us looked a bit rough, shapeless and khaki on site so you could rarely tell who was ordinarily homeless or anything else about them. All you knew was that you all woke up, in this strangest of places to wake up and that you shared conversations, decision forming discussions, disagreements, meals, hardships, hygiene challenges, joys and discovery together. I had assumed I knew what my fellow human beings were like, I thought I had a broad spectrum of experience of them – I was wrong. It is in the intensity of the camp environment where none of us had anything to hide behind and all of us were exposed to ourselves and each other that I truly met my fellow earth dwellers.

It isn’t just that we met people from other sectors of society, it is that we met them within Occupy; where there is no hierarchy, fewer labels and a lot of searching for the truth of what it is that would benefit us all. Rare conversations with people rarely met. For all the stuff in our lives and our heads that was different, we were here together now because each had reached their own ‘enough-is-enough’ moment ...and that united us.

There is no denying that time and the challenges of location took their toll and like an infant outgrowing a romper suit, it is indeed time to say goodbye to this stage in our development. We’re going to be bloody gorgeous when we finish evolving but for now, I am sad for the loss of the beginning.