Perhaps it would be good to stick to the facts undercrackers. I know how you dislike "howling screeching" approaches.
And please stop telling me what I think, it is really annoying.
I didn't know as much as much about fracking earlier today as I do now, as you prompted me to do some more research, given that you did not provide one single fact yet as to why fracking is a good idea.
I have never blindly accepted what the authorities say. Re the Lancashire fracking application - of the responses to the planning application in Lancashire, 36 were for and over 4000 were against. This was therefore the will of the people that it should not go ahead. Over 150,000 people signed a petition for the government to respect the decision made to reject the planning application there. These people marked their papers as it were - but were over ruled by a man in government who has been wined and dined by the oil industry (again these are facts, I can provide the links or you can play with google to check the truth of this).
Please do not treat fracking related earthquakes as a triviality. Let's look at Oklahoma - where fracking started in 2009. They used to average 2 earthquakes a year - this went up to nearly 3 A DAY. The causality has been proven in Oklahoma and in other states, many times over. Not earthquakes that rattle teacups, but ones for which home owners cannot get home insurance.
Whilst we stick to facts - you mentioned cheap energy? You are aware that the government has confirmed that fracking will NOT reduce energy prices yes? The fracking companies have been warned about using this falsehood in their pro fracking pieces. The Advertising Standards Agency ruled that it was incorrect to state that bills would be reduced. .".The new ASA ruling noted expert views expressed by energy regulator Ofgem, the fracking industry-funded Task Force on Shale Gas, the UK Energy Research Centre and a Department of Energy and Climate Change report, all of which suggested fracking was unlikely to make much impact on bills..."
Sorry this is a little dull, but I am keen to avoid screeching opinions as you dislike them so. Facts do tend to be a little dull.
".. unobtrusive compared to wind turbines for example .." are you for real? Do you know how fracking well pads work? Fracking requires many wells, as each only provides a small amount of gas. Whilst they don't big that up in the planning applications, on their spiel to investors they brag about how many they will eventually get into the relevant area. Well spacings of 8 wells per square mile are common. Please please please google some pictures of fracking well sites and then some of wind farms and work out which one you think is less obtrusive. But to be honest I don't give a fig how obtrusive they are, I am just terrified of how dangerous they are.
".. safe, provided the regulations are enforced, which they are in this country. .." seriously, crackers, do you work for Cuadrilla or the government? We do not actually have any regulations in place in the UK that cover unconventional oil extraction. Are you aware of this? The regulations we have are based on traditional drilling. The regulations have not been prepared to cover the new forms of extraction. The United Nations Environment Program has said that fracking may result in “unavoidable environmental impacts” even if done properly. No one in the UK is in place to make sure that if fracking goes ahead, that all precautions are in place. An important paper called ‘Fracking – Minding the Gaps’ by Joanne Hawkins in the Environmental Law Review has examined the current legislation in detail, and concludes: “These controls were designed pre-fracking and their application leaves a number of gaps, which may risk harm to human health and/or damage to the environment. Under the current regulatory system, the uncertainty and risk associated with fracking is not justifiable.”
".. creates jobs .." um, no absolutely not, dear. You must have read a fracking leaflet one day and believed what you read. The DEFRA report and other clever people have analysed the data to confirm there will be very very few local jobs, most jobs created will be for large companies who do not employ local people. There will however, in rural ares, be a loss of jobs due the reduction in the number of tourists and visitors (that is per DEFRA, not my screeching opinion).
".. local businesses benefit.." actually no. Per DEFRA.
Also house prices go down (per government report), and many of the UK’s best known insurance companies will not insure against fracking-related damage, an investigation by The Independent on Sunday and the campaign group Spinwatch found.
and bless you, undercrackers -".. This country has been fracking for well over 50 years. It's harmless..." do you know what fracking is? High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF), or ‘fracking’ for short. Fracking requires millions of gallons of fresh water, sand and chemicals, is done at very high pressure in vertical and horizontal wells, and is designed to fracture solid shale rock deep underground. HVHF Fracking – which is considered to be a method of unconventional oil and gas extraction – has only been done commercially since about 2007, mainly in the USA, where over a million wells have sinced been fracked.
This is a very different process from the long-used technique of pumping water at low pressure into conventional wells to increase the amount of oil and gas recovered. This technique has been used for decades to stimulate conventional gas wells near the end of their life in order to extend their production, and uses low pressure, very small quantities of water and no dangerous chemicals. It is estimated that about 200 wells in the UK have been subject to this ‘well stimulation’ technique since the 1980s, and is a very different – and much less environmentally damaging – technique to HVHF fracking, which Cuadrilla admitted was the cause of two small earthquakes at Preese Hall in 2011.
This has been confirmed by a letter from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), which said: “Cuadrilla is so far the only operator in the UK to use High Volume hydraulic fracturing – this technique was used on the Preese Hall well in Lancashire in 2011.”
I could go on, ie I haven't even started on the water issue - the massive use of water when we regularly have droughts and water shortages in some of the areas they want to do this, the risk to aquifers, the proven carcinogens that are used as part of this process and where does the wastewater go (energy companies have confirmed that they do not know where the bulk of the contaminated water goes) but I am afraid I am boring myself now.
Facts are not that exciting, but they are what we all ought to be looking at when we have these conversations.