John will be sending a letter to local councillors asking for a frack free Sheffield. At the moment the council can decide if fracking is allowed or not, but we believe that the government might take over in the near future to grant permission.
It was mentioned that Labour councillor Jack Scott is to write a policy paper on fracking for the local party. We hope it will be against fracking.
John is to obtain more fracking information, leaflets and petitions for our stalls.
National Friends of the Earth campaigner and fracking expert, Tony Bosworth, will be joining us at our meeting in September to discuss fracking campaigns.
Thanks for the reminder, Shaun.
ReplyDeleteThe letter (more likely e mail) I send to local councillors will ask specifically "where is the water coming from to carry out fracking?" the dependence of fracking on huge quantities of fresh water (172k litres or an olympic size swimming pool for every well for every frack. Such prodigious quantities may be available in countries like the US and Australia but are simply not available in the UK. Meanwhile, complaints have already been made about pollution of drinking water supplies in Balcombe where the water has taken on a yellow tinge; the excuse from the water company ("dirt shaken from the inside of the water supply pipes after the fracking explosion")would be laughable (such contamination would sediment rather than colour the water)were it not a serious matter. Other water companies are taking the matter seriously and have made objections in advance of any fracking action.
I suspect the Balcombe operation is a dry run anyway (why frack in your political hinterland when there's so much desolate North?), desgined to allow Cuadrilla/security/police to gather information and experience of dealing with opposition.