Dover District Council Votes Unanimously (but one!) to Oppose Fracking
On Wednesday, 27 November 2013 Dover District councillors voted
almost unanimously to oppose fracking in our area, which we know to be
geologically unsuitable for unconventional gas drilling.
This vote
followed a Dover District Council (DDC) Scrutiny Committee hearing on 18
November at which studious citizen activists of Keep Shepherdswell Well and East
Kent Against Fracking, along with parish councillors from the front line
villages, and hydrogeologist, Graham Warren of the Campaign for the Protection
of Rural England (CPRE- Kent), delivered a dozen carefully researched speeches
which convinced the Scrutiny Committee to recommend that Dover District Council
should oppose fracking.
Several DDC councillors who had attended the
Scrutiny hearing praised the efforts of those who had addressed the Nov 18
hearing, and of District Clerk Rebecca Brough, who organised the administration
of the Scrutiny Committee’s investigation into fracking. This involved inviting
groups with views on the issue from all sides, including major stakeholders like
Affinity Water, and of course the applicants themselves, Coastal Oil and Gas
Ltd.
Sadly, neither Affinity Water nor CO&G Ltd attended these
hearings. Whether this was because the deliberations of the district council
were felt to be beneath their concern, or because they may prefer to take refuge
behind legislation that would minimise any responsibility for damage caused by
drilling, we cannot say. Certainly, Scrutiny Committee Chair George (Jim) Hood
had comments to make about their absence.
Consequently all the arguments
before the Scrutiny committee showed that fracking for any unconventional gas
extraction through the chalk aquifer under East Kent presents unavoidable risk
of irreversible pollution to the area’s primary water resource. Councillors were
also convinced by our arguments outlining potential damage in terms of traffic,
noise, air pollution, risk to natural habitat and marring of the rural beauty of
the area upon which its tourism income is based.
Having heard our case
with increasing awareness, DDC councillors were largely unimpressed by the
familiar half-truths we have all heard from central government and the gas
industry, about ‘no cases of harm caused by fracking’ and the promise of jobs
and economic revival through gas exploitation, that were put forward by the one
councillor who spoke up against the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendation. It was
gratifying to hear councillors using our arguments to rebut his statement.
Keep Shepherdswell Well and East Kent Against Fracking will continue to
use this straightforward democratic approach of researching the facts and
telling the truth; it seems to be working so far. The difference in our case is
that we knew enough to oppose it at parish level before it could go through on
the nod. We have an excellent team of committed local residents with an
amazingly fortuitous mix of skills and talents for creating a convincing case.
Is that enough to stand up to the would-be frackers and the powers that be? Time
will tell. For now, all local campaigners can chalk up another victory for the
protectors of the chalk aquifer.
Ends
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Breaking news: Dover District Council votes against Fracking
More good news from Kent - Dover District Council votes against fracking
"This Council is concerned by the prospect of fracking and related drilling activity in the Dover District area and requests that a report is brought forward to the next meeting of this Council to inform the Council of the nature of the process, the potential impact on subsurface water resources and geological formations, the type and scale of the surface structures, and the impact of anti-fracking demonstrations in the light of recent experience in Sussex on the local communities and on the police."
Good grounds for going for a frack free zone ? They said they would pass this on to KCC .
Good work from the Scrutiny committee, who thanked us again for all the good work we had done......
"This Council is concerned by the prospect of fracking and related drilling activity in the Dover District area and requests that a report is brought forward to the next meeting of this Council to inform the Council of the nature of the process, the potential impact on subsurface water resources and geological formations, the type and scale of the surface structures, and the impact of anti-fracking demonstrations in the light of recent experience in Sussex on the local communities and on the police."
Good grounds for going for a frack free zone ? They said they would pass this on to KCC .
Good work from the Scrutiny committee, who thanked us again for all the good work we had done......
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Deal Town Council opposes Fracking
PRESS RELEASE - EAST KENT AGAINST FRACKING
TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2013
DEAL TOWN COUNCIL VOTES AGAINST FRACKING!
Members of Deal Town Council have voted overwhelmingly against fracking in east Kent.
The vote took place at a council meeting on Monday 25th November after a motion was put forward by Cllr Ben Bano that 'Deal Town Council supports the campaign both by neighbouring parish councils and local action groups to resist any moves to allow fracking in East Kent. This council places on record its opposition to fracking on environmental, health as well as economic grounds." The motion was seconded by Cllr Deryck Murray and passed with one abstention and only one councillor, Bob Frost, voting against.
Rosemary Rechter, Chair East Kent Against Fracking, addressed the meeting, which followed the recent Dover District Council Scutiny Meeting on fracking in east Kent.
Dianna Jones, a Sandwich resident and EKAF Committee member who was also at the Deal Town Council meeting said, "the really good news here is that this motion was tabled independently of any planning applications to drill in east Kent. Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd recently withdrew their applications for exploratory drilling at Shepherdswell Guston and Tilmanstone and this vote is clear evidence of the overwhelming support for the all the parish councils and campaign groups such as EKAF, and their offshoots, who worked so hard to oppose those applications."
Dover District Councillors will be discussing fracking at their meeting on Wednesday, 27th November at 6pm at the Council Offices in the White Cliffs Business Park at Whitfield, CT16 3PJ.
Ends
TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2013
DEAL TOWN COUNCIL VOTES AGAINST FRACKING!
Members of Deal Town Council have voted overwhelmingly against fracking in east Kent.
The vote took place at a council meeting on Monday 25th November after a motion was put forward by Cllr Ben Bano that 'Deal Town Council supports the campaign both by neighbouring parish councils and local action groups to resist any moves to allow fracking in East Kent. This council places on record its opposition to fracking on environmental, health as well as economic grounds." The motion was seconded by Cllr Deryck Murray and passed with one abstention and only one councillor, Bob Frost, voting against.
Rosemary Rechter, Chair East Kent Against Fracking, addressed the meeting, which followed the recent Dover District Council Scutiny Meeting on fracking in east Kent.
Dianna Jones, a Sandwich resident and EKAF Committee member who was also at the Deal Town Council meeting said, "the really good news here is that this motion was tabled independently of any planning applications to drill in east Kent. Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd recently withdrew their applications for exploratory drilling at Shepherdswell Guston and Tilmanstone and this vote is clear evidence of the overwhelming support for the all the parish councils and campaign groups such as EKAF, and their offshoots, who worked so hard to oppose those applications."
Dover District Councillors will be discussing fracking at their meeting on Wednesday, 27th November at 6pm at the Council Offices in the White Cliffs Business Park at Whitfield, CT16 3PJ.
Cllr Mike Eddy put a motion forward on fracking to the District Council on
18th September, which was then studied by the Scrutiny Committee. EKAF and Keep
Shepherdswell Well, as well as Shepherdswell and Guston parish council
representatives, were invited to speak to the Committee on 11th November and
presented an extremely convincing case, which clearly impressed councillors. The
Committee will be reporting back to the Full Council on Wednesday - it is Item
12 on the agenda. The documents presented can be viewed at http://moderngov.dover.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=2121#mgDocuments
Thursday, 21 November 2013
EKAF Delivers letter to 10 Downing St...
On Friday, 22nd November 2013 a delegation of
five members of the committee of East Kent Against Fracking (EKAF) delivered a
letter to the Prime Minister setting out the case against fracking in the UK.
They were joined by Gayzer Frackman, who had already made two 250-mile walks from Lancashire to London
with the same aim. The letter he delivered to 10, Downing Street on the second
occasion was co-signed by Andy Pemberton, the dairy farmer from Lancashire
featuring in Greenpeace’s Wrong Move campaign whose land is threatened by
fracking, by Louise from Frack Free
Somerset, by Kathryn from Balcombe and by Ian Crane, the ex-oilfield executive
of Fracktured Future fame, who presented the anti-fracking case so convincingly
at the EKAF event in Dover on 16th October.
Our Letter
Prime Minister
10, Downing
Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Dear Prime
Minister
We are writing
to you on behalf of East Kent Against Fracking, an organisation which represents
hundreds of residents of East Kent, by no means inveterate protesters or
trouble-makers but ordinary people who have taken the trouble to examine the
issue of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and become extremely concerned about
the dangers it presents for the UK. We are standing up alongside our fellow citizens to
protect our environment, public health, local economy and social cohesion against
the deteriorating effects which fracking and related drilling practices have
brought to many parts of the USA over the past decade.
We
would like to put the case against fracking in the UK to you and trust that you
will give it as much attention as you have so far given to the pro-fracking
lobby.
First of all, it is a myth
that the kind of fracking proposed has a long history in this country. In fact,
it has been carried out (with damage to 80 homes from earth tremors) only at
Preese Hall in Lancashire, starting in 2011. The process involved is slick
water fracking, used since 2003. We are fortunate in being able to learn from
the decade-long experience in the USA and the operations in Australia that this
kind of extraction of unconventional gas and oil should be opposed on
principle, not just as a localised or NIMBY issue, for the following reasons:
1.
There is mounting evidence that fracking
inevitably causes water, air and soil pollution, even if a borehole has been
properly drilled and sealed. 7% on average of new boreholes leak immediately[1]:
it is simply impossible for the most experienced geologists and the most highly
skilled engineers to guarantee that drilling can be carried out with complete
safety to the environment. Even when a borehole is successfully drilled and
lined, it is likely to fail eventually[2]
and toxic fluids left underground by the fracking process will seep up the
annulus to overlying aquifers and soil, causing contamination which will be a
threat to human and animal health, as well as making the area uninhabitable.
This may be 20-30 years after the borehole has been drilled – a very long time
after the company responsible for securing the environment has left the area.
The clean-up operation will, of course, devolve onto the local government
authorities and cost considerably more than the £100,000 originally granted to
the community for permitting the drilling. Indeed, the loss in value of one
single property in the East Kent area would amount to far more than this sum.
If you have any doubts about the threat to water supplies, three
applications for exploratory boreholes to assess the viability of extracting
unconventional gas from the former Kent coalfield have recently been withdrawn
by the applicant (Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd) owing to the unassailable arguments
made by the Environment Agency about the risks which operations of this kind would
pose to the vital chalk aquifer. It lies not far above the coal and shale strata
and supports a high density of
public supply boreholes, forming part of the North Downs groundwater
resource, which supplies at least 70% of the county's domestic and commercial
requirements.
2. As for the question of strict controls on the
extraction of unconventional gas or oil from underground, your government has
accepted that the regulations which apply to conventional gas and oil
exploration and extraction (such as in the North Sea) are inadequate. That is
why you have set up the Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO). However,
this body has so far failed to produce anything appropriate to the risks
involved, the most serious of which I have already outlined: irreversible water
contamination, air and soil pollution, leading to health problems.
The US government has reduced standards of monitoring
and regulation by excluding the extraction of unconventional gas and oil from
the jurisdiction of federal environmental protection legislation (“the
Halliburton loophole”), thus leaving the states and local authorities to take
up the responsibility for regulating, monitoring and dealing with accidents. The
UK government is giving every indication that it intends to follow the same
agenda:
§
by cutting Environment Agency budgets further and faster than
expected;
§
by proposing the closure of air quality monitoring stations
and the abolition of Air Quality Management Zones;
§
by indicating it will seek to end a landowner’s right to
refuse permission to drill under his/her land;
§
by putting political pressure on local authorities to permit
drilling applications;
§
by pledging deregulation, while at the same time assuring us that
accidents which have happened abroad could never happen in our highly regulated
industrial scenario; and
§
by appointing gas industry moguls to cabinet posts, including
Lord John Browne, former CEO of BP, who while in office has made extensive use
of his power to appoint non-executive members of his choice to government
departments concerned with regulating the oil and gas industry[3].
Conflict
of interest in the highest offices of state, rampant deregulation, exemption
from environmental protection legislation, dismissal of risk, denial of alleged
harm, disparagement of dissent and legal gagging of dissenters – these are all
hallmarks of the political climate which have allowed fracking to spread
unrestricted across rural America over the past decade. This laissez-faire approach enabled fracking
companies to go from a small handful of vertical test bores in Western
Pennsylvania in 2007 to over 3,000 wells, about half of which are now
horizontal fracking wells, spreading like a fungus across the once-rural
landscape of Northwestern Pennsylvania[4].
From
an economic point of view, it may conceivably be acceptable for certain areas
to be made uninhabitable in vast continents such as North America or Australia,
but we clearly do not have this option on our small, densely-populated island. Our
geology is also much more sensitive and riddled with faults, making drilling
hazardous at the best of times.
- Another myth which is going the rounds is that there have been no cases of harm from fracking in the USA. This argument relies on semantics, depending on the usage of 'case' meaning litigation in the courts. Owing to “the Halliburton loophole” cited above, victims of contamination are forced to go directly to the fracking companies and non-disclosure agreements are often signed as a prelude to any compensation. As reported by The Guardian in August, settlements of up to $750,000 have been made by US fracking companies using lifetime gagging orders even on children as young as seven[5].
Serious effects on
human health have also been documented in Australia among people living close
to unconventional gas extraction operations. This has been confirmed by The Australian Medical
Association's incoming president in Queensland[6].
The effects range from nose bleeds and skin rashes to debilitating headaches
and an increased risk of cancer.
To add to these concerns, the exposure of
residents to constant noise and lighting at sites is known to affect their
health. The consequences of loud noise are well understood and serious, but now
the problems of low frequency and subsonic sound exposure, especially in the long
term, are becoming known and studied. It has been shown by the Centre for Human
Performance (Portugal), School of Biomedical Engineering, Sciences and Health
Systems at Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) and CITIDEP (Portugal)[7]
that such exposure can cause major health effects, including cardiac infarcts,
stroke, cancer, epilepsy, rage reactions and suicide.
4.
It seems, however, that you and your government are in favour
of slick water fracking in the UK because you believe that it will lead to
cheaper energy. You are clearly of the opinion that this benefit outweighs the
risks to our environment, health and quality of life. However,
Lord Stern, a cross-bench peer and professor at the London School of
Economics, has said that the claim of cheaper energy from UK
unconventional gas supplies is "baseless". Since UK gas is traded internationally, any shale gas boom
in the UK would be unlikely to have an impact on the gas price. In the USA,
where fracking artificially lowered gas prices significantly at the outset, gas
is rarely exported because other markets are too far away. Expert commentators from the International Energy Agency to Deutsche Bank have also
said different geological, legal and regulatory conditions make
it unlikely the US shale gas boom would be repeated in the UK[8]. The
CBI, Chatham House and OFGEM have also expressed their doubts about shale gas
bringing prices down.
- As for the supposed prospect of more jobs, unemployment is growing in Pennsylvania in spite of its self-proclaimed “booming” Marcellus shale production. Fracking is not labour-intensive: it requires a small team of skilled and trained operatives, who will not be recruited locally in the UK. While some temporary jobs may be created in the area of a fracking site clearing land or possibly guarding it, many other jobs will be lost when businesses move out of an area which has become unpleasant to work in due to the noise and dust caused by 24/7 operations, let alone the frequent HGV traffic to and from sites, causing congestion on often narrow country roads. Farmers and the food industry will find their reputation and produce blighted by a real or perceived anxiety on the part of their customers about contamination from the gas extraction operations – many will prefer to exercise a precautionary principle and go elsewhere.
In the USA, SMEs have been
impoverished as their businesses have faltered, struggled and failed. They are,
however, the largest provider of net new jobs in the USA, in spite of all the
oil and gas industry’s rhetoric. Independent analyses of shale plays throughout
the country confirm that wells are short-lived and reserves not as great as
industry promises. In addition, communities where drilling has occurred are now
dealing with the expensive aftermath. The drilling companies have offloaded
that significant burden onto the taxpayers and local businesses. This is true
of the oil and gas industry as a whole. In fact, economists estimate that if
all the external costs of oil and gas were included, gasoline would cost in
excess of $12 per gallon (it costs on average $3.30).
What are these costs?
Firstly, water must be provided for communities where it has been contaminated.
Secondly, there are rising health care costs to pay for those suffering from
the effects of fracking, everything from skin rashes to respiratory problems and
cancer. Last but not least, county councils are left with the costs of
repairing roads damaged by the constant stream of heavy goods vehicles to and
from fracking sites. Some roads require annual maintenance at $70,000-$80,000
per mile; others need basic reconstruction at a cost of up to $920,000 per
mile.
In conclusion,
at EKAF we are well aware that solutions must be found to supply UK energy
needs in the years to come. Unconventional gas from fracking can never be a
“stop-gap” measure. Even if the most optimistic projections for its supply are
realised and environmental risks ignored, it will be a decade before we can
have the tens of thousands of wells necessary to make production viable. By
then we could have already taken vital steps to end our country’s reliance on
gas and to make homes more energy efficient, eventually converting them to
using exclusively renewable sources of energy. Government subsidies would be
far better spent aiding and hastening this adaptation than giving tax breaks to
foreign fracking companies, which provide no lasting solution to our energy
needs. This policy is already enshrined in the National Planning Policy
Framework and is a far better strategy for reducing our energy bills in a
long-term, sustainable manner.
Many of the
arguments for fracking are made by those who have vested interests in the
multinational energy giants. We know that, as Prime Minister, you have the best
interests of the country first and foremost at heart. We hope we have been able
to alert you to some of the very real dangers we face if we go down the path to
fracking, not least of which is that of turning our countryside into an
industrialised toxic wasteland. This is not the legacy any of us want to leave
to our children and grandchildren.
Yours
sincerely
Julie Wassmer
(Kasparian), EKAF Vice Chair (Petition Organiser – address supplied at head of
letter)
Rosemary
Rechter, EKAF Chair
Patricia
Marsh, EKAF Secretary
Andrew Ogden,
EKAF Technical Officer
Caroline
Raffan, EKAF Online Media Officer
Stuart Cox,
EKAF Committee Member
Gayzer Tarjanyi (Frackman), Frack Free Fylde
Supplementary Sources:
Osborn
et al. “Methane contamination of
drinking water accompanying gas‐well
drilling and hydraulic fracturing”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America, 2011
Bamberger, M. & Oswald, R. E. “Impacts
of Gas
Drilling on Human and Animal
Health”, New Solut. 2012;22(1):51-77, doi: 10.2190/NS.22.1.e.
Brundage et al. “Pennsylvania Marcellus
Shale Workforce Needs Assessment”, MSETC, August 2011
Barth, Janette M., “Hydrofracking offers
short-term boom, long-term bust”, ENR New York, 7 March 2011
Goldenberg, Suzanne, “A Texan tragedy: ample
oil, no water”, theguardian.com, 11 August 2013
Food & Water
Watch, “Fracking and the food system”, 6 J
[2] Schlumberger, the world’s No.1 fracking company,
cites 60% failure over a 30-year time span http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Fracking-is-hardly-leakproof-3646458.php
[7] Alves-Pereira, M. & Nuno Castelo Branco, “Vibroacoustic
disease: the need for a new attitude
towards noise”, CITIDEP, 2000
[8] Deutsche Bank, “European
Gas: A First Look At EU Shale-Gas Prospects” 2011
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Dover District Council Scrutiny Committee
Dover District Council decided in October to remit the planning fracking decision to its Scrutiny Committee.
DDC invited Official bodies like the EA on an evening last week, Community campaigners against on Monday and in theory the company on a third.
The meeting with Environmental Agency happen last week where they voiced their concerns on the quality of the application from Coastal. Despite Coastal decision the stop their planning applications last Thursday DDC decided, rightly in our view, to continue the process so Councillors could gain more knowledge about the subject.
Last night they heard speakers from EKAF, CPRE, 'Keep Shepherdswell Well, local campaigners from Guston.
The general impression was that the Councillors recieved the testimony very positively and were impressed by the scope of argument and the clear voice from the communities affected.
and the session with Coastal ? .... apparantly they have not answered the orginial invite.
Yet another example of the inability of the company to engage with the Communities they seek to stream-roll into fracking.
DDC invited Official bodies like the EA on an evening last week, Community campaigners against on Monday and in theory the company on a third.
The meeting with Environmental Agency happen last week where they voiced their concerns on the quality of the application from Coastal. Despite Coastal decision the stop their planning applications last Thursday DDC decided, rightly in our view, to continue the process so Councillors could gain more knowledge about the subject.
Last night they heard speakers from EKAF, CPRE, 'Keep Shepherdswell Well, local campaigners from Guston.
The general impression was that the Councillors recieved the testimony very positively and were impressed by the scope of argument and the clear voice from the communities affected.
and the session with Coastal ? .... apparantly they have not answered the orginial invite.
Yet another example of the inability of the company to engage with the Communities they seek to stream-roll into fracking.
Saturday, 9 November 2013
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Thursday, 31 October 2013
EKAF PR: Local Opposition mounts to Drilling Applications
EAST KENT AGAINST FRACKING
PRESS RELEASE - Monday 28th October 2013
LOCAL OPPOSITION MOUNTS TO DRILLING APPLICATIONS After 4 east Kent parish councils recently voted against applications for exploratory drilling at 3 sites in east Kent, a new campaign group has sprung up in one of the affected villages. Eythorne, which together with Tilmanstone, Guston and Shepherdswell parish councils opposes planning applications by Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd, has created its own group and a website called Eythorne in the Side of Drilling.
http://eythorneinthesideofdrilling.org/
This follows the formation of another village campaign group Keep Shepherdswell Well which has just published its second letter Newsletter. (See attachment).
http://www.keepshepherdswellwell.org/latest-news-2/
Julie Wassmer Vice Chair of East Kent Against Fracking says "Local MP Charlie Elphicke opposes these applications on site specific concerns and Kent County Council recently cancelled a public meeting as well as deferring a site meeting for its planning committee members after the Environment Agency wrote that it was '…unable to advise whether or not the environment (in particular groundwater quality) can be protected from this development.' I was told by KCC's Chief Planning Officer Sharon Thompson that no decision can now be made by KCC's planning committee until 2014 which is a significant step forward for campaigners considering original deadline given by KCC for consultation was October 6th."
Pam Mudge Wood a member of both EKAF and Keep Shepherdswell Well says 'the delay allows villagers to access more information and a number of activities are now planned to raise local awareness of the negative impact of the drilling. These include letter writing clinics and screenings of "Fracking in the UK - The Truth Behind the Dash for Gas" by Marco Jackson on Saturday 2 Nov, 2-4pm and Friday 8 Nov, 7:30 - 9:30 pm. At the weekend we will also be embarking on door-to-door canvassing of Shepherdswell and Coldred Parish, knocking on doors, not just dropping in letterboxes, with a hard-hitting leaflet urging villagers to write letters and attend the films. We will be offering a simple letter to sign on the doorstep to register support for the parish council decision and the report upon which it was based, as well as a copy of our latest newsletter."
Rosemary Rechter, Chair of EKAF said 'I am very pleased to see local people organising themselves so well to fight the applications. We have also had a number of requests from our members to stage further public meetings in east Kent following our successful meeting at Dover Town Hall on October 16th. There may be a delay in the planning process but I would warn everyone against resting on their laurels. We have won two rounds with all four parish councils deciding against the applications, and the Environment Agency demanding clarification from Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd, but the fight is by no means over."
LOCAL OPPOSITION MOUNTS TO DRILLING APPLICATIONS After 4 east Kent parish councils recently voted against applications for exploratory drilling at 3 sites in east Kent, a new campaign group has sprung up in one of the affected villages. Eythorne, which together with Tilmanstone, Guston and Shepherdswell parish councils opposes planning applications by Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd, has created its own group and a website called Eythorne in the Side of Drilling.
http://eythorneinthesideofdrilling.org/
This follows the formation of another village campaign group Keep Shepherdswell Well which has just published its second letter Newsletter. (See attachment).
http://www.keepshepherdswellwell.org/latest-news-2/
Julie Wassmer Vice Chair of East Kent Against Fracking says "Local MP Charlie Elphicke opposes these applications on site specific concerns and Kent County Council recently cancelled a public meeting as well as deferring a site meeting for its planning committee members after the Environment Agency wrote that it was '…unable to advise whether or not the environment (in particular groundwater quality) can be protected from this development.' I was told by KCC's Chief Planning Officer Sharon Thompson that no decision can now be made by KCC's planning committee until 2014 which is a significant step forward for campaigners considering original deadline given by KCC for consultation was October 6th."
Pam Mudge Wood a member of both EKAF and Keep Shepherdswell Well says 'the delay allows villagers to access more information and a number of activities are now planned to raise local awareness of the negative impact of the drilling. These include letter writing clinics and screenings of "Fracking in the UK - The Truth Behind the Dash for Gas" by Marco Jackson on Saturday 2 Nov, 2-4pm and Friday 8 Nov, 7:30 - 9:30 pm. At the weekend we will also be embarking on door-to-door canvassing of Shepherdswell and Coldred Parish, knocking on doors, not just dropping in letterboxes, with a hard-hitting leaflet urging villagers to write letters and attend the films. We will be offering a simple letter to sign on the doorstep to register support for the parish council decision and the report upon which it was based, as well as a copy of our latest newsletter."
Rosemary Rechter, Chair of EKAF said 'I am very pleased to see local people organising themselves so well to fight the applications. We have also had a number of requests from our members to stage further public meetings in east Kent following our successful meeting at Dover Town Hall on October 16th. There may be a delay in the planning process but I would warn everyone against resting on their laurels. We have won two rounds with all four parish councils deciding against the applications, and the Environment Agency demanding clarification from Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd, but the fight is by no means over."
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
EKAF Press Release 21/10 - East Kent says NO to test boreholes
PRESS RELEASE Monday 21st
October 2013
EAST KENT SAYS NO TO BOREHOLES!
During a week when Dover MP Charlie Elphicke shared
his concerns with East Kent Against Fracking (EKAF) regarding the possible
contamination of an aquifer supplying 70% of the county’s water, 2 parish
councils voted against applications for exploratory boreholes in East Kent.
On Monday 14th October, Mr Elphicke met
with EKAF’s Vice Chair Julie Wassmer in Westminster and said ‘the energy
resource is a huge opportunity but I’ve always said we must balance this with
the risk to the aquifer and the risk is too great.’
On Tuesday 15th October Guston Parish Council voted
to reject the applications, with Shepherdswell following suit on Wednesday
(16th October). Shepherdswell villager Pam Mudge-Wood said ‘Keep
Shepherdswell Well’, our local anti-drilling campaign group, is delighted with
the result but we must emphasise to our village that we should still write and
submit letters of objection to Kent County Council by Nov 15th. We are
delighted to have our Parish Council's support!” (NB SEE FULL STATEMENT FROM PAM
MUDGE-WOOD BELOW.)
Ms Mudge-Wood and other villagers left the
Shepherdswell Parish Council meeting early to break the news to EKAF which was
holding its own public meeting on the same evening at Dover Town Hall.
EKAF Chair Rosemary Rechter said “We were extremely
pleased by the Shepherdswell vote and our meeting proved to be a very
informative, if disturbing evening. Ex-oil company executive Ian R. Crane
explained the context and gave a very full account of the downside of this
technology, citing countless examples of water contamination, and damage to the
environment and health of people in the U.S. and Australia. He also pointed out
that the industry could cover 65% of the country. Graham D. Warren of CPRE Kent
explained why the local geology presented a very high risk of water
contamination and seismic events and Sue Taylor, a Balcombe resident, spoke
movingly of the birds that had vanished from her garden and the effects of noise
and vibration from drilling there. She explained that most villagers welcomed
the protection camp and her personal account of the events at Balcombe praised
the demonstrators, offering a very different account to that which people have
seen on the TV. We were grateful for the attendance of district councilors
including Cllr James Back (Con) and Cllr Peter Wallace (Lab) who also shared
their concerns.”
200 people attended the meeting after which a show
of hands revealed that only one person remained in favour of the unconventional
gas/oil industry.
Thanet Green Party Councillor and EKAF member Ian
Driver said "A Freedom of Information request made by the Green Party reveals
that Kent County Council has invested £153million of its pension fund in
companies which carry out fracking across the world. It is massive conflict of
interest for KCC to decide on planning applications that could lead to fracking,
when it is simultaneously investing in this extremely dangerous and damaging
industry. KCC should do the right thing and sell off its shares in the fracking
companies".
KCC has now cancelled a public meeting which was due
to be held on 7th November. Julie Wassmer said “Sharon Thompson,
Head of KCC Planning Applications,
has confirmed to me that because of the
many questions raised, from both the public and councillors, KCC now says it
requires more information from Coastal Oil & Gas Ltd and that there will be
no decision made by the KCC Planning Committee until at least the New Year
regarding these applications.”
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