A week after Scotland voted No in the independence referendum after added devolution powers were promised today it was announced by the UK Government that they are to remove the rights of householders to object to oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing beneath their homes, this controversial process commonly known as Fracking, this will include householders in Scotland, and despite 99 per cent of respondents to the UK Government consultation on the proposals objecting to them.
What does it mean for me and you, well fracking companies will have legal rights to drill below people’s land without first negotiating a right of access.
Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing did officially object to the proposals and has condemned the decision, and has called for the key powers relating to this issue to be devolved to Scotland as part of the current devolution process. This would allow unconventional oil and gas exploration in Scotland to be considered in a cautious, considered and evidence-based way, as opposed to the “gung-ho” approach of the UK Government.
Commenting Mr Ewing said:
“The UK Government failure to listen to our concerns is of great worry. That they have also failed to listen to 99 per cent of respondents to their own consultation just emphasises their “gung-ho” approach to the whole issue of fracking. We strongly believe that decisions on oil and gas drilling should be made by the people who live in Scotland, through the Parliament and Government they elected.
“UK Government proposals to remove the right of Scottish householders to object to drilling under their homes, without so much as debate in the Scottish Parliament, flies in the face of Scotland’s cautious, considered and evidence based approach on this issue. It is also fundamentally an issue affecting land ownership rights.
“Whatever your view on the issue of unconventional oil and gas – and it is clear that there are both opportunities and concerns – there is only one way that the people of Scotland can determine the approach in Scotland – including beneath their homes and land. That is with the devolution of the necessary powers to Scotland and the current devolution process for the “extensive new powers” promised in the vow should include these powers.
Fuck Fracking, Burn The Rich
What is “Fracking” and why should we be concerned, fracking also called “hydraulic fracturing,” is a destructive process that drilling companies use to extract natural gas and oil from rock that lies deep underground. They drill a deep well and inject millions of gallons of toxic fracking fluid – a mix of water, sand and harsh chemicals – at a high enough pressure to fracture the rock and release the oil or gas.
Fracking is exempt from major environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, and spills and accidents are far too common.
Each drilling well requires 400 tankers of water and other supplies, these supplies being transported all around the country by road in trucks powered by fossil fuel, so the supposedly environmentally green fuel uses old fuel methods to begin the process, yeah, very environmentally friendly.
It takes up to 8 million gallons of water to complete each fracture job, this water is then mixed with sand and chemicals to create the “fracking fluid”, 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used in this process, some of the chemicals used in this process (up to 600 different chemicals are used in the mixture) include: Lead, Uranium, Mercury, Ethylene Glycol, Methanol, Hydrochloric Acid and Formaldehyde. yummy.
After a forcing job has been completed methane gas and other toxic chemicals can leak from the pipeline and contaminate ground water supplies, water supplies that can be used for human consumption, still convinced that this is a green fuel source?
It has been found that methane concentration is 17 times higher in drinking water near wells at fracturing sites than normal wells located away from them, in the USA 1000 cases of contaminated water supplies have been found next to areas of drilling causing cases of sensory, respiratory and neurological damage by ingestion, this drilling practice sounds better by the minute eh folks? definitely no danger there.
At the end of the drilling process only 30 – 50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest is left in the ground and is NOT biodegradable, whoopee, sounds as clean and safe as nuclear power.
Waste fluid that is recovered is left in open pits to evaporate releasing harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) into the atmosphere creating contaminated air, acid rain and ground level ozone.
Fight Fracking
Still convinced that this process is as green and necessary as the Government makes out? OK figures show that up to 300,000 barrels of gas can be produced from one well, but at what cost? environmental disaster, structural damage to the ground that our houses, businesses and schools are all built upon, human disease and long term health hazards, all sounds fucking great, where do I sign up!
All joking aside, this is a fucked up process all geared up to make government officials and the fracking companies very, very rich, all at our expense, in the future what do our children and grandchildren have to look forward to? deformed new born babies due to contaminated drinking water while pregnant, sterility in males resulting in reduced population in the coming years, vast areas of countryside polluted, urban areas polluted to the extent that they become uninhabitable, the list goes on.
Contact your local councillor, your local MP, form local anti fracking groups, meet up, march, sign any and all petitions regardless if they are doing this in your area, it just might come, most of all be vocal against fracking.
Further details on fracking, and online petitions can be found at these links:
Information:
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/
http://www.dangersoffracking.com
http://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-hell/
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/gasdrilling/
Petitions:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/long-text-left-form-right
https://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=3
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-shale-gas-extraction-by-fracking
And last but not least for all you Facebook addicts there is a page here:
https://www.facebook.com/8AFAN
Let’s tell the Government and the fracking companies to “Frack Off” we don’t want their poisonous drilling in our area and our country, be vocal, be violent, be disruptive, foremost let’s be successful.
’till the next time….
Anarchy, Peace, Freedom, Equality
Alan Louttit 