Greenpeace’s Lancashire group will launch a local anti-fracking campaign this weekend in Preston, with street stalls and a call to local councillors to say no to the controversial extraction process in the county.
This follows correspondence from Greenpeace’s Executive Director John Sauven, which went this week to every member of the county council planning committee. The committee will make the final decision locally on whether fracking goes ahead or not.
"Lancashire is well and truly in the fracking firing line, and the local Greenpeace group will be doing everything we can to stop drilling companies moving into the countryside,” said group spokeswoman and Preston resident Liz Stanton.
As well as its existing exploration well at Grange Hill, Cuadrilla announced that it intends to apply for consent to drill, hydraulically fracture and test the gas flow at up to six new exploration well sites in the Fylde.
The company was caught on tape earlier this year admitting that UK shale gas will have a “basically insignificant” impact on bills, and conceding that “well integrity” and “traffic” are big issues in Lancashire (1) “I was just up in Lancashire looking at different sites the other day…. these are little roads and you have to be sensible about it,” company spokesman Mark Linder told a Greenpeace campaigner.
“Most experts agree fracking in the UK will make little or no difference to bills, yet it risks industrialising beautiful parts of Lancashire, and has been associated with water contamination, earth tremors and reduced house prices. It is likely to end up being a lot of pain for Lancashire, for very little gain,” said Ms Stanton.
“Fracking companies are proposing to invade precious parts of the county with trucks, drills, flares and chemicals. They’re even planning to drill under people’s homes. This is a case of global corporations exploiting Lancashire for their own gain.”
Ms Stanton said Government claims of tens of thousands of jobs for local communities impacted by fracking were “widely considered to be exaggerated”.
“What we do know is that North West has the potential to be a leader in green energy with huge offshore wind and tidal resources and a strong manufacturing heritage. Fracking risks displacing jobs and investment in thriving low carbon industries.”
The experience in Balcombe, Sussex, where Cuadrilla is now saying it may not proceed with full production, shows local opposition works. “People in Lancashire really can make a difference,” said Ms Stanton. “They can stand up for their local environment and for the climate.
“We’ll be busy in the coming months encouraging people to take a stand and encouraging county councillors to say no to dirty, risky drilling.”
ENDS
DETAILS OF TOMORROW’S ACTIVITY
WHERE: Flag Market, Preston, by the Harris Library
WHEN: 10am -2pm
WHO: Greenpeace local Lancashire groups
(1) Cuadrilla spokeman Mark Linder speaking in May to a Greenpeace campaigner at a drop-in session for concerned residents in Balcombe, Sussex: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1428831/utter-fucking-bullshit-2.mp3
