Category: Fracking

10 Arrests At The Great Gas Gala – Day 2

26 July 2013 Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them.

26 July 2013 Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them. Over 250 peo­ple stopped 15 trucks bring on equip­ment yes­ter­day.  See Frack­ing In Bal­combe: A Com­mu­ni­ty Says No for back­ground to issues involved. Scroll down for pho­tos.

Update (3:30pm): Camp out­side site still going strong. Peo­ple stream­ing in but more need­ed. Come down and stay the night if you can!

Update (2:30pm): Meet­ing at camp decid­ed they weren’t going to be intim­i­dat­ed by police thug­gery.

Update (1:50pm): Arrests alleged­ly under Trade Union and Labour Rela­tions Act 1992 – Sec. 241. Appar­ent­ly the frack­ers were being “beset and intim­i­dat­ed” by the com­mu­ni­ty! The peo­ple of Bal­combe would say it was the was the oth­er way round!

Update (1:30pm): Police have to escort tanker past incensed com­mu­ni­ty. Cuadrilla are not wel­come!

Update (1:10pm): Arrest­ed Sus­sex res­i­dents alleged­ly being tak­en to Craw­ley police sta­tion.

Update (12:55pm): Cuadrilla and Police Try­ing Break Block­ade With Heavy Machi­nary

Update (12:50pm): 10 Com­mu­ni­ty Defend­ers Arrest­ed!

Update (12:40pm): Peo­ple are being arrest­ed for pro­tect­ing Sus­sex from frack­ing!

Update (12:30pm): Police try­ing to break com­mu­ni­ty block­ade in Bal­combe. Chil­dren cry­ing! More peo­ple need­ed!

Update (11:30am): Camp is grow­ing and atmos­phere is great. Come on down if you can!

Update (9:45am): Increase in police num­bers at site. More peo­ple here would be use­ful.

Update (9:00am): Com­mu­ni­ty block­ade of site going strong. Camp up and run­ning. Come on down!

Cuadrilla Tanker With Escort; Not Wel­come In Bal­combe

Cuadrilla Machin­ery Try­ing To Smash Up Block­ade

Res­i­dents Arrest­ed For Defend­ing Sus­sex From Frack­ing

 

 

 

 

   

 
 

Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade Of Frack­ing Site Entrance

Police Try­ing To Break Com­mu­ni­ty Block­ade For Cuadrilla

Camp Is Grow­ing Out­side Frack­ing Site

Local Res­i­dents Block Entrance To Cuadrilla’s Frack­ing Site

Camp Up And Run­ning; Peo­ple Tired But Hap­py

The Great Gas Gala!

From 7am on Thurs­day (25th) Cuadrilla Resource’s site has been closed by a com­mu­ni­ty block­ade. We will be con­verg­ing again in Bal­combe in Sus­sex for The Great Gas Gala!

From 7am on Thurs­day (25th) Cuadrilla Resource’s site has been 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.

You’ll be want­i­ng to pack a par­ty-bag in advance so you’ll be ready when the time comes. Imag­ine being the only one at the par­ty with­out a cos­tume. Only jok­ing, you won’t be allowed in if you’re not in fan­cy dress. No that’s not true either. This is a com­mu­ni­ty-led event and is open to all!

Bal­combe is only a 25 min­utes train-ride north of Brighton, and 39 min­utes south from Lon­don. Some but not all trains on the Brighton – Lon­don line stop at Bal­combe. Trains run every hour from Brighton and Lon­don Bridge and it is also pos­si­ble to catch trains from Lon­don Vic­to­ria, usu­al­ly chang­ing at East Croy­don. See the map page for direc­tions to the site, which is a 5 minute walk from Bal­combe Sta­tion.

Free Bus from Brighton to Bal­combe – 7am (Fri 26th) Old Steine bus stop (near RBS). Space for 50+

If you’re dri­ving and have space, please con­tact info@greatgasgala.org.uk to offer a lift!

Things to bring:

Essen­tial – water, food and warm/waterproof clothes, sun pro­tec­tion.

Rec­om­mend­ed –
Pic­nics, cakes, water, tea-mak­ing facil­i­ties, warm/waterproof clothes, friends, ban­ners, games, music, instru­ments, Knit­ting (yel­low and black – gas­field free com­mu­ni­ty colours!), blan­kets, chairs, tables, Gaze­bos, small tents, plas­tic cutlery/plates. You get the pic­ture.

Things not to bring:

Alco­hol, drugs, any­thing which could be con­strued as a weapon, glass etc.

Take Note!:

The Great Gas Gala! will be a clear demon­stra­tion of com­mu­ni­ty pro­tec­tion against the threat of harm to our health and envi­ron­ment posed by the frack­ing indus­try. The indus­try is sup­port­ed by the state and there­fore there will almost cer­tain­ly be a police-pres­ence. Know your rights and don’t be intim­i­dat­ed. The Gala will be an inclu­sive, friend­ly space. We won’t be bul­lied.

See you at the Gala, it’ll be a gas!

 

Ongoing Blockade Of Fracking Site In Sussex

Entance Of Fracking Site Blocked

Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them.

Entance Of Fracking Site Blocked

Frack­ing com­pa­ny Cuadrilla Resources are try­ing to start drilling in Bal­combe, West Sus­sex and the com­mu­ni­ty is try­ing to stop them.

Update (2:45pm): Begin­ning to look like Bal­combe 1 – Cuadrilla 0. Thoughts are turn­ing to Day 2 of block­ade!

Update (12:45pm): Now over 250 peo­ple at site. Come down and join the par­ty!

Update (10:45am): Large crowd. Truck isn’t going any­where. Come on down!

Update (9:45am): Gaze­bos are up. Gala set­tling in for long haul. Come on down!

Update (9:00am): Great Gas Gala going strong. Trucks now backed up all through the vil­lage.

Update (8:30am): Great Gas Gala is well under­way. A truck tring to deliv­er equip­ment is being blocked from enter­ing the frack­ing site. Num­bers are grow­ing.

Pho­tos of evolv­ing block­ade at Cuadrilla Resources frack­ing site in Bal­combe, Sus­sex. Around 250 peo­ple, truck immo­bilised out­side site, seems to have mys­te­ri­ous­ly devel­oped fault with brakes. Gaze­bos up, legal brief­ing for locals, anoth­er truck stopped in vil­lage. Anoth­er 15 more trucks were due today. Now seems unlike­ly any will get on. Cuadrilla had want­ed to be up and drilling by week­end.

 

Large Number Of People Blockng Entrance
Large Num­ber Of Peo­ple Block­ng Entrance

Atmosphere Relaxed At Present
Atmos­phere Relaxed At Present

Camp Being Set Up
Camp Being Set Up

Faulty Brakes On Truck
Faulty Brakes On Truck

Police Hanging Back For Now
Police Hang­ing Back For Now


Cuadrilla have tem­po­rary plan­ning per­mis­sion to drill at site in Bal­combe. Per­mis­sion expires in Sep­tem­ber and drilling will take at least 6 weeks so any sig­nif­i­cant delays could scup­per their plans. They are explor­ing for tight (shale) oil, and the Kim­mer­age Clay shale lay­er they are tar­get­ing is sim­i­lar to the Bakken Shale in North Dako­ta. Full scale pro­duc­tion would involve thou­sands of wells, pipelines and com­pres­sor sta­tions coat­ing the Sus­sex coun­try­side. This is before you get to water con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, air pol­lu­tion and accel­er­at­ing cli­mate change. See  http://frack-off.org.uk/latest-news-from-the-great-gas-gala/ for updates

Fracking In Balcombe: A Community Says No

P1030668Update (24/07/13): Cuadrilla Resources are bring­ing equip­ment onto the site at Bal­combe now and want to start drilling by the week­end.

P1030668Update (24/07/13): Cuadrilla Resources are bring­ing equip­ment onto the site at Bal­combe now and want to start drilling by the week­end. The com­mu­ni­ty is mobil­isat­ing to stop them tomor­row (Thurs) from 7am and needs help. See http://greatgasgala.org.uk/ for details.

The sleepy vil­lage of Bal­combe in West Sus­sex, in the mid­dle of the Weald val­ley, has until recent­ly not been a place you would asso­ciate with indus­tri­al devel­op­ment. The sur­round­ing coun­try­side is among the most pic­turesque you will see out of the train win­dow on the line between Lon­don and Brighton. How­ev­er, in 2008 Cuadrilla Resources acquired a petro­le­um explo­ration and devel­op­ment licence (PEDL 244) for an area of Sus­sex, includ­ing Bal­combe, and acquired an adjoin­ing licence a few years lat­er, bring­ing the total area of Sus­sex coun­try­side they can exploit to over 270 square miles.

Summary

  • Frack­ing threat­en­ing Sus­sex coun­try­side
  • Cuadrilla have licences for 270 square miles
  • Plan­ning per­mis­sion to drill in Bal­combe
  • Tar­get­ing lay­er with­in Kim­meridge Clay
  • Anal­o­gous to Bakken Shale in North Dako­ta
  • Would need thou­sands of wells to extract oil
  • Same severe impacts as in US and Aus­tralia
  • Vil­lagers get­ting organ­ised to resist inva­sion
  • Cuadrilla is try­ing to push ahead regard­less
  • Need per­mits to start, but could be soon
.

In Jan­u­ary 2010 Cuadrilla applied to West Sus­sex Coun­ty Coun­cil for plan­ning per­mis­sion to drill a explo­ration well, on a site where Cono­co pre­vi­ous­ly drilled a well in 1986, with­out suc­cess. Very few peo­ple were aware of this appli­ca­tion and those that were assumed that it would be a sim­i­lar sto­ry to Cono­co, decades ear­li­er. No one had heard of Cuadrilla or frack­ing and a men­tion of “stim­u­la­tion” in the plan­ning appli­ca­tion did not mean any­thing to any­one. There were no objec­tions and three months lat­er per­mis­sion was grant­ed with­out any fuss.

The world has changed since the mid-1980s though and where­as Cono­co were look­ing for con­ven­tion­al oil, in a reser­voir of per­me­able rock, Cuadrilla – spurred by sky high ener­gy prices – are pre­pared to go to much greater lengths to get hydro­car­bons out of the ground. Uncon­ven­tion­al oil and gas tar­gets much less per­me­able rocks, with dense­ly packed (usu­al­ly) hor­i­zon­tal wells and var­i­ous extreme stim­u­la­tion tech­niques, such as hydraulic frac­tur­ing. While in Lan­cashire Cuadrilla are focused on get­ting gas out of the Bow­land Shale, in Sus­sex they are after so called tight (shale) oil, sim­i­lar to the Bakken Shale in North Dako­ta.

 

If this explo­ration leads to full scale devel­op­ment at the well-spac­ing now com­mon in the Bakken, 4 wells per square mile, it could mean 32 wells with­in the parish of Bal­combe and over 300 with­in 5 miles of the vil­lage. Up to 1,200 wells might be drilled in the the whole of Cuadrilla’s licence area. Fur­ther west, in the cen­tre of the Weald val­ley where the for­ma­tions are deep­er, it is pos­si­ble that gas rather than oil may pre­dom­i­nate. Cel­tique Energie, who have licences across much of West Sus­sex, are brag­ging about quan­ti­ties of gas that would require thou­sands of wells to extract.

These devel­op­ments threat­en to indus­tri­alise the Sus­sex coun­try­side with well pads, and asso­ci­at­ed pipelines, com­pres­sor sta­tions and pro­cess­ing plants. One only has to look to the US, Cana­da or Aus­tralia what liv­ing in the mid­dle of such an oil/gasfield is like. Over 100,000 uncon­ven­tion­al wells have been drilled in the US in the last decade, and thou­sands in Cana­da and Aus­tralia. In parts of the US, drilling is start­ing to push into the out­skirts of cities, as they run out of coun­try­side to frack. See this arti­cle Frack­ing Sus­sex: The Threat Of Shale Oil & Gas for more details.

P1030733 P1030724 P1030703

It was only fol­low­ing the pub­lic­i­ty around Cuadrilla’s mis­for­tunes in Lan­cashire (break­ing their first test well with an earth­quake they caused) that Bal­combe res­i­dents became aware of what was planned, and a pub­lic meet­ing was called in the vil­lage hall in Jan­u­ary 2012. Cuadrilla man­aged to invite them­selves to the meet­ing and came in will their PR team to smooth things over. After they had been grilled for sev­er­al hours by hun­dreds of angry locals, they retreat­ed to lick their wounds. How­ev­er with their tem­po­rary plan­ning per­mis­sion due to expire in Sep­tem­ber this year, they are now keen to pro­ceed as soon as pos­si­ble.

Recent­ly Cuadrilla returned to Bal­combe and held a “con­sul­ta­tion”, to explain their plans. Wary of their pre­vi­ous­ly recep­tion they booked a small hall for the after­noon that could only hold a few peo­ple at a time, and packed it with exec­u­tives. The vil­lage respond­ed, coat­ing the area in anti-frack­ing signs, organ­is­ing a kids anti-frack­ing pic­nic and mount­ing a con­tin­u­ous protest out­side the venue. As usu­al Cuadrilla were less than con­vinc­ing, with a Cuadrilla exec­u­tive even caught on tape admit­ting that every­thing they said sound­ed like “utter fuck­ing bull­shit”.

Mean­while secu­ri­ty guards, from the third worst com­pa­ny in the world G4S, have been present at the site 24 hours a day for sev­er­al weeks. Last week a small drilling rig arrived on site to drill a water mon­i­tor­ing well, in prepa­ra­tion for the main event. In response the locals begain organ­is­ing a Rig­watch out­side the site entrance, to keep track of what Cuadrilla are up to. On Mon­day a tea par­ty was held out­side to site, to protest Cuadrilla’s pres­ence.

Picnic at Lower Stumble. July 2013

Pic­nic at Low­er Stum­ble. July 2013

Cuadrilla have still not cleared all the hur­dles they need to in order to com­mence drilling, how­ev­er. They require min­ing waste and radioac­tive sub­stances per­mits in order to dis­pose of the tox­ic and radioac­tive waste the drilling will gen­er­ate. In Lan­cashire the Envi­ron­ment Agency waved the require­ment for a per­mit allow­ing Cuadrilla to dump radioac­tive sludge from their Preece Hall site into the Man­ches­ter Ship Canal, but there is no infor­ma­tion about any plans for where this waste would go. The Envi­ron­ment Agency have launched a month long con­sul­ta­tion on the per­mits, poten­tial­ly delay­ing drilling into July.

Regard­less of these legal issues, Cuadrilla are faced with hav­ing to try to push through the drilling despite the near unan­i­mous oppo­si­tion of the local com­mu­ni­ty. Across Sus­sex peo­ple are equal­ly unkeen on the threat­ened indus­tri­al­i­sa­tion of the coun­ty. In Aus­tralia, where three gas com­pa­nies have already been forced out of New South Wales, com­mu­ni­ty oppo­si­tion has been high­ly effec­tive. The indus­try is sug­gest­ing black­mail­ing com­mu­ni­ties with the threat of with­hold­ing pub­lic ser­vices, or brib­ing them with cash pay­ments, to acqui­esce to the destruc­tion of their envi­ron­ments. They are clear­ly wor­ried by the mount­ing oppo­si­tion.

You can object to Cuadrilla’s “Min­ing Waste” appli­ca­tion here…

You can object to Cuadrilla’s “Radioac­tive Wastes” appli­ca­tion here…

 

Mapuche, Human Rights Activists Slam Argentina’s Chevron Deal

18 July 2013 The Argen­tine government’s long-sought deal with Chevron Corp.

18 July 2013 The Argen­tine government’s long-sought deal with Chevron Corp. to exploit shale oil reserves in Patag­o­nia was strong­ly crit­i­cized Wednes­day by Mapuche Indi­ans, human rights activists, envi­ron­men­tal­ists and left­ists who called it a sell­out to the U.S. that could drain and pol­lute the nation’s resources.

The $1.5 bil­lion joint ven­ture with Chevron was made pub­lic in a brief announce­ment by the state-owned YPF oil com­pa­ny Tues­day night. Pres­i­dent Cristi­na Fer­nan­dez said the deal will pro­mote ener­gy inde­pen­dence for Argenti­na, but many of her one-time allies warned that it would do the oppo­site.

“It’s an irre­spon­si­bil­i­ty and a lack of con­scious­ness that the nation­al gov­ern­ment hands over these resources to Chevron,” said Nilo Cayuqueo, who leads a Mapuche com­mu­ni­ty in Neuquen province, where the Vaca Muer­ta shale oil basin is. “We’re talk­ing about mon­ey here, noth­ing else. They don’t talk about the envi­ron­ment, or of future gen­er­a­tions.”

Mapuch­es say the land belongs to them and con­tend they weren’t con­sult­ed about the deal in vio­la­tion of inter­na­tion­al treaties cov­er­ing indige­nous peo­ples. YPF denied that claim Tues­day.

Adol­fo Perez Esquiv­el, an Argen­tine rights activist award­ed the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, said the deal would hurt the coun­try.

“We Argen­tines,” he said, “are giv­ing our resources to the Unit­ed States and con­vert­ing YPF into a high­ly pol­lut­ing com­pa­ny that will use this method known as frack­ing,” which requires mil­lions of gal­lons of fresh water pumped at high pres­sure to extract oil and nat­ur­al gas from oth­er­wise unpro­duc­tive wells deep under­ground in shale deposits.

Perez Esquiv­el said he would file suit demand­ing to see envi­ron­men­tal impact stud­ies and try to block the oil devel­op­ment. But he said he had lit­tle hope of suc­cess since the court sys­tem recent­ly over­turned an injunc­tion seiz­ing any Chevron prof­its in Argenti­na if the com­pa­ny didn’t pay a $19 bil­lion dam­age judg­ment won by plain­tiffs in Ecuador, where the Tex­a­co oil com­pa­ny since bought by Chevron was judged to have con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed parts of the Ama­zon.

The deal reached with Chevron is the biggest for­eign invest­ment that Argenti­na has attract­ed since expro­pri­at­ing YPF from con­trol of the Span­ish com­pa­ny Grupo Rep­sol last year. Rep­sol is demand­ing $10 bil­lion in com­pen­sa­tion and threat­ens to sue any oil com­pa­ny that takes over the wells.

Midnight Confiscation of Drilling Equipment at New Brunswick Anti-Fracking Protest

 

 

fra15 July 2013 Elsi­pog­tog First Nation, New Brunswick – ”We’ve tak­en it to the next lev­el,” said Grand Elder Ray Robin­son of last night’s events. “The bub­ble is about to burst, if it hasn’t already been burst.”

At approx­i­mate­ly 12 mid­night last night, locals began hear­ing boom­ing sounds char­ac­ter­is­tic of the South­west­ern Ener­gy (SWN) seis­mic test­ing trucks, or ‘thumpers,’ as well as oth­er less famil­iar indus­tri­al sounds near­by. After an online call-out express­ing con­cern that SWN might be attempt­ing to begin drilling under the cov­er of dark­ness, locals and camp mem­bers began to search for the source of the sounds.

Local Elsi­pog­tog war­rior Jason Okay recounts what fol­lowed: “We stopped to ask for direc­tions from a lady’s house that was near the sounds. We told her where we thought the sounds were, and she said ‘No way! That’s my [pri­vate­ly owned] land!’ We said ‘sor­ry ma’am, but your land’s get­ting drilled.’”

Camp mem­bers and locals entered the for­est on the woman’s prop­er­ty to find a crowd of RCMP offi­cers and pri­vate secu­ri­ty forces pro­tect­ing two SWN trucks. Pro­test­ers con­front­ed the RCMP, stat­ing that SWN was oper­at­ing on pri­vate prop­er­ty with­out con­sent and must leave imme­di­ate­ly.

Accord­ing to Okay and oth­er camp sources, pro­test­ers were fol­lowed onto the site by a group of indi­vid­u­als iden­ti­fy­ing them­selves as UN inde­pen­dent observers, who pro­ceed­ed to talk with the RCMP. Fol­low­ing dis­cus­sion, it is report­ed that the “observers” con­vinced the RCMP to escort SWN offi­cials off the prop­er­ty, aban­don­ing the trucks. Elsi­pog­tog res­i­dents con­fis­cat­ed the trucks, tow­ing them onto the Elsi­pog­tog reserve where they are still being held.

Fol­low­ing the aban­don­ment of the site by SWN secu­ri­ty and the RCMP, locals went deep­er into the for­est and dis­cov­ered what are report­ed to be unmanned SWN drilling trucks. Upon inves­ti­gat­ing the sur­round­ing area, a series of large holes in the earth were dis­cov­ered. War­riors and pro­test­ers remain camped out in the area await­ing means to trans­port the equip­ment to the reserve.

“Every­thing should halt,” said Okay of the sig­nif­i­cance of last night’s con­fronta­tion. “SWN should real­ize we don’t want them here … [If we would­n’t have con­fis­cat­ed the equip­ment] they’d be drilling right now.”

Police remain camped out near the entrance to the site of the drills, block­ing any attempts by pro­test­ers to trans­port the equip­ment off-site. Unmarked police vehi­cles dot the high­way near the camp site, and SWN secu­ri­ty vehi­cles have been sight­ed dri­ving past the camp fre­quent­ly. A Glob­al News crew attempt­ed to set up with­out con­sent in front of the camp at approx­i­mate­ly 5:00am this morn­ing, but were evict­ed by camp mem­bers before film­ing began.

Ques­tions about UN observers

 Chief Aaron Sock of Elsi­pog­tog states that he con­tact­ed the UN last week­end to request UN obser­va­tion, in order to main­tain peace between the RCMP and locals due to recent secu­ri­ty con­cerns. Two indi­vid­u­als iden­ti­fied by them­selves and local lead­er­ship as UN Inde­pen­dent Observers have been present on camp for two days since, con­duct­ing inter­views with camp mem­bers, col­lect­ing infor­ma­tion, and last night, pro­vid­ing a medi­at­ing role in con­fronta­tions.

How­ev­er, upon con­tact­ing Wilton Lit­tlechild, Chair­per­son of the Unit­ed Nations Expert Mech­a­nism on the Rights of Indige­nous Peo­ples (EMRIP), Lit­tlechild stat­ed that while he was con­tact­ed by Chief Sock in regards to secu­ri­ty con­cerns at the camp, he had not direct­ly deployed any observers as of yet.

Mean­while, a source in the office of the spokesper­son for the Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al of the UN con­firmed to rabble.ca that there are cur­rent­ly no UN observers any­where in Cana­da.

Despite this lack of clear ver­i­fi­ca­tion, camp mem­bers and First Nations lead­er­ship hold that the indi­vid­u­als have a rela­tion­ship with the UN, point­ing to the RCMP’s respect for the observers’ role as medi­a­tors in last night’s con­fronta­tion as fur­ther evi­dence.

Update – 11:45pm EST: Upon fur­ther dis­cus­sion with local lead­er­ship and the indi­vid­u­als iden­ti­fied as ‘UN Inde­pen­dent Observers,’ it has been made clear that the term ‘Inde­pen­dent Observ­er’ was intend­ed to com­mu­ni­cate that the indi­vid­u­als were not direct­ly employed by the UN. They have been appoint­ed by local lead­er­ship to main­tain a peace­keep­ing role in the camp, and com­pile a report based on their obser­va­tions of the sit­u­a­tion to be inde­pen­dent­ly sub­mit­ted on behalf of the com­mu­ni­ty to the Expert Mech­a­nism on the Rights of Indige­nous Peo­ples (which has been con­firmed by the UN via Wilton Lit­tlechild, Chair­per­son of EMPRIP). The titles of the indi­vid­u­als have been switched to ‘Peace­keep­ers’ to avoid future con­fu­sion.

Claire Stew­art-Kani­gan is a writer from Mon­tre­al cur­rent­ly report­ing from the anti-frack­ing protest camp. See her first dis­patch here. 

Pho­to: Jason Okay

Hundreds Shut Down Chemical Supplier in NC Fracking Protest

9238329523_b11d5ad684_h 8 July 2013 UPDATE: Many have been a

9238329523_b11d5ad684_h 8 July 2013 UPDATE: Many have been arrest­ed at today’s action for blockad­ing chem­i­cal ship­ments and in attempt­ed lock­downs. One activist is still up in a tri­pod and being denied sup­port. Please sup­port them by send­ing dona­tions to the Croatan Earth First! legal fund here 

More pho­tos of the action here

First tri­pod sit­ter and oth­er activists block Momen­tive facil­i­ty gate as pro­test­ers occu­py tanker

By halting delivery of fracking proppants protesters hope to stall fracking efforts in North Carolina. See bottom of article for list of Momentive facilities worldwide, and take action! 

Mor­gan­ton, NC – On the edge of the west­ern moun­tain range, pro­test­ers with Croatan Earth First! are cur­rent­ly occu­py­ing an indus­tri­al man­u­fac­tur­ing facil­i­ty owned by Momen­tive and locat­ed at 114 Indus­tri­al Dri­ve.  North Car­olini­ans, who have been fight­ing to pre­vent hydraulic frac­tur­ing from com­ing to cen­tral North Car­oli­na are joined in this action by peo­ple from around the coun­try who also oppose shale gas extrac­tion nation­wide.  Momen­tive is one of the largest world­wide dis­trib­u­tors of “resin coat­ed prop­pants,”  a nec­es­sary com­po­nent for frack­ing.  Each frac­tur­ing stage requires approx­i­mate­ly 136 tonnes of prop­pants.   

 “We are here to send a mes­sage to the oil and gas indus­tries: we will not stand idly by as you destroy this land, or any oth­er, for your per­son­al prof­it. Respect exis­tence, or expect resis­tance,” said an Earth First! activist.

 

Second tripod blocking Momentive driveway

Sec­ond tri­pod block­ing Momen­tive dri­ve­way

The North Car­oli­na leg­is­la­ture plans to begin per­mit­ting frack sites as ear­ly as March 2015 in the Cum­nock Shale Basin locat­ed under­neath Lee, Moore, Chatham, and sur­round­ing coun­ties.  Frack­ing has been tied to water aquifer con­t­a­m­i­na­tion in Pavil­ion, Wyoming accord­ing to an EPA study and linked to high lev­els of methane in Penn­syl­va­nia water wells accord­ing to a study by Duke Uni­ver­si­ty.  Researchers with Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty found that frack­ing oper­a­tions nation­wide released mas­sive amounts of methane (a green­house gas) straight into the atmos­phere, and con­clud­ed that, if not curbed, would speed cli­mate change faster than car­bon emis­sions. 

9238542757_ffca35357c_h

The NC leg­is­la­ture is nego­ti­at­ing on the pos­si­bil­i­ty of legal­iz­ing tox­ic waste­water injec­tion in state or trans­port­ing it else­where.  The process uses 1–8 mil­lion gal­lons of clean water each time a well is fracked.

  “We are under drought con­di­tions already, yet the oil and gas indus­try is allowed to pump mil­lions of gal­lons of water out of our streams.  This is dev­as­tat­ing life in our rivers and streams.  To make mat­ters worse they send this water back into the river­ways poi­soned with radioac­tive mate­ri­als,” said orga­niz­er Lydia Nick­les.  “Pre­serv­ing our waters is pre­serv­ing our lives and all life. We want an end to shale gas extrac­tion every­where.”     

Activists with the Earth First! Move­ment are call­ing on peo­ple nation­wide to resist frack­ing where they live and orga­nize sol­i­dar­i­ty actions. 

“Even if you don’t have a rig in your area to shut down, you can affect the indus­try.   Momen­tive and oth­er com­pa­nies that cre­ate prop­pants for the gas indus­try have facil­i­ties nation­wide as well as inter­na­tion­al­ly.  It’s time to dis­rupt the chain of sup­ply.  Go to www.frackindustry.org and orga­nize to take action now!” 

Momentive’s world­wide head­quar­ters are locat­ed in Colum­bus, Ohio and oth­er loca­tions can be found online at:  http://www.momentive.com/locations_home.aspx?id=293

A mes­sage from Croatan Earth First!:  “We are act­ing in sol­i­dar­i­ty with and take inspi­ra­tion from the coura­geous many who have been stand­ing togeth­er to take action in the North Car­oli­na cap­i­tal dur­ing Moral Mon­days, and we encour­age every­one to con­tin­ue to show our col­lec­tive pow­er, act­ing up against the repres­sive cor­po­rate and leg­isla­tive pow­ers for the lib­er­a­tion of all and the integri­ty of land, water and air.”

 

Croatan Earth First! encourages others to follow this example and take action against fracking and proppant manufacturing facilities. Find a location near you:

Momentive Worldwide Locations

Amer­i­c­as

Brazil

Cotia
Par­que Alexan­dre 502Cotia, SP06714–285 Brazil
Curiti­ba
 Rua Cyro Cor­rea Pereira,2525 – CICCuriti­ba, PR81450–090 Brazil
Itat­i­ba
Rodovia Engen­heiro Con­stan­cio Cin­tra Km 78,5
Dis­tri­to Indus­tri­al Alfre­do Rela
Itat­i­ba, Brazil
13255–846
Mon­tene­gro
 RS 124, esquina com via 2Mon­tene­groBrazil
Paulinia
 Fazen­da São Fran­cis­cos/n° CP 921,Paulinia, Sao Paulo13140–000 Brazil
 

Cana­da

Cal­gary
633 6th Avenue, SW, #400Cal­gary, ABT2P 2Y5 Cana­da
Edmon­ton
12621 156th St NWEdmon­ton, ABT5V 1E1 Cana­da
St-Romuald
675 Per­reaultSt-Romuald, QuébecG6W 7Z9 Cana­da
Stur­geon
305 Park RdFort Saskatchewan, ABCana­da

Colom­bia

Cali
Calle 154  #1–25Cali, Yum­boColom­bia

Mex­i­co

Mex­i­co
 Aveni­da Juarez No. 40
Int.206
Col. ExHa­cien­da San­ta Mon­i­ca
EDM 54050, Mex­i­co

Unit­ed States

Alaba­ma

Demopo­lis, AL
1700 Lock & Dam RoadDemopo­lis, AL36732 USA

Arkansas

Batesville, AR
2120 N. St Louis StBatesville, AR 72501
Hope, AR
185 North Indus­tri­al Dri­veHope, AR71801 USA

Cal­i­for­nia

Chi­no, CA
 4045 Cheyenne Court
Chi­no, CA
91710 USA
Fre­mont, CA
41100 Boyce RoadFre­mont, CA94538 USA

Flori­da

Lake­land, FL
2525 South Combee RoadLake­land, FL33801 USA
New Smyr­na Beach, FL
703 South Street 
New Smyr­na Beach, FL
32168–5867 USA

Geor­gia

Colum­bus, GA
6906 Dix­ie StreetColum­bus, GA31907 USA
Colum­bus, GA
1201 10th AvenueColum­bus, GA31901 USA

Illi­nois

Argo, IL
8600 West 71st StreetBed­ford Park, IL60501 USA
Ore­gon, IL
1449 Devil’s Back­bone RoadOre­gon, IL61061 USA
West­mont, IL
630 Oak­mont LaneWest­mont, IL60559 USA
 

Indi­ana

Gar­rett, IN
 500 North Tay­lor Road
Gar­rett, IN
46738–1846 USA

Ken­tucky

Louisville, KY
1800 Mei­dinger Tow­erLouisville,  KY 40216
Louisville, KY
6200 Camp­ground RoadLouisville, KY40216 USA
Louisville, KY(2)
6210 Camp­ground RoadLouisville, KY40216
 

Louisiana

Alexan­dria, LA
 3901 Sug­ar House RoadAlexan­dria, LA71302 USA
Baton Rouge, LA
 18167 East Petro­le­um Dri­veBaton Rouge, LA70809 USA
Geis­mar, LA
9288 Hwy. 75Geis­mar, LA70734 USA
Gon­za­les, LA
 9288 Hwy. 75 Riv­er RoadGeis­mar, LA70734 USA
Nor­co, LA
16122 Riv­er RoadWest Site Admin Bldg.Nor­co, LA70079 USA
 

Mon­tana

Mis­soula, MT
3670 Grant Creek RoadMis­soula, MT59808 USA

New York

More­au, NY
64 Far­nan RoadSouth Glens Falls, NY12803 USA
Tar­ry­town, NY
 769 Old Saw Mill Riv­er Road
Tar­ry­town, NY
10591 USA
Water­ford, NY
 260 Hud­son Riv­er Road
Water­ford, NY
12188 USA
 

North Car­oli­na

Acme, NC
 333 Neils Eddy RoadRiegel­wood, NC28456 USA
Char­lotte
 1950 Con­ti­nen­tal Boule­vard
Char­lotte, NC
28273 USA
Fayet­teville, NC
1411 Indus­tri­al Dri­veFayet­teville, NC28301 USA
High Point, NC
1717 Ward StreetHigh Point, NC27260 USA
Huntersville
 9930 Kincey Avenue
Huntersville, NC
28078–6468 USA
Lenoir, NC
Miller Hill RoadLenoir, NC28645 USA
Mor­gan­ton, NC
114 Indus­tri­al Blvd.Mor­gan­ton, NC28655 USA
Reigel­wood, NC
333 Neils Eddy RoadReigel­wood, NC 28456

Ohio

Colum­bus, OH
 180 East Broad  StreetColum­bus, OH43215 USA
Gahan­na, OH
630 Mor­ri­son Rd, Suite 300Gahan­na, OH43232 USA
Newark, OH
 611 O’Neill Dri­ve SE
Hebron, OH
43025–9680 USA
Rich­mond Heights, OH
 24400 High­land Road
Rich­mond Heights, OH
44143–2503 USA
Strongsville, OH
 22557 West Lunn Road
Strongsville, OH
44149–4871 USA
Tole­do, OH
 4243 South AvenueTole­do, OH43615 USA
Willough­by, OH
 4901 Camp­bell Road
Willough­by, OH
44094–3366 USA
 

Okla­homa

Okla­homa City, OK
4601 S. MacArthurOkla­homa City, OK73179 USA

Ore­gon

LaGrande, OR
62575 Ore­gon Hwy 82Island City, OR97850 USA
Port­land, OR
10915 N. Lom­bardPort­land, OR97203 USA
Spring­field, OR
470 South Sec­ond StreetSpring­field, OR97477 USA
Spring­field, OR
610 South Sec­ond StreetSpring­field, OR97477 USA
Spring­field, OR(2)
155 West “A” A‑1Spring­field, OR 97477
 

Penn­syl­va­nia

Mount Jew­ett, PA
253 Bor­den Dri­veMount Jew­ett, PA16740 USA

South Car­oli­na

Roe­buck, SC
200 Rail­road StreetRoe­buck, SC29376 USA

Texas

Bay­town, TX
8450 West Bay RoadBay­town, TX77520 USA
Brady, TX
45 Acfrac Rd. & Old Mason RoadBrady, TX76825 USA
Cle­burne, TX
3202 Wind­mill RoadCle­burne, TX76033 USA
Deer Park, TX
5900 High­way 225Deer Park, TX77536 USA
Diboll, TX
100 W. Bor­den Dri­veDiboll, TX75941 USA
Hous­ton, TX
12650 Direc­tors Dr, Suite 100Stafford, TX77477 USA
Hous­ton, TX
15366 Park RowHous­ton, TX77084 USA
Longview, TX
10 Robert Wil­son RoadLongview, TX75602–4886 USA

Wash­ing­ton

Belle­vue, WA
 520 112th Ave NE, Suite 220Belle­vue, WA98004 USA

West Vir­ginia

Sis­tersville, WV
3500 South State Route 2
Friend­ly, WV
26146–9750 USA

Wis­con­sin

She­boy­gan, WI
 2522 South 24th StreetShe­boy­gan, WI53081 USA

 

Asia Pacif­ic

Aus­tralia

Brim­bank
 Gate 3 – 765 Bal­larat Road
Deer Park, VIC
3023
Aus­tralia
Bris­bane
194 Paringa RdGib­son Island, Murar­rie, QLD4172 Aus­tralia
Somers­by
3 War­ringah CloseSomers­by, NSW2250 Aus­tralia
 

Chi­na

Nan­tong
Nan­tong Eco­nom­ic Tech Devel­op­ment ParkNan­tong, Chi­na
Shang­hai
No. 227 Lib­ing Road
Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong
Shang­hai 201203
Chi­na

India

Ban­ga­lore
 The Mil­lenia, Tow­er B, 4th Floor, Mur­phy Road, Ulsoor
Ban­ga­lore – 560008
India

Japan

Kobe
Kobe Inter­na­tion­al Busi­ness Cen­ter, North5–5‑2 Mina­to­ji­ma Minami­machi,Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyo­go650‑0047
Kozu­ki
Kozu­ki580–39 Aza Koseno-uchiKuza­ki-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyo­go679‑5641
Ohta
 Ohta133, Nishi-shin­machiOhta, Gun­ma373‑8505
Japan
Tokyo
Akasa­ka Park Build­ing5–2‑20, Akasa­kaMina­to-ku, Tokyo107‑6109Japan

Korea

Seoul
Gu-Plaza Bldg, 8th Fl,63–14,  Sin­su DongSEOUL, 121–854, KOREA
Ulsan
580–3, Hwasan-ri, Onsan-eup, Ulju-gunUlsan,Korea

Malaysia

Sg. Petani
Petani Sdn Bhd (370808‑K)C 22 Susur Lencon­gan Timur Kanan, Kawasan Perindus­tri­an Cen­dana Sun­gai Petani0800 Malaysia

New Zealand

Horn­by
135 ‑147 Water­loo Road – Horn­by
Christchurch, Can­ter­bury
8042
New Zealand
Mountview
165 Totara Street
Mt. Maun­ganui
3118
New Zealand

Sin­ga­pore

Sin­ga­pore
100 Beach Road#20–01/02 Shaw Tow­erSin­ga­pore 189702

Tai­wan

Taipei
11F‑1, No. 171 Sung Der RoadTaipei11085 Tai­wan

Thai­land

Bangkok
3195/6, Vibulthani Tow­er 11st Floor, Rama IV RoadKlong­ton, Klong­toeyBangkok10110 Thai­land
Ray­ong
 1/2 M00 4 Asia Indus­tri­al Estate
Ray­ong
21130 Thai­land
Samut­sako­rn
84/2 Moo 4, Tam­bol Bang­torad Rama II Road, km 41Samut­sako­rn7400 Thai­land
 

 

Europe, Mid­dle East and Africa

Bel­gium

Lou­vain
Avenue Jean Mon­net 1Ottig­nies Lou­vain-la-Neuve,1348 Bel­gium
Zwi­jn­drecht
 Haven 1053 Nieuwe Weg 1
2070 Zwi­jn­drecht
Bel­gium

Czech Repub­lic

Par­du­bice
Are­al Uma53354 Par­du­bice SemtínCzech Repub­lic
Prague
 Luz­na 716/2
16000 Prague 6
Czech Repub­lic
Sokolov
Tovární c.p. 209335601 SokolovCzech Repub­lic
 

Fin­land

Puhos
Teol­lisu­ustie 20 BPuhos,FIN-82430 Fin­land

France

La Rochette
 41 Rue Corot
77000 La Rochette
France
Ribé­court
704, rue Pierre et Marie Curie60772 Ribé­courtFrance
Rouen
 3 et 5 Rue Bar­bet76250 Déville-les-Rouen,France
 

Ger­many

Duis­burg
Varzin­er Str. 4947138 Duis­burgGer­many
Frie­len­dorf
Glock­en­rain 234621 Frie­len­dorfGer­many
Geesthacht
 Bor­sigstraße 1–7
21502 Geesthacht
Ger­many
Iser­lohn-Let­mathe
Gen­naer Str. 2–458642 Iser­lohnGer­many
Leu­na
Am Haupt­tor, Bau 610106237 Leu­naGer­many
Lev­erkusen
 Chempark, Build­ing V 7
51368 Lev­erkusen
Ger­many
Stuttgart
Fritz Mueller Str. 114Esslin­gen am Neckar,D‑73730Ger­many
Wes­sel­ing, Ger­many
Bruh­ler Strasse 1450389 Wes­sel­ingGer­many

Italy

Sant Albano
Via Moroz­zo, 2712040 Sant Albano Stu­raItaly
Sol­bi­ate Olona
Via Mazz­i­ni, 104I‑21058 Sol­bi­ate Olona, VAItaly
Ter­moli
 Zona Indus­tri­ale, Calle Poste 79CP 79 86039 Ter­moli (CB)
Italy
 

Nether­lands

Cham­ber of Com­merce Num­ber 2429476

Bergen op Zoom
Plas­tic­slaan 1, 4612 PX
Bergen op Zoom
The Nether­lands
Moerdijk, Nether­lands
Chemieweg 254782SJ Moerdijk,The Nether­lands
Per­nis
Von­delin­gen­weg 601Har­bour no. 31903196 KK Hoogvli­et Rt, Per­nisThe Nether­lands
Rot­ter­dam
Seat­tleweg 173195 ND Rot­ter­dam, Port­parkThe Nether­lands
Rot­ter­dam, Botlek
Chemies­traat 303197 KB Rot­ter­dam, BotlekThe Nether­lands
 

Poland

Warza­wa
 Odd­zial w Polsce ul. Smolen­skiego 4/10
01 – 698 Warza­wa
Poland

Rus­sia

Moscow
 Ulit­sa Smol­naya 24 D125445 MoscowRus­sia

South Africa

South Africa
 10 Quark Cres­cent, Lin­bro Busi­ness Park, Sand­ton
2065 South Africa, Merid­i­an Com­mer­cial Tow­er
South Africa

Spain

Asua
Camino de San­groniz num 848150 Sondi­ka (Viz­caya)Spain
Bar­bas­tro
Pol.  Indus­tri­al Valle del Cina22300 Bar­bas­tro (Huesca)Spain
Lan­tarón
Pol. Ind. De Lantero cp 121301213 Lan­tarón (Ala­va)Spain
 

Turkey

Turkey
Beykoz, Kavacik Mahalle­si Cavus­basi Cad­de­si Yayabey
Sok­a­gi no. 12, c/o South­ern Chem­i­cals (Pty)
Turkey

UK

Bar­ry
Sul­ly Moors RoadSul­ly Penarth, South Glam­or­ganCF64 5YU Unit­ed King­dom
Chan­dlers Ford
School LaneChan­dlers FordUnit­ed King­dom
Clay­ton
Ash­ton New RoadClay­ton, Man­ches­terM11 4AT Unit­ed King­dom
Cowie
Sta­tion RoadCowie, Stir­lingFK7 7BQ Unit­ed King­dom
Lostock
 5, Cran­field Road, Lostock Indus­tri­al Estate, Lostock
Bolton BL 64QD
Unit­ed King­dom
Peter­lee
North West Indus­tri­al EstatePeter­lee, Co. DurhamSR8 2HR Unit­ed King­dom
Stan­low, Unit­ed King­dom
Stan­low Mfg Com­plexEllesmere PortCH65 4HB Unit­ed King­dom
 

Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates

Dubai
 PO Box 17193Jebel AliDubai

 

No Shale by Rail: Maine Activists Block Fracked-Oil Train

(Maine Media Today pho­to by Michael G. Sea­mans)

28 June 2013 A great two-for-one action against frack­ing and oil-by-rail trans­port!

From Com­mon Dreams:

Six Maine res­i­dents were arrest­ed late Thurs­day night after a larg­er group of cli­mate activists block­ad­ed a set of tracks pass­ing through the small town of Fair­field in order to pre­vent a train car­ry­ing 70,000 bar­rels of “fracked” oil head­ed to a refin­ery in neigh­bor­ing New Brunswick, Cana­da.

Asso­ci­at­ing them­selves with a grow­ing nation­al cam­paign of direct action against the fos­sil fuel indus­try called “Fear­less Sum­mer,” the pro­test­ers at the scene erect­ed a large scaf­fold over the tracks and held signs read­ing “Trains for peo­ple, not for oil” and “This train’s bound for Gory” (pun intend­ed).

Police arrived, and after sev­er­al warn­ings for the pro­test­ers to dis­perse, the six who refused were arrest­ed as the scaf­fold­ing was destroyed with a chain saw.

Local media report­ed a sur­pris­ing­ly large law enforce­ment response with police from numer­ous towns show­ing up at the scene, includ­ing troop­ers from the State Police.

350 Maine*, the statewide group asso­ci­at­ed but inde­pen­dent from inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tion 350.org that led the action, said the goal was to draw atten­tion to the “fracked oil” that is qui­et­ly pass­ing through the state on a reg­u­lar basis. Local mem­bers of Earth First also par­tic­i­pat­ed in the action.

The groups say that the trains run­ning through Maine car­ry crude from the Bakken oil fields of North Dako­ta and are espe­cial­ly tox­ic because “fracked oil” is extract­ed by blast­ing a high pres­sure tox­ic cock­tail deep into the ground to release the oil from shale rock, pol­lut­ing air and water in sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties.

 

“Peo­ple say that this new oil boom in the US will make us ener­gy secure,” said Meaghan LaSala, stu­dent at Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Maine and an organzi­er with 350 Maine. “But there is noth­ing secure about run­away cli­mate change. This is our moment to change our tra­jec­to­ry before it’s too late.”

One of those arrest­ed, 63-year old Read Brug­ger from the town of Free­dom, was clear about his moti­va­tions.

“We feel there has not been enough aware­ness about the mil­lions of gal­lons of crude shell oil that shipped across Maine each month,” Brug­ger told the local Ban­gor Dai­ly News. “We feel need to move beyond fos­sil fuels and get away from the poi­so­nous ways oil is being extract­ed.”

The BDN, which report­ed that many at the scene “said they did not know that fracked oil was being trans­port­ed through Maine,” made it seem like the action, at least on local lev­el, may have had the desired result.

But the cam­paign­ers acknowl­edged their con­cerns go beyond even the dire threats faced by Maine com­mu­ni­ties if one of these trains rerails or a spill occurs.

“We believe the moment we’re in, in terms of cli­mate change, is a dra­mat­ic one and it calls for dra­mat­ic action,” said LaSala in an inter­view with the Morn­ing Sen­tinel.

“We oppose the con­tin­ued extrac­tion of fos­sil fuels, but we also oppose its trans­porta­tion over thou­sands of miles of envi­ron­men­tal­ly sen­si­tive areas,” added Sarah Lin­nekin, a stu­dent at Maine’s Uni­ty Col­lege. “Since my num­ber one job is to pro­tect my chil­dren, I feel an oblig­a­tion to take action.”

[*Full dis­clo­sure: This writer is a some­times vol­un­teer for 350 Maine, though had no involve­ment with this action.]

 

Fracking Equipment Set Ablaze in Elsipogtog!

img_821026 June 2013

img_821026 June 2013

Hal­i­fax Media Co-op reports that a piece of drilling equip­ment was set ablaze on the 24th, by per­son or per­sons unknown.  This comes amidst esca­lat­ing resis­tance to hydraulic frac­tur­ing by indige­nous peo­ples in Elsi­pog­tog, “New Brunswick”.

This comes after numer­ous direct actions, the mid­night seizure of drilling equip­ment, and a local man being struck by a contractor’s vehi­cle.

 

Farmers Unite With Hydro-Fracking Activists

By Adam McGib­bon, www.newint.org

By Adam McGib­bon, www.newint.org

As the G8 Sum­mit began in Fer­managh, North­ern Ire­land, a group of farm­ers drove 60 trac­tors in a ‘go-slow’, bring­ing a 24-kilo­me­tre stretch of road to a halt. The 16 June action opposed hydraulic frac­tur­ing – frack­ing – which could take place on both sides of the Irish bor­der. It was fol­lowed by state­ments against frack­ing from the major farm­ers’ unions in the Repub­lic of Ire­land and in North­ern Ire­land.

This is a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment in the fight against frack­ing in Ire­land and North­ern Ire­land, where at least four ener­gy com­pa­nies are seek­ing to rend the land­scape apart drilling for gas in the very area that the G8 took place. Although there is a tem­po­rary freeze on drilling in the Repub­lic, Cana­di­an com­pa­ny Tamb­o­ran Resources already have a license to start explor­ing for shale gas in North­ern Ire­land due to com­mence this year.

For over two years, the bat­tle against frack­ing in Ire­land has most­ly been the pre­serve of the sea­soned activist. But impres­sive orga­niz­ing efforts in Fer­managh over the past few years have mobi­lized com­mu­ni­ties as cam­paign groups harangue elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Assem­bly mem­bers speak­ing against frack­ing are treat­ed like cranks by min­is­ters. Despite the sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly proven envi­ron­men­tal dev­as­ta­tion, the rub­bished claims of hun­dreds of ‘frack­ing jobs’, and the fact that frack­ing will make the cli­mate cri­sis worse, the slip­pery slope towards frack­ing in Ire­land has con­tin­ued.

But now, the endorse­ment of the offi­cial orga­ni­za­tions of the farm­ers lob­by could turn this oppo­si­tion into a mass move­ment. Giv­en their ambiva­lence on the issue not so long ago, this is refresh­ing news. After the ‘go-slow’ action, Pat Gilhoo­ley from the Irish Farm­ers Asso­ci­a­tion said frack­ing will be an elec­tion issue in the Republic’s local author­i­ty elec­tions in 2014. John Sheri­dan from the Ulster Farm­ers’ Union stat­ed that the risk to the farm­ing indus­try from frack­ing was too great. ‘We Deserve Bet­ter,’ runs the mon­ick­er of a new, cross-bor­der cam­paign, launched this month.

With the addi­tion of the farm­ing lob­by, it’s hard to imag­ine how the con­ser­v­a­tive Union­ist par­ties in the North­ern Ire­land Assem­bly, both heav­i­ly depen­dent on rur­al votes, can main­tain their sup­port or ambiva­lence for frack­ing for­ev­er. The North’s Min­is­ter for Enter­prise, Arlene Fos­ter, is aggres­sive­ly pro-frack­ing. Two years ago, alle­ga­tions of impro­pri­ety emerged when it turned out Foster’s hus­band owns 62 hectares of land with­in the gas explo­ration zone. With Fos­ter hold­ing a rur­al seat, the addi­tion of the orga­nized farm lob­by that could break the back of the cor­po­ra­tions and politi­cians that want frack­ing to take place in Ire­land.

There are def­i­nite­ly lessons to be learnt here for oth­er activists bat­tling frack­ing across the world. Frack­ing isn’t just an envi­ron­men­tal issue – it’s a live­stock issue. It’s a food issue. It’s a liveli­hood issue for those who toil to pro­vide us with food. The Left needs to make com­mon cause with rur­al com­mu­ni­ties on frack­ing; the myth that they are more con­ser­v­a­tive than urban areas needs to be shat­tered.

To win on frack­ing, links have to be made beyond the ‘usu­al sus­pects’ of activist groups. Inter­na­tion­al­ly, there are great exam­ples: In Aus­tralia, a group called Lock The Gate are suc­ceed­ing in unit­ing envi­ron­men­tal­ists, activists and farm­ers. In Ger­many, the unlike­ly allies have been found in the beer indus­try, which fears for the future of their prod­ucts. In France, where frack­ing is cur­rent­ly banned, farm­ers stand with activists gath­er­ing on their fields and hang protest ban­ners from hay bales to cam­paign to keep the ban in place.

Across the world, build­ing the broad­est coali­tion pos­si­ble to defeat frack­ing means get­ting out of the activist com­fort zone and work­ing with peo­ple we wouldn’t usu­al­ly work with – and peo­ple we might not agree with on many issues. Farm­ers, envi­ron­men­tal­ists, activists, con­ser­va­tion­ists must unite and fight.