Jun 26th, 2018
Fast-track Fracking
By Becca McCarthy
This is trampling all over democracy. The government’s trying to give dirty energy companies a free pass to frack by getting rid of planning permission. It could make it as easy for fracking companies to drill as putting up a garden shed. And take away our councils’ power to stop our countryside being torn apart. [1]
Right now, the government’s testing the waters. They’ll want to get these plans through as quietly as possible, not deal with a huge public backlash. They’re waiting to see how the public reacts. And that gives us a real shot at nipping this in the bud, before these plans go any further.
If we build a huge petition with hundreds of thousands of signatures, we can show the government this is a battle they won’t be able to win. We can show them that cosying up to dirty energy companies is just not acceptable when our countryside and democracy is at risk.
Fracking doesn’t just ruin our beautiful landscapes. It threatens to increase water shortages, contaminate our groundwater and could even cause earthquakes across the UK. [2] And burning gas keeps us pumping dangerous pollution into the air that causes climate change, and endangers the future of everything on earth. [3]
That’s why the Campaign to Protect Rural England [4], experts in protecting our countryside, have launched a petition with 38 Degrees demanding the government stops these plans. Here’s what they say:
“This signals an outright assault on local communities’ ability to exercise their democratic rights. It reads like a wish list from the fracking companies themselves… Our countryside is the breathing space for us all – it must not become an industrial testing ground for the fracking industry.”
Together we’ve won campaigns to protect our countryside from dirty energy companies and government schemes before. When they tried to frack Sherwood Forest, hundreds of thousands of us spoke out and plans were stopped in their tracks. [5] And when there was a coal mine planned in Northumberland, over 14,000 38 Degrees-ers from the area spoke out and planning permission was denied. [6]
NOTES:
[1] The Guardian: Fast-track fracking plan by the government prompts criticism:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/17/fast-track-fracking-plan-by-uk-government-prompts-criticism
The Times: Backlash as Ineos puts fracking on fast track with plans to bypass local councils:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/backlash-as-ineos-puts-fracking-on-fast-track-with-plans-to-bypass-local-councils-m7wmrcxgm
The Independent: Government announces plan to accelerate fracking developments by fast-tracking private companies’ planning applications:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fracking-development-government-plan-accelerate-shale-gas-carbon-emissions-a8355756.html
UK Parliament: Written statement on Energy Policy made by Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which lays out the Government’s plans:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-05-17/HCWS690
[2] Greenpeace: 4 reasons why we could all be fracked by fracking:
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/3-reasons-why-we-could-all-be-fracked-fracking-20130812/
The Independent: Fracking could cause earthquakes across huge swathes of UK, warns former Downing Street adviser and seismologist:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-fracking-earthquakes-cause-shale-gas-seismic-events-government-planning-a8363411.html
[3] Guardian: How fracking can contribute to climate change:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/29/fracking-contribute-climate-change
[4] The Campaign to Protect Rural England:
https://www.cpre.org.uk/
[5] 38 Degrees: Protect Sherwood Forest:
https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/1787
The Guardian: UK fracking backlash: seven of eight plans rejected in 2018:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/08/uk-fracking-backlash-seven-out-of-eight-plans-rejected-in-2018
The Telegraph: Villages across the UK take up the fight against fracking:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/10209728/Villages-across-the-UK-take-up-the-fight-against-fracking.html
Friends of the Earth: Fracking in Sherwood Forest – we’re winning but it’s not over yet:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate-change/fracking-sherwood-forest-were-winning-its-not-over-yet
[6] 38 Degrees: Druridge Bay: SAVED:
https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2018/03/23/druridge-bay-saved/
