Fracker’s Charter - Otherwise known as the Infrastructure Bill

We repost East Kent Against Fracking (EKAF) March update....

I am afraid that as a result of the passage of this Bill, our exposure to the industry of Unconventional Gas has just become much greater. It demonstrates this Government’s determination to frack at any cost.

The definition of fracking has been now redefined in such a way as to allow for high volume high pressure fracturing of shale anywhere so long as less than 2.2 million gallons of fluid is used. This means that most operations are no longer covered by the already watered down regulations.
That risks allowing significant fracking with less than the defined volume limit to go ahead, without even the safeguards that are before us today. What a mockery this is making of legitimate public concerns on fracking, and indeed of the democratic process.

Also announced in the final debate was the plan to allow monitoring bore holes& pilot extractions without the need for planning permission, thus taking away from local planning authorities& local people any say in these developments.
The conditions no longer specifically ban fracking in groundwater source protection zones or ban fracking underneath, as well as in, National Parks and protected areas.

Environmental Impact Assessments are no longer required for fracking.


Just how fracked is our democracy? No Kent MP’s voted against these measures….Time for them to go ?


Locally the present situation is that Coastal Oil & Gas say that they have” surrendered Guston, Shepherdswell and Woodnesborough but have retained the Tilmanstone area”. They also mentioned that they were interested in the Snowdon & Betteshangar areas. The fact that they have given up these other sites does not mean that they will not be passed onto other companies. Sadly there is little to cheer about yet..

The truth behind the dash to gas - Astor 18th Sept

East Kent Against Fracking (EKAF) has organised a meeting at The Astor Theatre on September 18th at which the acclaimed documentary by filmmaker Marco Jackson, The Truth behind the Dash for Gas will be shown.

This will be followed by a short presentation by Graham Warren, a distinguished hydrogeologist and author of several studies on water resources in the South East, which will alert residents to the specific risks posed by the exploration for gas in the area of the former Kent Coalfield, highlighting the impossibility of protecting the aquifer which supplies the whole county with over 70% of its water.


This will be followed by Q&A session.

Rob Hopkins on why fracking does not work for communities....

Rob Hopkins has written this piece in Transition Communities on why fracking does not work for communities 

 http://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs/rob-hopkins/2014-01/6-reasons-why-theres-no-community-fracking

Fracking: Coastal Oil&Gas retreats from Kent ... for Now

from East Kent Against Fracking:
PRESS RELEASE

EAST KENT AGAINST FRACKING
CONTROVERSIAL DRILLING PLANS WITHDRAWN!
Friday, November 08 2013

Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd has abandoned plans to drill for coal bed methane gas in 3 east Kent villages.

The news was broken to the campaign group East Kent Against Fracking yesterday in an e-mail from Sharon Thompson, Head of Planning Applications at Kent County Council (KCC) explaining that the company had withdrawn its planning applications to drill exploratory boreholes at Shepherdswell, Tilmanstone and Guston after recent requests were made to provide further information about issues raised during the planning process.

Julie Wassmer, vice chair of East Kent Against Fracking, said: "On October 14th the Environment Agency wrote letters to KCC regarding each of the sites, stating that Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd had not provided sufficient information with their applications and the Environment Agency was therefore 'unable to advise whether or not the environment (in particular groundwater quality) can be protected from this development.' The agency further recommended that planning permission should not be granted on the basis of the information provided and that if the new information was not forthcoming, then the Environment Agency 'would be minded to object to the application.'" Ms Wassmer claims "The company's withdrawal of its applications clearly demonstrates that it was unable to satisfy the demands for information about how Kent water could be protected from contamination by drilling in this area. This is a victory in the sense that yesterday we had three applications for drilling in East Kent and today we have none."

All four parish councils relating to the 3 sites opposed the applications. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (Kent) opposed the applications. Further campaign groups sprang up in the villages to oppose the applications (Keep Shepherdswell Well and Eythorne in the Side of the Drilling etc) and Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke also spoke out against the applications on site specific concerns relating to the threat to the local Chalk aquifer.

Rosemary Rechter, chair of EKAF said, "We are delighted to have won the first round, and want to thank all the people who have worked so hard to understand the true facts about this industry, and to share those facts. This industry will not provide jobs and cheap energy but will threaten our water and industrialise our countryside so the battle will go on."

KCC confirms that no further action will be taken on the planning applications. Any new applications will be subject to the necessary consultations and publicity.

Ends

Shepherdswell Fracking meeting ...

Fracking in Kent? The Public Say No!

Jamie Weir, PR & Events Manager, Protect Kent 

Friday 27^th September 2013

Almost 300 concerned members of the public crowded in to Sheperdswell village hall on Wednesday night to listen to CPRE Protect Kent’s views on the 3 applications for exploratory boreholes in Dover district. CPRE Protect Kent Chairman Richard Knox-Johnston introduced the organisations views and briefed the crowd on the serious concerns that CPRE Protect Kent has with the test boreholes being drilled, whilst the Chairman of our Environment Committee, Graham Warren, gave a technical description of the geology of the area and the potential impact that drilling may have on Kent’s water resources.  CPRE Protect Kent’s experts believe that in an already water-stressed area of the country, the prospect of loss or contamination of water resources that are already heavily committed is too great a risk and that the geological uncertainties of the Kent coal fields remain too great a hazard

 

Members of the public were given the opportunity to ask questions of the CPRE experts in attendance, whilst the local MP Charlie Elphicke also attended to hear the views of the public and to answer questions. He echoed the concerns raised by Protect Kent over the particular risks of gas exploration in this location and announced that he would raise these concerns with Ministers.

 

CPRE Protect Kent has a number of serious concerns about test boreholes being drilled in these rural areas, not least the landscape and traffic implications whilst our Environment Committee has raised serious concerns regarding the potential for groundwater contamination due to the particular formation of geological layers and fault lines beneath the chalk.

 

CPRE Protect Kent Chairman Richard Knox-Johnston said:

 

“There is considerable concern amongst those in the area about this drilling operation, the way in which it needs to be regulated and the unseemly speed with which the planning application is being processed. We are also concerned by the many impacts these developments will have on the tranquil landscapes of the Dover district. We would ask all members of the public who are concerned by these developments to respond to the Kent County Council planning applications to ensure that their voice is heard.”

Balcombe Blockade stops Cuadrilla in Sussex

The Great Gas Gala!

 Update: Gala is underway now. Come on down! Frack Off are running a feed with the latest news here From 7am on Thursday (25th) Cuadrilla Resource’s site has been forcibly closed by a community blockade.

We will be converging again in Balcombe in Sussex for The Great Gas Gala!

DAY TWO tomorrow (Fri 26th). Come along and shield the Weald at a community-led carnival of anti-fracking revelry!

All are warmly invited to join Balcombe Village in a clear demonstration of front-line protection against those that threaten us and our environment.

 Map to the site: http://greatgasgala.org.uk/map/ Latest news: http://frack-off.org.uk/latest-news-from-the-great-gas-gala/ 

Deal With It on BBC Inside-out on #Fracking

Just in case you missed the BBC SE 'Inside-out' programme on moves to exploit Shale and other unconventional gases in Kent and the rest of the country by the discredited 'Fracking' method it is now on Iplayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b94c2/Inside_Out_South_East_23_01_2012/

Well done our Rosie.....

Coastal Oil & Gas to do a presentation to Sandwich Town Council on Monday 23

Fracking company, Coastal Oil & Gas is doing a presentation to Sandwich Town Council at the Guildhall on Monday 23rd Jan from 6pm. 

The Company got their proposal for a test bore at Woodnesborough through the inital planning at KCC in December 2011.

We are not sure whether this will be public or if members of the public will be able to address the council as it is not part of the main agenda for the meeting

If you are are around on monday please turn up around 5:45pm to see what is going on.. lets know if you can make it by emailing dealwithittoday@yahoo.co.uk

Camp Frack could be staged in Kent, say protesters

From the Your Deal online newspaper:


"Climate activists who staged ‘Camp Frack’ in Lancashire as part of a mass protest against hydraulic fracking have refused to rule out similar action in Kent.

The campaigners said there was “every possibility” protests would be staged if tests for coal in Woodnesborough, near Sandwich, led to the controversial extraction method, which involves firing high-pressure liquid into rocks to force gas out.

The process was blamed for sparking earthquakes near Blackpool earlier this year and is believed to pose a threat of contamination to ground water supplies.

Last weekend, around 150 people set up camp in Lancashire in protest against moves by company Cuadrilla Resources to drill 3.5km deep to extract shale gas. 

A similar planning application by Welsh company Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd has been submitted to Kent County Council to drill an exploratory borehole in land at Woodnesborough.

Although director of the firm Gerwyn Williams stressed it was a simple test of the coal, activists fear the activity will lead to hydraulic fracking if gas is found in shale rock at the site.

Phil Thornhill, national co-ordinator for Campaign Against Climate Change, said the group was waiting on the planning decision, which is expected next month ....." read more here