fracking

Here is the news. Caroline Lucas has been acquitted of all charges relating to participating in a peaceful protest against fracking in Balcombe. I am happy.

The main headlines from the newly reformed and repentant Telegraph and Mail on the latest IPCC report (AR5 working group 3, on mitigation) were –

Fracking can be part of the solution to global warming, say UN climate change experts

Fracking can help to slow global warming admit UN scientists... and so can nuclear power

So what exactly did the new report (IPCC AR5 WG3 SPM) say about fracking? You’ll never guess.

We recently confronted Cuadrilla Chief Executive, Francis Egan, over his plans to frack for shale gas underneath people’s homes in Lancashire. Cuadrilla has announced two new drilling sites in Lancashire, so we decided to pay them a visit and seek their assurance that they would respect the wishes of the Lancashire residents who have come together as part of Greenpeace’s legal block to tell them not to trespass on their land.

All this fracking is enough to drive someone to drink. But now it seems even that's under threat. Some breweries are becoming worried that contaminated water supplies, as a result of fracking, could have "dire consequences" on the production of beer.

Over the course of the last week the boss of fracking company Celtique Energie, Geoff Davies, has undergone a prolonged and very public meltdown. He has attacked locals who don’t want him to frack in their area, praised the rolling hills and woods of Sussex as perfect for hiding his fracking sites and confessed that his company has never even attempted to frack a gas or oil well before.