Fracking Kent: none in pipeline?

Cllr John Davis has claimed that there are no fracking applications 'in the pipeline' - an appalling piece of doublespeak given that the actual situation is that there are three applications for exploratory bore holes. So, not fracking yet just working out which sites to frack in the future.

UKIP seem to have come out strongly in favour of fracking. No real surprise for the anti-environment climate deniers.

Badger Cull: it is the politicians who are really sick

According some websites, the badger cull is due to start about now - a cull supposedly to drive out bovine TB, but one that will make it worse. 


The cull is sickening me to my core. There is no scientific basis, and the only rationale that I can imagine is bloodlust (or lack of balls in the face of the whip) by the coalition MPs. The idea that this was to be the greenest government ever was always a sick joke. Now killing badgers seems to be starting, it seems that the Cameron / Clegg partnership is sinking into further anti-nature territory.

People wonder at my anger towards Lib Dems in particular, this is a party that sets itself out to be cuddly and nature loving, yet they vote to kill badgers. I expect the Tories to vote against anything that respects nature, and I expect Labour to do the same. The list of how MPs voted is here.

There is little more to say, other than I hope the direct action that my fellow animal lovers will be taking will be peaceful and non-violent.

Chris Packham sets out why the cull is wrong and the RSPCA vows to fight on.Vaccination is the answer, along with better standards of farming.

East Kent Against Fracking

Three more sites in Dover are under threat from fracking: Guston, Shepherwell, and Tilmanstone, I understand. Planning applications for exploratory boreholes have been received, but as you would expect from the anti-green KCC, they are down playing it.

There is now an anti frack website for East Kent - do take a look.

Visit to Balcombe

I spent a good evening down at the protest camp in Balcombe last night with a couple of Maidstone Greens, Denise and Robin. We met some really motivated people who really care: "Who gave them the right to drill poisonous holes into Mother Earth?" one woman said to me. I couldn't have put it better.

I did an interview for a man who was putting himself forward as the Balcombe Broadcasting Corporation! Not sure it will hit the Today programme next week but it was good talking with him.

The drilling restarted yesterday - it has upset many on site given their success in stopping it a few days ago. The noise is strange and depressing. I would suggest quite torturous for those of us who have a real problem with poisonous holes being drilled in to ground.

I'll be back soon to help slow the lorries when they turn up. Caroline Lucas's actions this week are a shining example to us all and we need to support her and the anti-fracking campaigns across the country.

And those fracking sites are going to increase rapidly unless we take action now.

Some photos...

Never felt more proud to be a Green

I posted: "Never felt more proud to be a green, well done Caroline" on Facebook and "Solidarity with @CarolineLucas and the other protestors arrested this afternoon." on Twitter yesterday, in response to the news that Caroline Lucas was arrested for obstruction at Balcombe.

The Green Party are the only major party opposed to fracking - Labour and of course, Lib Dems and Tories, are backing this appalling concept that injects huge amounts of poisonous water into the ground. Over on the Guardian website, there is a great comment: "A politician with principles. Con, Labour, Lib, eat your hearts out."

Fracking is now the front line of the environmental movement. Fracking encapsulates all that is wrong with big business, fossil fuel use, poisoning water supplies, and of course the vested interests in politics. What's more. it is coming to a town near you.

200+ fracking holes in Maidstone and The Weald?

It seems that fracking has the support of local Lib Dems and Tories, judging by the emails and letters I've received today.

Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and The Weald, in response to my letter to her, has sent me the script of her piece in this week's Kent Messenger saying that 'fracking could be a very positive development for our country'.

The Lib Dems in Maidstone are sending out ambivalent messages which basically support fracking: 'For the future I think we have to look very carefully at how we wish to keep a supply of “Clean” energy. As an industrial country we need supplies and if we don’t like fossil , Nuclear or wind generated fuel then you have to ask, where do we get our energy from?'

Perhaps they need to look at the number of likely drilling sites. Alan Whitehead (a Labour MP) has provided some calculations which suggest an average of 160 to 170 wells per constituency would be needed if the country was to extract 10% of the shale gas as is being suggested. Worse still, areas with high levels of shale gas would have far more wells - i.e.the Weald.

And even worse still is the leak from the British Geological Survey in the Times: "Hundreds of millions of barrels of shale oil lie under the Weald in the South East of England, the British Geological Survey is expected to announce soon."

With arsenic being found in the water supplies near fracking sites and the country being heavily reliant on aquifer water supplies, there ain't gonna be much drinking water for Mrs Grant's constituents if this goes where it looks like it is going.

Fracking petition

Good to see the Green Party has its own fracking petition. Please sign!

http://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=3

Fracking will accelerate climate change. The extraction of shale gas is difficult, dirty and inefficient. It is not compatible with the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Fracking will put communities at risk. Fracking sites and the host of dangerous pollutants used and released by the process and mass lorry movements will blight our countryside.

Fracking will not lower energy bills, although David Cameron chooses to repeat this myth the International Energy Agency predicts the price of gas will rise 40% by 2020.

Fracking: Helen Grant MP challenged over Michael Fallon's comments

I have challenged Helen Grant MP for Maidstone and the Weald to state her position on whether she supports fracking generally and whether she supports it in her Weald constituency after her Energy Minister colleague, Michael Fallon MP for Sevenoaks, announced that the would be more fracking in the Weald in Kent.

Stuart Jeffery: "I have written to Mrs Grant following her colleagues comments at the weekend when he stated that there would be fracking in Kent and in the Weald. The level of opposition to fracking is immense[1] and likely to increase, so as Mrs Grant is MP for a large part of the Weald in Kent, I think it is important that people know where she stands on this.

"The residents in Balcombe have been highly vocal about the fracking that is starting there, as have residents in Deal with the shale gas exploration at Woodnesborough.

"The Greens are at the forefront of the opposition of shale gas and have been supporting protestors in both Sussex and Kent."

ends.

Notes:
1. YouGov survey published 02/08/13 found that 43% of people would oppose fracking locally compared to 26% who would support it: http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/hoirf26dxl/YG-Archive-Pol-Sunday-Times-results-020813.pdf

2. Letter text:


Dear Mrs Grant,

Your colleague, Michael Fallon MP and Energy Minister, has indicated that there will be further exploration of shale in the search for gas and that this will occur across the Weald including in Kent and by inference, your constituency.

As opponents of shale gas extraction we are deeply concerned about this prospect and therefore we seek your assurance that you will be discussing this matter with Mr Fallon and that you will oppose any exploration of shale or drilling for shale gas in your constituency.

Please can you confirm your position on the exploration and drilling for shale gas generally and also in your constituency.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Brazier accused of 'naivety' after fracking report...

...by Green Party Cllr Martin Whybrow following sight of a Kent County Council document supporting fracking in a piece on the KM website. Cllr Whybrow: "The document is a pointer of the way KCC is looking at this. I do not know what evidence there is for making these sorts of assertions and I cannot see the justification for them."

And while councillors in Kent are being fed a contaminated stream of baloney at least the Greens can still speak out against this dangerous and destructive practice unlike two children in the Land of the Free who have been given lifetime gagging orders.

Fracking has become the front line for the environmental movement.

This is the 'naive' briefing from KCC's Cabinet Member for the Environment (Tory, Cllr Brazier) to councillors:

Fracking – A briefing for Members

What is fracking?

Fracking has been much in the news recently and will continue to feature. 

Fracking, or “hydraulic fracturing”, as you will know by now, is a process for releasing gas or oil from shale, a sedimentary rock rich in organic matter lying up to 20,000ft below the earth’s surface.  The methodology involves applying a mixture of water and chemicals under pressure to open the lateral seams in the shale and effectively push out the gas or oil.

Expert opinion is that there are extensive beds of shale under Kent and elsewhere in the UK, and substantial quantities of a hitherto untapped source of energy are there to be taken, perhaps for seventy years.  Shale gas, when burnt, has only half the emissions of coal and its use as a mainstream fuel could represent the cheapest and quickest way of making the cuts in Britain’s carbon emissions that we are committed to under international treaties.

Fracking is a violent-sounding word, and a violent process.  You will have read or heard that it causes earthquakes; well, it can cause earth tremors but generally of a low order and not significantly more than might be caused by coal mining.  There is also worry about the large amounts of water needed in the process and the possibility of pollution of groundwater reserves.  A huge amount of concern has been generated at the prospect of fracking in Britain, and what is needed is a balanced view of the impacts, weighing the positive impacts of the technology

against the negative ones. This is mine:-

Positive Impacts

·        Given the UK’s future energy demands, the responsible exploration for and production of indigenous hydrocarbon resources offers significant economic benefits that are broadly in the national interest.  Shale gas has particular attractions in that it is, relatively speaking, a cleaner, greener, high energy methane rich fuel.  It has no value if it remains locked in the ground.

·        Shale gas can be produced onshore locally and used locally, assuming an economically sustainable delivery system.

·        It will be a largely new industry, creating jobs.

Negative Impacts

·        Shale gas production routinely requires large sophisticated hydraulic fracture treatments on each well

·        Development will impact the local infrastructure and environment with massive equipment and large numbers of vehicle movements.

·        Many wells are required, the number being consistent with the intensity of activity

·        Fracking can use large quantities of fresh water.  Very large volumes of flow back water have also to be recovered and treated

The UK Government view of Fracking

The UK government is supportive of home-grown energy initiatives and whereas some European governments have banned fracking, it has adopted a pragmatic approach to the technique and has allowed some small scale tests to be carried out.  However, following some earth tremors near a site in Lancashire, government insisted on the suspension of activity pending an independent study.  The independent panel has published its findings and whilst the operators in Lancashire, Cuadrilla, have admitted causing earth tremors of up to magnitude 2.3 (2.3 is described as “moderate”), the government response is that fracking should be allowed to resume.

Q&A

Q. Is fracking a new technology? Why hasn’t it been done before in the UK?

A. No.  It’s been going on since 1946 and now produces huge amounts of energy in, principally, the United States and Canada. Fracking is an expensive process and not viable when oil and conventional gas is plentiful and cheap, as it has been until recently.

Q.  Can it really cause an earthquake?

A.  Depends what you call an earthquake.  The technique can occasionally cause earth tremors that might crack the plaster, but it is not capable of causing serious damage.  In any case, when a local problem is discovered, the danger of tremors can be designed out of the system.

Q. Doesn’t it cause environmental damage?

A. Yes, some, but then so do all extractive industries.  The problem will not be huge holes in the ground, like open cast mining, but the intrusion of the plant and installations needed to deliver the gas or oil.  With regulation and care, the effects can be minimised.

Q. What’s this business about chemicals being pumped into ground?  Aren’t they going to pollute the groundwater and poison us all?

A. Water and sand are 99% of what is used as a fluid in fracking, but water is not an efficient carrier of sand and a range of chemicals are used to make the mixture more gel-like as it is pumped into the fractures in the shale. The chemicals used are said to be those used in commonly used domestic compounds and therefore not dangerous, but the concentrations and manner of use are quite important.  Bores are carefully sealed and fracking usually occurs at depths far below that of groundwater.

Q. Are people right to protest?

A.  People will always protest against change but fracking can produce substantial quantities of energy fuel, possibly enough to meet Britain’s needs for decades at a time when other options are running out and our reliance on foreign suppliers is increasing.  There is no reason to assume that it cannot be a safe process.

Q. What’s the position in Kent?  What’s KCC doing about it?

A. Operators require a licence from DECC first, but KCC is the Mineral Planning Authority and can give planning permission for onshore exploration and development of underground resources. 

The East Kent drilling project that was granted planning permission in 2011 (Coastal Oil and Gas)is only for the initial exploratory borehole.  If this borehole exploration proves successful further development of the resource would require a full planning application and Environmental Statement. The operators have (verbally) stated that development of the resources here would probably not involve fracking. There is also an extant permission for exploratory work at Cowden, Tunbridge Wells, but this is for oil.  Shale may lie below, so permission for fracking may eventually be sought.

Q.  Yes, but what’s the authority’s view of fracking if people think there are serious environmental issues?

A. Emerging policy in the Kent MWDF Core Strategy at Strategy and Policy Directions stage (May 2011) stated,

“Policy CSM7

Oil, Gas and Coal Bed Methane

Planning permission will be granted for proposals associated with the exploration, appraisal and development of oil, gas Including shale gas and natural gas development and underground coal seam gasification subject to:

·        Development taking place in appropriate locations where the proposals do not have unacceptable amenity or environmental impacts

·        All environmental impacts being controlled to ensure there is not a significant effect upon sensitive receptors

·        Exploration and appraisal operations are for an agreed, temporary length of time; and

·        The drilling site being restored to a satisfactory standard and after-use.

Policy will evolve as the industry does.

Q. So it’s the next big thing, is it?

A. It could be very important in Kent, bringing jobs and a range of other benefits to the economy, and of course, a measure of energy security.  However, the timescales are hard to anticipate. What you can be very sure of, is that if fracking becomes a mainstream source of energy, it will be heavily regulated to make it as undamaging and safe as possible.  The mistakes and environmental damage that has given it a bad name elsewhere (polluted drinking water and flame from the bathroom taps!) have resulted from bad practice in other countries and are unlikely to occur in the UK.

 

Lib Dems: 'no reason to oppose' building on countryside

Looks like the KM don't want to publish letters from me - probably too much of a trouble maker :-) I wrote a right of reply letter to them last week about the Lib Dem backing to lift the moratorium on building on greenfield sites. This backing of the was during the debate on 24th April when the motion "that the revocation of the moratorium on the release of greenfield housing sites allocated in the Maidstone Borough-Wide Local Plan 2000 be approved." was proposed by Cllr Garland, seconded by Cllr Paine and the supported by the Lib Dems. Cllr Wilson, lead of the Lib Dems said: "There is no reason to oppose this."

You can see the debate on YouTube...


This is the letter that wasn't published:

Dear Editor,

Tony Harwood's claim that the unanimous decision by Lib Dems and Conservatives to lift of the Council's ban on building on greenfield sites was merely procedural is simply not true. The Lib Dems spoke in favour of the Conservatives motion to allow building on our countryside and should readers be in any doubt, I have placed a film of the debate on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzuAwuBCjhA

As readers will see, the Lib Dem claims that they want to protect the countryside and our environment are simply made to win votes. What they say and how they act in Council meetings, and of course in the coalition government, is quite different.

Stuart Jeffery Maidstone Green Party

Kent at further risk of fracking says Fallon

I hope to get down to Balcombe soon but may not have to after the Michael Fallon let slip that fracking is likely to come to Kent for a second time. His comments in the Mail on Sunday (I don't read it unless I have to and then only on-line): "The second area being studied is the Weald. It’s from Dorset all the way along through Hampshire, Sussex, East Sussex, West Sussex, all the way perhaps a bit into Surrey and even into my county of Kent".

Of course there is already exploration of the shale in Sandwich, near Deal but it is clear from the Energy Minister's comment that we can expect many more applications in Kent.

Once again, the Tories and Lib Dems have failed the country. Their backing of shale gas with tax breaks spelled disaster for our countryside and for the environment last month was disgusting.They should be ashamed of themselves.

Meanwhile people power in West Sussex is taking a good stand - I intend to get down to Balcombe soon!

Fracking safe? No, Mr Fallon!

Michael Fallon MP: "There is work to be done by developers and indeed by the government in getting more information across and reassuring people that shale gas can be extracted safely without damaging the environment or pollution." in the KM.

Yes, there is much work done to get that information across - the facts needs to be changed, environmentalists need to be silenced and online media need to be shut down.

At a very simple level the environment will be damaged by the burning of gas, it is called producing CO2 which will increase climate change. Of course, that is assuming that injecting large volumes of chemicals can somehow be made safe and that the accidental release of methane into the ground water can be avoided.

So, Mr Fallon you are absolutely right, there is much work to be done. Fortunately the energy companies will be queuing up to pay for this 'much work'.

Political cowardice: the latest fracking decision

The latest idiotic thing out of the Lib Dem / Tory "greenest government ever" is the huge tax breaks for fracking announced yesterday. Disastrous for Kent, the environment and for climate change, in my mind fracking is removing any last chance of preventing run away climate change.

Why Kent? In Sandwich near Deal, Coastal Oil and Gas are exploring the shale to see it they can frack it up after an appalling decision by KCC. Green MEP, Keith Taylor, has been hosting a film on the perils of fracking this month and a couple of years ago I was arguing with Dover MP, Charlie Elphick on the Sunday Politics Show as to why his support was sheer stupidity.

Firstly, in Kent, we have very little water so injecting a million gallons of poisonous, carcinogenic water into the ground seems like a pretty stupid thing to do. Even the water companies are worried.

Secondly, causing earthquakes is never a good idea - they are bad enough when they happen of their own accord. Causing them next to the Channel Tunnel and a couple of nuclear power stations is little a bit scary.

Thirdly, climate change. We are dangerously close to triggering run away catastophic climate change which will kill billions, and devastate all corners of the planet. Drilling for oil or gas simply has to stop.

Finally, the investment needs to be in reducing our energy needs and meeting residual needs from clean renewable sources. Shale gas simply means that we put off tackling the real issue of sustainability for another day. This is political cowardice.

Oaken Wood - an appalling decision

Of all the shite that has come out of this government this week, specifically the MP's pay and the privatisation of the Royal Mail, Eric Pickles giving the go-ahead to destroy Oaken Wood, 31 hectares of ancient woodland in Maidstone for the sake of stone to build roads with, takes some beating.

And if another Lib Dem tells me how they are keeping the Tories in check I may not be responsible for what I say to them in reply. The Lib Dems are more culpable that their puppet master Tories for the atrocities that are coming out of this government.

The Woodland Trust have stated: "This is a landmark decision, but for all the wrong reasons. This so-called 'greenest Government ever' stated that the new National Planning Policy Framework¹ would give sufficient protection to irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland. It clearly does not.

The Save Oaken Wood campaign fought a good battle to save the woodland and I only hope that there is scope for a judicial review to overturn this pathetic and short sighted decision.

Housing in Fant - public meeting

I attended a meeting organised by the Upper Fant Community Group who had arranged for Cllr Paine (Tory Cabinet Member for Planning, Transport and Development)to talk about housing plans for the next 20 years.The meeting was well attended with about 40 people.

He explained that independent assessment of housing need had demonstrated a requirement for between 14,800 and 17,200 homes in Maidstone over the next 20 year with 60% of the demand driven by population growth. He explained the need was greatest for 2 / 3 bedroom homes and he talked about the increasing number of sole occupancy homes. All interesting stuff but what he failed to explain (in his response to my question) was why he is planning to reduce the requirement for affordable homes from 40% to 15% in towns, and from 40% to 30% in the sub-urban fringe.

Aside from a good range of questions from the public, it was sad to witness Lib Dem Jasper Gerard trying to turn the meeting into a Party Political slapping session after he had be specifically asked not to. It was also sad to listen to Lib Dem Councillor Beerling regularly talking over people while the chair repeatedly asked him to let others speak. Not a great showing by them, but only slightly worse than Labour (I couldn't spot even one of their activists at the meeting).

Overall it was a good meeting, Richard Wadey chaired well and Stephen Paine kept his nerve on a difficult and emotive subject.

Letter to KM on LibDem

Dear Editor,

Last week's KM featured the Lib Dem strategy to save green fields from development by building on  'brown' field sites instead - all very sensible and welcome - however what the Lib Dems failed to mention was that just two months they voted unanimously with the Tories to lift the council's ban on building on these same green fields.

While there are some difficult decisions to solve the housing crisis that faces the town, there are some clear points of need that must be met with urgency. There is a huge and growing backlog of people needing social housing, there are young families unable to afford a home and there is an increasing older population that need modest homes. The one thing that is not needed are large executive homes built on our farms and woodland.

The council needs to tackle the real need for homes, not pander to the profit margins of the construction companies.

Stuart Jeffery
Maidstone Green Party

Lydd Airport - the fight continues

Well done to the Lydd Airport Action Group and the RSPB on taking the campaign against an airport at Lydd to the High Court. The Un-Greenest Government Ever agreed that a huge expansion was needed on the peninsula, home to many rare birds and next to a nuclear power station.

We don't need more airport capacity. We need to radically reduce our carbon emissions not increase them.

Tory climate denier right at the top of government

Unacceptable comments by Tim Yeo are being reported in the Torygraph. Yeo is the minister who overseas the government's policy on climate change as the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change committee has claimed that people may not be responsible for climate change.

A recent study showed that there is a 97% consensus among papers published by climate scientists that climate change is happening and human activity is causing it. The atmosphere's CO2 concentration hit 400ppm just a few weeks ago - a figure that has not been seen for 4 million years. We are in deep trouble and urgent action is needed - not a pathetic questioning of the science.

Yeo should go after such comments. Climate change is the biggest challenge facing mankind and other species. Cameron once claimed that this would be the greenest government ever so why did he put Yeo in charge of climate policy?

On balance, the EU is a positive force in our lives

Letter to various papers in Kent:

David Cameron has only published legislation on an EU referendum because of campaigning by his own unruly backbenchers. However, ultimately, it is right to give people a say on the UK remaining in the EU. Indeed anyone in Kent under the age of 55 has never had a say on our place in Europe.
The EU is far from perfect. All too often it serves the interests of business, rather than people and in some policy areas it holds power which should be devolved to local communities.
But, on balance, the EU is a positive force in our lives. European legislation is vital in protecting workers’ rights, improving our environment and regulating our out of control banking sector. It brings countries together to work on the issues that cross our borders and can’t be dealt with unilaterally.
Recent research by Friends of the Earth shows us that without EU action we’d have dirtier beaches, more polluted rivers and even higher levels of air pollution.
Over the next twelve months Keith Taylor, Green Party Member of the European Parliament will be touring the South East making the case for a European Union that stands up for people’s rights and protects our environment. The time has now come for us to cut through the Europhobic rhetoric and have an adult debate about our place in the European Union.

Stuart Jeffery Chair Kent Green Party

HSBC: Stop destroying rainforests

HSBC: Stop destroying rainforests. Sign the 38 Degrees petition.