Balcombe heats up

With test drilling now under way in Balcombe, the war of words is heating up. As one would expect, the Luddites at the Guardian are stirring any pot they can find, and Damian Carrington's story focuses on allegations that Cuadrilla trespassed on private land while undertaking geophysical surveys. Mountains and molehills are words that spring to mind, and one is left with the overwhelming impression that there is another side to the story too.

Meanwhile, Twitter also remains dominated by greens, with barely a squawk from anyone in favour, but at least Cuadrilla have now made themselves heard - CEO Francis Egan is interviewed in the Mail on Sunday (scroll down here) and does a pretty good job of relaying the facts.

However, any benefits from Egan's intervention are entirely undone by Energy Minister Michael Fallon, who is reported (at the same URL) as follows:

The Tory Minister responsible for fracking has conjured up a chilling image of swathes of rural England shaking with the sound of drills as a result of the drive for shale gas.

Referring to people living in the countryside who have supported fracking, Energy Minister Michael Fallon said at a private meeting in Westminster: ‘We are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like the flaring at the end of the drive!’

While it is fair to say that there are going to be some impacts, the remarks about rectory walls are absurd - I wonder whether the story is being embellished by the journalists who have reported the story (it appears elsewhere too) or by their source. It is nevertheless a complete own goal in PR terms.

Facing down the greens and their Luddite friends in the press is going to be pivotal for the government. Failure will have appalling consequences for the country.

It's a pity then that nobody on our side of the debate seems geared up for the fight.

Comments

[Mike Jackson]

mikeh

This is the sort of thing that should be circulated to all the wittering politicos, hypeing journalists, et al.

Then go for it! Better still, why not everybody email your local MP with that info plus the link to the 'Energy impact' thread (July 21) showing the wind turbines and gas installations in Saxony.
I am seriously considering doing that especially since the guy who used to be my 'MP' is now one of Hollande's industrial development ministers (Arnaud Montebourg) but I'll need to do a bit of French vocabulary work first!
I doubt I'll get anywhere because Hollande's opposition to fracking has nothing to do with local opposition. If he were in favour and I had shale gas under my garden there would be a rig down by the pond before you could say 'zut!'.

[mikeh]

Mike J: already done! Sent to my local MP (Michael Gove) and to Nick Herbert.
I will send it to others as the occasion arises but I am not going to waste my time with journos. Any worth the name should have already done the few minutes' research it took to find this (and I expect there are many more in a similar vein). The fact that none have bothered says it all.

[James P]

Keith Jackson's description of fracking in his locality is a refreshing read that deserves wider attention, IMO. Is there are way of linking to a specific comment here (rather than saying comment 102 on this thread)?

[Don Keiller]

No point in sending any factual information to my local MP (Dr. Julian Huppert).- I've tried on many occasions
He is the most useless green fanatic it is possible to imagine.
Unbelieveably he has a backgound in physics from Cambridge University.
I guess you need to be lobotomised to be a Liberal MP.

[sherlock1]

Anon (or is it ZBD..?)

Re; wind turbines. The Inconvenient Truths about these eyesores is that a) you need thousands of them to produce the same (theoretical) output as ONE nuclear or gas-fired power station, and b) when there is no wind, THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY... (e.g. during most of July)

Unless of course you type your posts on a wind-up computer....

[John Page]

Hope others will want to add comments on the wimpish editorial in the FT (£) about fracking

http://t.co/nF136PwbGZ

My own comment at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/102e3a72-fddd-11e2-a5b1-00144feabdc0.html#comment-5070972

[Foxgoose]

If anybody was as irritated as I was on finding out that the airheads at Lush Cosmetics were financing the Frack Off rabble - they may find this amusing.

My office once overlooked the loading dock of a major cosmetics manufacturer and I was often amused by the huge volumes of cheap, nasty, industrial chemicals that go into making all that expensive "oh so kind to your skin" gloop.

So - I thought I'd have a look at the Lush website and check out the ingredients of their "fresh, hand-made" ever so natural cosmetics.

Bingo! Didn't have to look far to find that several products, including their best selling "Dream Cream" body lotion use a synthetic emulsifier called triethanolamime or T.E.A.

Wikipedia tells us that T.E.A just happens to cause cancer in female mice - and be a listed ingredient under the "Chemical Weapons Convention".

Well - if all those innocuous chemicals in fracking fluid are such a deadly risk - I think the girls who buy Dream Cream ought to have the real facts - so I tweeted this:-

Girls! Shock! Anti-fracking @lushcosmetics body lotion contains carcinogen & banned chemical weapons ingredient T.E.A

If you Tweet - join in & RT.

https://twitter.com/Foxgoose/status/364478351584403457

[flaxdoctor]

Foxgoose,

Not only Lush, but the Coop, according to the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/10223936/Shale-gas-Co-op-is-major-corporate-backer-of-anti-fracking-movement.html

Not a surprise, mind - I've been very reliably informed that their ethics in dealing with supermarket suppliers are magnitudes poorer than chains who are regularly targeted by the inevitable anti-business whingers.

That's the end of any business I'll be doing with this bunch of deceivers.

[Jabba the Cat]

@ Foxgoose

Lol...that's really funny about the cosmetics and chemicals, and which reminds that oft overlooked is that a great proportion of soya grown in the world, of which products are so beloved by the greenies, is GM crop...

[stewgreen]

TIme to Take Back the COOP ! - like a lot of charities while we weren't looking it's been hijacked by the activist minority.
- So now they are using £millions of our £s to campaign AGAINST our interests
..... and FOR Subsidy grabbbing RenewUnables MAFIA.
- What do we do ? use our money to sue ourselves ?

- They call the campaign : Frack Free Future join-the-revolution

Our goal : We will continue with our Clean Energy Revolution campaign, which seeks to end the use of unconventional fossil fuels and inspire community energy growth.

.. well that could be reworded
- COOP claim not to be funding the RentAMob , but just putting on Gasland Non-Documentary shows on across the country.
- COOP opinion on shale

- They are getting a kicking in the Telegraph comments
"Give people a tick box option of using fossil fuels or green energy for their power generation."
"They are the biggest lender to wind farm biz" : err Conflict of interest ?

[stewgreen]

"The Co-op spends £18m a year on “social goals”, 10,000 community projects.
...anti-fracking campaign, likely to run well into six figures because of its involvement in the Gasland release."
Twitter @TheCooperative 19K followers
The Co-operativeFood ‏27K
Coop Travel only sell walking holidays doesn't it ?

Calling Gasland a "documentary" is about like calling Dame Edna a "woman."

[DocBud]

The Aussie Lush website suggests Dream Cream is for babies.

Looking at the Wikipedia article made me think of Homer Simpson: "mmmmmmmm nitrogen mustards."

[johanna]

Well, Doc, surely it is responsible to let anxious, chemophobic parents know about that?

Twitter is perfect for this sort of thing. Serves them right.

[John Page]

The Telegraph's environment activist correspondent, Louise Gray, points us to the No Dash for Gas website, where we can read that

The coalition of climate, anti-austerity and fuel poverty activists who were planning on returning to West Burton power station for the Reclaim The Power action camp [1] in August have decided to switch location to Balcombe, where the Sussex community is currently resisting exploratory drilling by Cuadrilla.

http://www.nodashforgas.org.uk/uncategorized/no-dash-for-gas-action-camp-to-switch-location-from-west-burton-power-station-to-balcombe/

The Reclaim the Power camp will now be taking place in Balcombe from August 16-21, and it's good of Louise to tweet to let us all know. The community of Balcombe has apparently called on them for support, and:

We share their serious concerns about the environmental and social impacts of fossil fuel extraction in their area.

Which may come as news to some local residents, as fossil fuel extraction has been going on quietly in that region for decades. But at least the village shops have a few days to stock up on whatever it is anti-gas demonstrators from around the country buy (presumably not calor gas stoves).

We're also told that any dash for gas would increase fuel poverty ... no, me neither. What do we want?

We want democratically controlled, clean energy. The obstacles to achieving this are political not technical. We need to reclaim our power.

So now you know the agenda.

Who knows? Maybe the Balcombe locals will look forward to the action camp. "Participating groups include UKUncut, Occupy, Disabled People Against Cuts, Greater London Pensioners Association and Fuel Poverty Action." (Do Fuel Poverty Action think non-fossil energy will be cheaper? I think we should be told.)

Meanwhile a hat tip to activist journalist Louise Gray for highlighting the website. Definitely one to bookmark.

[not banned yet]

Taking the money out and closing my accounts with the CoOp by the end of the week.

[John Page]

Thousands expected at Balcombe camp

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10226138/Thousands-expected-at-Climate-Camp-in-Balcombe.html

If you're thinking of joining in, Louise tells you what you should bring. She's so helpful.

[stewgreen]

@not banned yet, I will have a look at getting in from the inside
I have been a shareholder and investor for more than 25 years and split half of my banking with them... I never saw any votes about funding activists

[not banned yet]

@stew - they are way out of order on this one. Somebody at the CoOp needs to take a calm look at the evidence and steady the ship. The fact they are promoting that cretinous Gasland drivel ought to be checked over by the corporate legal team.

http://www.co-operative.coop/join-the-revolution/our-plan/clean-energy-revolution/fracking/ - see the trailer

vs.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/04/the-gasland-movie-a-fracking-shame-director-pulls-video-to-hide-inconvenient-truths/ - see the truth

*****
Just for fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUNBwqovI9U

[not banned yet]

For stew:
//
12/07/13 - Launch of Independent Review of Co-operative Bank

The Co-operative Group and The Co-operative Bank today announce the launch of an independent review, to be chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly, into the events that led to the recent announcement of The Co-operative Bank’s capital action plan to address its £1.5bn capital shortfall. Sir Christopher currently chairs the King’s Fund and the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board and previously chaired the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the NSPCC. He has also been a senior official in HM Treasury. He will begin work on his review in September.
//
It will include an analysis of strategic decision making, management structures, culture, governance and accounting practices and aspects of the role of the Bank auditors. This review will assist in identifying lessons to be learned to strengthen not only the Bank and the Group, but the co-operative business model generally. The intention is to present the findings to members at The Co-operative Group's annual general meeting in May 2014.
//
http://www.co-operativebankinggroup.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1357284286482&pagename=Corp/Page/tplCorp&currart=1373631987511&currmth=7