Moratorium On Fracking In England

This morning I awoke to the news that fracking has been suspended following a moratorium decision induced by Government. I could hardly believe my eyes, I squinted a few times, I rubbed them and blinked. I stared at the screen for a while wondering what this all means for fracking in England now. 

The mainstream media headlines read 'Fracking banned in the UK', whilst a moratorium isn't a ban and by definition is 'a temporary prohibition of an activity' in this case that would be fracking. 

This is a still a win for all of the people who have been arduously committed to campaigning against fracking since it reared it's ugly head in the UK. The community in Lancashire will be celebrating today, as no further fracking will be taking place for the time being. Whilst the site here in Lancashire has permits to monitor and run until 2023, they cannot frack, for now.

Over the last few weeks Cuadrilla have been flaring gas from their site and as of today those flare stacks are still in place. Flames, smoke and vapour have all been visible from their flare stacks over the last few days. Cuadrilla continue to flare in spite of mainstream media headlines that said they had removed all equipment for their site, they began to remove some, but not all. Be careful what you read in the mainstream eh. 

Fracking at Cuadrillas Lancashire site was suspended following investigation on Monday 26th August 2019 after an earthquake of 2.9 was caused and felt by local people in their homes. The moratorium has been put in place, since the Oil and Gas Authority has said that it is impossible to predict the probability of the magnitude of earthquakes that would be caused by Fracking. 

It is estimated that over the last 2 and something years Cuadrilla have spent 270 million on it's Fracking operations in Lancashire, yet have failed to reassure the public or anyone else that they can operate safely. I've heard terms used like 'flogging a dead duck, flogging a dead horse' I like to think that they have indeed, completely fucked it.  

With a general election due in just six weeks and environmental issues being pushed to the forefront of the agenda, it is understandable why people are sceptical about this temporary ban on Fracking in England. 

Andrea Leadsom and Boris Johnson have always outspokenly been pro fracking and not only advocated it but peddled it as some sort of low carbon, green energy. 
Andrea Leadsom said this morning ''We will still continue to need to use gas into the next decades as we decarbonize our system, and we will be able to import it from overseas, but it's very disappointing."

The Tory government are still pushing the agenda that there is a need for gas across the country and have failed drastically to invest in renewable and clean sources of energy such as wind, solar and wave. 


Are the Conservative Party moving their chess pieces just to get votes from environmental campaigners? 

Will Cuadrilla now try to find a way to say that they can control seismic activity, underground, caused by Fracking? 
As we currently stand the Oil and Gas Authority say that is impossible. 

What then of the money that has been invested in Fracking so far, reports from 2018 read that over 9 billion pounds had been invested in Fracking companies by councils from staff pension funds, not to mention the extra 32 million that came out of the tax payers purse, invested in Fracking with still no return. 

It is not only the money that has been wasted in Fracking investments from the public purse, but that which has been spent on the policing of fracking protests. At Preston New road a lone a report released in October stated that 12 million pounds had been spent out of tax payers money to Police Preston New road. That is an extra 12 million, on top of the millions which had already been washed down the drain from Government backed fracking investments which have seemingly amounted to nothing.

In regards to the policing at Preston New road over shadowed by Silver Command Keith Ogle, campaigners have bore witness to, what is at best inconstant policing and not only that, have been brutalised by Lancashire Police for attempting to have any sort of demonstration against Cuadrilla.

Without the use of the Police force there is absolutely no way that Cuadrilla would have even got as far as Fracking here in Lancashire.  Lancashire Police even called in mutual aid using other Police Forces from across the country in 2017 in an attempt to strangle the protest further. What sort of legitimate industry has to rely on the use of the Police in order to be able to operate? 

To add to further insult, Lancashire County Council and the people of Lancashire voted against Fracking in their area 2015, a decision that was over turned by Sajid Javid who at the time said “Shale gas has the potential to power economic growth, support 64,000 jobs, and provide a new domestic energy source, making us less reliant on imports,” said Javid. “We will take the big decisions that matter to the future of our country as we build an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.” He later on stated that he did had 'misunderstood key local and national planning policies'' in relation to fracking.

It was this move by central government that had made a mockery of local democracy, the ability for local councils to make decisions and control what happened within their own local communities was taken out of their hands. The local community was left with no other option, but to protest, demonstrate and resist against Cuadrilla. 

The Police have not only been complicit in forcing fracking on this community in Lancashire, but on many other communities since Fracking first came to England.

A report released by Liverpool John Moore University called ''Keep Moving'' investigated in detail how the Police abused their powers to bail people away from the protest, assault women using sexualised violence and used violent behaviour to oppress the nature of the protest. In echo of a report that has just been released regarding the amount of convictions in comparison to arrests at the Preston New road protest, overwhelmingly at Barton Moss 66% of those arrested, either had their cases dropped or were found not guilty by the Courts. 

You can read and download the report http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/115146/ here. 

It is interesting to note, that the Barton Moss protests against fracking took place in 2013 however, what we find are the same kinds of Police tactics were used against protesters here in Lancashire just 4 years later. It is clear that they had learnt nothing from their mistakes that echoed in a not so distant past. 

In spite of great Police efforts to stop any kind of resistance against Cuadrilla, they were met with continued resistance. During a time of which the Police were struggling to kill the spirit of campaigners, the Police themselves advised Ineos that Cuadrilla should take out an injunction against Protesters, meaning that anyone who was take part in none violent direct action, would face up two years in prison an injunction which
has since been mimicked by HS2 rail. 

The Police have failed to be anything, but impartial in relation to how they operated  here at Preston New road. Under operation Manilla, Police have pushed disabled people from wheelchairs, dragged elderly people across the road by their arms, pushed people into hedges, stamped on peoples heads, broken a few campaigners bones, all in aid of facilitating Cuadrilla. Their continued robotic regurgitation has been ''We are here to facilitate peaceful protest''. When in reality, they have yet again, been seen to abuse their powers to violently suppress and prevent any kind of effective protest here at Preston New road. It did in fact at times, appear that officers enjoyed assaulting and arresting people, as though it was a sick game of Cat and Mouse to them. 

Their ignorance and complacency is not an excuse, on a daily basis they would choose to ignore people talking to them about their legitimate concerns about Fracking, only to fall on deaf ears and would usually end up with someone being thrown into a hedge by a cop, all so a lorry could enter the site. ''Just doing my job'' is not an excuse for apathy and violence, it just is not. 

For years people have been shouting in the dark about the dangers caused by fracking. Based upon evidence and damning reports from America of birth defects, cancers, nose bleeds, earthquakes and damaged water supplies which lead to toxic drinking water that could be set a light from a tap with a match. Yet, all of these findings were ignored by official bodies and Fracking was given the green light by the Government in this Country with the full boot of the Police behind it.                                                                                                                                     
What then now, with a moratorium on fracking, because of risks to human safety, what then, of the campaigners who now have criminal records and fines up the eyeballs for trying to prevent harm? 

What of the people who did loose their liberty trying to prevent damage to the environment and the poisoning of the water supply? 

At what point do the vilified become vindicated? 

The Police should be held accountable for the part they have played in forcing Fracking on communities and whilst doing so, criminalising protest. 

- ''Protest is fundamental to any sort of democracy'' 

Somebody ought to tell the Police and the Anti Terror Units, I think they missed the fundamental memo. 

People seen to be protesting against fracking have been treated as radical fundamentalists punishable by law, whilst an industry that causes earthquakes has been allowed to operate with the help of the police force. 

The days for waving a placard and wishing that things would be different are long gone, the only way to make real change is to force it. There is no denying that direct action has had a massive part to play within the anti-fracking campaign itself. Without the will of the people fighting against fracking, the United Kingdom would surely be a fully functional gas field by now. 

We need not look to our Government and MP's to thank them for the changes they tell us they make or they will make. We need only look no further than ourselves, as it is the people who take back their power, who are the ones that bring about real change. 

Watch this space... 

                   Today the people of Lancashire celebrate this victory. 

                                                    photo taken 12/08/2019