Don't Frack our future

[David Guyatt]

Looks to me that the government has already decided to proceed with fracking in the UK - despite all the BS that it's waiting for results from test drilling sites.

It was always going to go where the money is.

This story is preparing UK citizens not to get expect cheaper prices in the UK, once the countryside starts getting ripped apart and poisoned. Selling gas to Europe will increase the government tax coffers, but no relief for the rest of us.

We're going to be truly fracked as usual.

Chris Huhne: UK may have to export fracking gas to rest of Europe

Former energy minister Chris Huhne has warned that the UK may be forced to export its reserves of shale gas produced by fracking to the rest of Europe.

Former energy minister Chris Huhne Photo: Rii Schroer








By Rhiannon Williams

9:12AM BST 30 Sep 2013

54 Comments


Mr Huhne said that under European competition laws the UK may be forced to share the gas with other countries.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change has predicted gas prices in the UK could fall by as much as a quarter if the UK begins to exploit its natural reserves.

But when asked by John Humphrys on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if the UK would be forced to export the gas, Huhne said that some would be used in the UK, but trade guidelines would make exportation likely.

He said it was not a question of having to export the gas, as it "would certainly get used here", but said the UK was "linked in to world gas price much more than the Americans are" due to the already established pipelines and terminals.

The controversial practice of gas extraction involving pumping water into drill sites to force gas out of rock has sparked anti-fracking protests across the country in recent months.

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Mr Huhne has previously said there only two safe ways to reduce UK energy prices; to increase supply or cut demand. He said gas prices in the US, which are three times lower than UK wholesale gas prices could be attributed to the US "fracking revolution".
The former Lib Dem MP said UK gas prices could be lowered due to the import of fracking gas from the United States.
He told Humphreys: "The speed of the fracking revolution in the US has happened so quickly the investors have been unable to keep up with turning import terminals, which they're expected to have to use, into export terminals.
"It's certainly worth doing, massively worth doing. There are lots of proposals outstanding to the US government outstanding for approval for export terminals, and so far just four have been approved, and there are another 10 awaiting approval.
"What we need is lots and lots of those approvals, because that will gradually equalise the gas price in the US with the rest of the world. At the moment they're getting a tremendous competitive advantage from that low gas price, because of all the gas being locked in as these export facilities simply aren't there yet."
Huhne maintained the UK government must continue to apply pressure to the US to develop export terminals for fracking gas in order for the gas to be exported to the UK, which in turn would lower gas prices.
He said many American businesses and trade unions oppose the building of export terminals, and that the US is legally obliged to share strategic commodities under the World Trade Organisation.
Earlier this month a report by the American Chemistry Council claimed shale gas had given the US a "profound and sustained competitive advantage" in chemicals, plastics, and related industries.
He also blamed high energy costs on the Treasury, which he claimed resisted calls to provide greater incentives for homeowners and businesses to improve energy efficiency, instead choosing to give relief to fracking firms.
Huhne was jailed for eight months in March this year for perverting the course of justice over a 2003 spending case.
Following his resignation as an MP and release from jail Huhne has been employed in a two-day-a-week role as the European chairman of American firm Zilkha Biomass Energy.
A spokesman for the Institute of Directors said the professional business network backed the extraction of shale gas, but admitted the industry had some way to go.
He said: "A domestic shale gas industry would be of enormous benefit to the UK, but there's a long way to go before we start to consider exporting it.
"We support the government's ambition to create a dynamic, well-regulated shale industry and the focus must now be on getting the gas out of the ground so we can follow America's example and reap the rewards."

Telegraph.

[Magda Hassan]

It is all the rage here too. Insane. Britain is surrounded by all that water which can be harnessed as tidal energy. The there is wind power too. All free and renewable. Not sure how well situated the UK is for geothermal but for sure there are so many environmental problems with fracking I can't imagine why it is even an option. Oh, yes I can actually.

[Magda Hassan]

A new low in the war on mother earth and those trying to save her.

Canadian First Nation anti-fracking protest: Arrests, pepper-spray, snipers, torched cars

Published time: October 18, 2013 01:03
Edited time: October 18, 2013 06:23Get short URL



Photo fronm twitter/@MattThor







Tags
Canada, Clashes, Crime, Human rights,Law, Police, Politics, Protest

An anti-fracking protest descended into violence when an estimated 100 police officers sought to control hundreds more Canadian protesters who set cars on fire and threatened officers mounted on horseback.
Tension spilled over Thursday when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) moved in to take down barriers erected by members of the Elsipogtog First Nation tribe in New Brunswick, Canada.
Activists and local aboriginals have held demonstrations for a week to protest shale gas exploration in the region. The method of gas extraction involves drilling shallow, low-pressure fractures into the earth, which adds thousands of liters of chemicals to groundwater and emits foul odors from the ground.

17-10-13 #Canada - Police cars torched after police attack during Anti-Fracking protest.#mikmaqblockade #IdleNoMore pic.twitter.com/egZxTBXiGt
ѕyndιcalιѕт (@syndicalisms) October 17, 2013

At least 40 people were arrested Thursday for firearms violations, threats, intimidation, mischief, and violating a court-order injunction, the RCMP said. First Nation Chief Aaron Sock was among those taken into custody.

The RCMP claimed that at least one shot was fired Thursday by someone other than an officer and that at least five police cars were set on fire. They are investigating the possibility that explosives were planted at the scene and asserted that demonstrators were throwing rocks and bottles, along with spraying some kind of liquid at officers.
"The RCMP has worked diligently with all parties involved in hopes for a peaceful resolution. Those efforts have not been successful. Tensions were rising, and serious criminal acts are being committed," RCMP constable Jullie Rogers-Marsh said in a news release.

#IndigenousResistance against fracking in Canada pic.twitter.com/oOk03cpEKQ
Mel (@me_l) October 17, 2013

"There have been threats made to employees who were working with a private security firm at the site, as all as firearms offenses, incidents of intimidation, mischief and other criminal behavior. For those reasons and to ensure public safety, police action was required."
Chief Sock issued an eviction notice to SWN Resources Canada two weeks ago, warning the oil and gas company to leave native land. SWN seeks to begin seismic testing before it begins fracking for shale gas.
First Nation, mobilized in the belief that the energy exploration constitutes an invasion of tribal land, started blocking Highway 11 between Rexton and Sainte-Anne-de-Kent. That action inspired an October 3 court injunction ordering protesters to stay off the road.

A line of vehicles on fire. Amazing. @EmilyBat @Global_NB #nb pic.twitter.com/9ZxmAtP1w3
Laura Brown (@01LBrown) October 17, 2013

The simmering fury came to a head Thursday morning when the RCMP moved on the highway to force demonstrators away. What exactly followed remains unclear. Native leaders maintain that the police provoked them by drawing their weapons, while the RCMP asserted that they had no choice but to engage.
Susan Levi-Peters, a former chief of the Elsipogtog First Nation, told the Toronto Globe and Mail that the conflict quickly escalated after Chief Sock was apprehended. Pictures of Sock in handcuffs were posted frequently on Twitter throughout the day, inspiring messages of solidarity for the tribe.
Others said the chaos began when shots were fired, either by the police or an activist.
"It is really very volatile," Levi-Peters said. "It's a head-to-head between the people and the RCMP right now and the warriors are in the middle surrounded by the RCMP and then the RCMP are surrounded by the people."

Another chilling photo from #Elsipogtog #idlenomore #fracking #indigenouspic.twitter.com/H1pgCUPyiX
Todd Lamirande (@ToddLamirande) October 17, 2013

Fellow Canadians, this is the side you want to be on. Be half as brave as that little girl.#Elsipogtog #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/51Hm14QpZu
Settler Colonial (@SettlerColonial) October 17, 2013

I want to cry....#RCMP are attacking my people in #Elsipogtog......................the cops brought snipers pic.twitter.com/mhXnk18Smx
Treena Metallic (@Mimiges) October 17, 2013

http://rt.com/news/canadian-fracking-pro...lence-333/

[Magda Hassan]

CSG industry wants to hide from its toxic name

By Matt Grudnoff
Posted 8 hours 47 minutes ago
PHOTO: The industry clearly understands how the general public views CSG. (ABC News: Dan Cox)

[B]The words "coal seam gas" remain highly controversial and unpopular, which is why the industry wants to rebrand itself as "natural gas" as a way to avoid debate, writes Matt Grudnoff.[/B]
Just as those in the world of Harry Potter refused to utter Lord Voldemort's name for fear of their lives, the gas industry appears equally frightened of using the words 'coal seam gas' for fear it might hurt its profits.
But just as calling Voldemort 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' didn't make him disappear, calling coal seam gas (CSG) something else doesn't make it any less of a concern for the community.
The gas industry has been hit by an increasing number of restrictions on its CSG projects at the same time that both sides of politics have been talking about reducing green tape for resource projects. Exclusion zones in NSW and new water triggers from the federal government show the level of unease that governments and the general public have about CSG.
According to the Liberal-National Party, the industry has failed to gain a social licence, with NSW Resources Minister Chris Hartcher chiding the industry at its national conference, saying, "Industry did not engage in the debate; industry stood back and allowed the debate to happen."
But how did the industry get to the point where the conservative side of politics is implementing two kilometre exclusion zones around homes?
Avoiding the issue seems to be the industry's plan, with new survey data from The Australia Institute showing that 36 per cent of Australians have not heard of coal seam gas. The industry tries not to mention CSG by name and in all kinds of ways it has avoided engaging with people's concerns.
It has refused to do any work to look at how much natural gas is leaking out of the ground because the industry is using the controversial method of extracting CSG known as fracking. This is a process that splits the rocks underground - where the natural gas is trapped - in order to force it out. With a complete lack of information from the industry, the government has been forced to commission the CSIRO to conduct research in this area.
The industry in its recent multi-million dollar advertising campaign has not made any attempt to allay the general public's concerns about the environmental effects of CSG extraction. In The Australia Institute survey, the top concerns people had about CSG were damage to the local environment, negative impacts on farming land, damage to people's health, and water contamination.
Instead, the advertising campaign focused on possible economic benefits of expanding the natural gas industry, including the amazing claim that it was responsible for 100,000 jobs last year. According to ABS, the industry employs about 20,000 people in total.
Apart from extraordinary claims of economic benefits, the most interesting thing about the advertising campaign is what it hasn't talked about. Nowhere does it mention CSG, despite the purpose of the campaign being to remove restrictions on CSG extraction. The advertising instead talks about natural gas, a term that is far less controversial.
The industry clearly understands how the general public views CSG because just after the federal election, it gleefully reported that it had conducted exit polls in a small number of electorates where it asked voters if natural gas was an issue for them. No one said it was. This fits in with the industry's desire to keep a low profile, but what is really interesting is that they asked about 'natural gas', not CSG. The response may well have been very different if they had used the words coal seam gas.
These words are so toxic that the NSW government has proposed changing them. Rather than referring to 'coal seam gas' or 'CSG', it would instead be called 'natural gas from coal seams'. Natural gas from coal seams might be technically correct, but we are left to wonder why the term needed expanding.
But the real question is why the industry is avoiding the debate. Could it be avoiding discussing environmental concerns because it fears that the public might be correct? Is its strategy not to engage a delaying tactic in the hope that CSG projects can be up and running before the full extent of the damage is known?
Whatever the reason, the restrictions on CSG do not look like going away anytime soon. Vote compass asked if people thought restrictions on CSG should be reduced and 60 per cent of respondents from New South Wales said no. With the industry afraid to even talk about CSG, it seems intent on exaggerating the economic benefits, running a baseless gas shortage scare campaign, and hoping that the 36 per cent of Australians who have not heard of CSG don't find out about it anytime soon.
Matt Grudnoff is a senior economist at The Australia Institute. View his full profile here.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-18/gr...me/5030520

[Keith Millea]

Military snipers brought to an indigenous anti-fracking protest

American Indian Movement (AIM) speaks up!

First Nations Terrance Nelson calls for rail blockades in response to New Brunswick police attack

By Terrance Nelson, Roseau River Anishinabe
Vice Chairman American Indian Movement
Censored News



[TABLE="class: tr-caption-container"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: tr-caption, align: center"]First Nations Winnipeg marching late Thursday to RCMP[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

As Chairman of the American Indian Movement, I am forwarding you the following link regarding the situation in New Brunswick Canada. Brenda Norrell of Censored News is posting the updates as it comes in. Please circulate as far as possible.

As Vice-Chair of AIM, I have been warning of inevitable violence in Canada for some time now. I fully expect and am advising our supporters and Warrior Societies across Canada to blockade on behalf of the Elsipogtog FIrst Nation people. Chief Arren Sock and his council have been arrested. This is not a joke, this is real and as I warned our people, time and time again, the Canadian Government has been preparing for this confrontation for some time. They have a long list of people that will be arrested. I am one of the people on that list.

We have prepared for this time and most warrior societies across Canada are aware to stay in their home area, not to rush to New Brunswick to be concentrated in one area for Police and the Canadian Army to easily contain the situation.

The most important issue is Who Speaks for our people. National Chief Atleo is too weak for what is coming. The shutdown of the Canadian economy will happen. We as Warrior Societies had prepared for this since the OKA crisis in 1990, and the Canadian Government made sure that the situation would happen.

I ask that you inform as many of the AIM people as possible and monitor the situation in Canada. This situation is very serious and I fully expect violence to occur even more so than what has already happened in New Brunwick.

At four p.m. today, AIM people in Manitoba will be protesting in Winnipeg. I expect railway blockades to occur immediately across Canada and they will continue until the Federal Government of Canada comes to their senses.

I expect to be arrested along with many others. The support from the American side is critical to the First Nations in Canada. This is big oil pushing the First Nations into submission. That is their goal. The Conservative Government of Canada is only a tool of big business.

I will try to stay in touch.

Terrance Nelson
Vice-Chair AIM

More support and photos at the link below:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/10/po...frack.html

[Magda Hassan]

Military snipers brought to an indigenous anti-fracking protest

American Indian Movement (AIM) speaks up!

More support and photos at the link below:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/10/po...frack.html

There are some great photos at the link. It must be a new low for the Harper government sending snipers to an environmental protest. The police should be protecting the land from the corporations assault not those trying to stop the crime.

[David Guyatt]

Oh dearie me.

The new director general of the National Trust ( since November 2012) says that the NT is open to fracking on Trust properties.

Being new, she has no idea of the depth of resentment this statement will probably engender amongst trust members, who I imagine will be wild with indignation. I can see the possibility that her term of office being really quite short.

National Trust may open up land to fracking, says Dame Helen Ghosh

Head of conservation trust says it has an 'open mind' despite previous opposition but would not allow windfarms

• Press Association
  
• theguardian.com, Thursday 24 October 2013 05.35 BST
  
• Jump to comments (53)
  

Dame Helen Ghosh says the National Trust is no longer unilaterally opposed to fracking. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The National Trust has an "open mind" about fracking and would consider allowing it on its land, the head of the charity has said.

Dame Helen Ghosh, the conservation trust's director general, told the Times it would make up its mind about the controversial gas extraction procedure after seeing the evidence on its environmental impact.

It appears to be a move away from the trust's previous stance of a "presumption against fracking" on its land "because natural gas is a fossil gas", a position it held during the anti-fracking protests in August when the firm Cuadrilla drilled a test well at Balcombe in West Sussex.

Ghosh said the trust was worried that fracking might "perpetuate a reliance on fossil fuels" but said that gas was "less bad" than coal in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

She added: "I'm not saying we will never allow fracking on our land.

"We all have yet to see what the surface environmental impact of fracking is and when we have seen it then we would reach a view about whether [we would object to it] adjacent to National Trust land or on National Trust land.

"We are waiting for the evidence. We have an open mind."

Ghosh said it was unlikely the National Trust "would ever promote or allow a windfarm on our land" but she would not say whether this was because of the visual intrusion of windfarms.

She admitted the trust was well behind on its own targets for reducing reliance on fossil fuels and for conserving energy.

More than 100 people were arrested during protests against Cuadrilla's test drilling, including the former Green party leader and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas.
Opponents of fracking, in which water and chemicals are pumped into the ground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas, fear it could harm water resources and cause small earthquakes, and that development of the sites will cause noise and traffic.

A clue to her position may be found in the fact that until last year, she was a Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, having previously been with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) where she had remained since 1979.

[Magda Hassan]

I'd be wanting to know if she or her close friends and family have any connection, financial and or business to fracking companies.

[David Guyatt]

I suspect it's more of a culture thing, fairly new as far as I can tell. I worked for the trust as a volunteer (who compose something like 90% of the workforce) and there's a new breed of property manager being put in place, who are, imo, completely money oriented.

For example, a fair percentage of lower ranks paid staff are placed on temporary seasonal contracts year after year. They might drive 20-30 miles to work in the morning, to be told they are unwanted for the day (because it's a slow day or weather is bad and will ut off visitors etc), and have to return home unpaid - but having paid the cost of their travel. Obviously this can cripple them financially, as bills aren't likewise compliant in having an "off" day. Obviously, the senior and management level staff have permanent contracts and do not have to endure this sort of stress. It's completely unfair in my opinion, but a lot of charities seem to follow this "business plan" these days, without having a duty of care to their employees.

[Magda Hassan]

It's all an international conspiracy!

Coal industry under siege as protest groups tap global expertise and funds

• JOHN MCCARTHY
  
• The Courier-Mail
  
• December 31, 2013 9:10PM
  

The mum and dad protest groups have gone rogue.

The once passive community associations or progress groups have turned aggressively anti-development and at least 40 activist groups are champing at the bit to take on the Queensland mining and resources industry, particularly coal.
But the mining industry claims the groups have been hijacked and that well-meaning residents have been manipulated by an international conspiracy to kill off Australia's fossil fuel industry through a well co-ordinated and deeply funded green movement.
"There is no doubt the activists have had it all over industry in terms of their agility and their resourcing and also the lack of constraints on them,'' Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said.


"The activists are very good at inhabiting those groups. There's no doubt (they are being manipulated).
"They are very good at hijacking local concerns but then very good at turning those local concerns towards the ultimate objective which is to slow down the fossil fuel.''
The activists have been so vocal that one group dragged Prime Minister Tony Abbott into their dispute with coal seam gas companies.
Mr Abbott paid a secret visit less than two months after his election to one of the most vocal activists, Debbie Orr, who has been campaigning against coal seam gas at Tara.
Since then, though, not much has happened.
"There's no doubt Australia has become a battleground for the activists groups globally,'' Mr Roche said.
"It's pretty clear their focus is on fossil fuel and they think that if they can turn back the development of fossil fuel in Australia then that is an important demonstration to the rest of the world.
"Most of the people behind them (the resident action groups) are very experienced activists who have operated in anti-forest action in Tasmania and have moved into the latest part of their careers as very adept campaigners.''
One of the most successful activist group has been Lock the Gate which has grown from nothing three years ago to having an annual budget of about $1 million and 20 staff nationally. It received a large slab of its money from one of the Ainsworth family, but LtG president Drew Hutton says that is no longer significant and the bulk of its money comes from its 25,000 members or supporters and grants from foundations.
He points out that if there is global money coming in for the activists it would not be anywhere near the amount the global mining companies are channelling in.
Patricia Julien from the Mackay Conservation Group says it's ignorant to make such claims against protest groups.
"That doesn't give us much credit for the work we have been doing for the past 10 years,'' she said.
"We do our homework and I am insulted that they would think I'm a puppet for anyone. I'm nobody's puppet. I've got two masters degrees so I'm no fool.
There is big money locally for green groups from the likes of Wotif millionaire Graham Wood, the Ainsworth family or the Thomas Foundation.
Flight Centre co-founder and millionaire Graham "Scroo'' Turner has also funded a fight against a coal mine expansion near one of his Pepper resorts in the Bremer Valley and the Sunrise Project also hands out grants of up to $5000 to small activist groups.
Farmer Ruth Armstrong has been fighting the Arrow Energy proposal in the Cecil Plains, near Dalby, for more than two years and had spent "a considerable amount'' of her own money helping fund Save our Darling Downs while other land owners had also invested what she called substantial sums.
She said the political system had failed them.
"We came to the conclusion that if we were not prepared to look after our own backyard no one else would be,'' Ms Armstrong said.
"The state of politics now is that a MP's first allegiance is to the party, not the electorate.

couriermail.com.au/business/coal-industry-under-siege-as-protest-groups-tap-global-expertise-and-funds/story-fnihsps3-1226792759929