North West England
LIVE at http://bambuser.com/v/4272902
A human blockade at the end of Moss Lane has left a convoy of tankers backed up onto the A57.
Protectors have swarmed the vehicles and climbed on top. Come down to support and stop fracking at Barton Moss.
A human blockade at the end of Moss Lane has left a convoy of tankers backed up onto the A57.
Protectors have swarmed the vehicles and climbed on top. Come down to support and stop fracking at Barton Moss.
Three protesters have been arrested at Barton Moss after they climbed two stationary lorries at the site refusing to get down for more than an hour.
Police brought in the Protester Removal Team to bring the men down, after they were formally arrested for obstruction.
The men finally came down after officers assembled temporary scaffolding and ladders and ordered the men to remove themselves from the lorries delivering to the iGas fracking site.
7/1/14
Update:
after a few hours the car was entered by police, lock-on removed and car towed.
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Two people have locked-on inside a locked immobilised car at Barton Moss, stopping the truck convoy which includes drill bits and chemicals.
7/1/14
Update:
after a few hours the car was entered by police, lock-on removed and car towed.
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Two people have locked-on inside a locked immobilised car at Barton Moss, stopping the truck convoy which includes drill bits and chemicals.
See bits of video here http://bambuser.com/v/4247971 and bambuser.com/v/4248027
Photos here http://frack-off.org.uk/barton-moss-latest-news/ and at #bartonmoss
6th January 2014
Three people lock themselves to each other and concrete-filled barrels and delay trucks entering the site by four hours. Bravo!
6th January 2014
Three people lock themselves to each other and concrete-filled barrels and delay trucks entering the site by four hours. Bravo!
Photos and some more details at https://twitter.com/FFSGtrM and #bartonmoss
Live-stream: http://bambuser.com/v/4245652
Denial of police 'flare' excuses to search all tents and harass residents: http://northerngasgala.org.uk/press-release-fracking-camp-dispute-police-claim-that-flare-fired-at-helicopter/
2nd December 2013
WHERE'S WALLY PROTECTOR BLOCKS BARTON MOSS IGAS GATE
A campaigner dressed as Where's Wally superglued herself to the entrance gates of the IGas drilling site at Barton Moss today to delay trucks trying to leave the plant.
2nd December 2013
WHERE'S WALLY PROTECTOR BLOCKS BARTON MOSS IGAS GATE
A campaigner dressed as Where's Wally superglued herself to the entrance gates of the IGas drilling site at Barton Moss today to delay trucks trying to leave the plant.
Meanwhile three more arrests were made at the site today as campaigners against fracking in Salford accused Greater Manchester Police of `aggression'.
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Following on from Monday, when a campaigner locked himself onto to a tanker that was attempting to leave the IGas drilling site at Barton Moss, today a campaigner dressed as Where's Wally superglued herself to the site's gates to also delay lorries trying to leave in another imaginative protest. Earlier, ten trucks were delayed by over an hour trying to get into the site as campaigners walked slowly in front of them doing the `Salford Shuffle'. Greater Manchester Police arrested three people `on suspicion of obstructing a highway'. Sophie Baxter from Frack Free Greater Manchester said: "I fully support the people down there who have given up everything to help protect our community against corporate interests. IGas, the Government and the local council continue to underestimate the strong public opinion against fracking. "The police were very aggressive towards people this morning, all of the arrests were needless" she added "We will not tolerate this type of aggression from a police force that is meant to be here to protect the public and are currently seeking legal advice to take this further." Those who have set up camp at Barton Moss and those who attend the now daily protests have called on more people from Greater Manchester and Salford to go down to the site and show support. |
New events calendar – http://northerngasgala.org.uk/events/
Great solo action today with a man D-locking himself to a truck attempting to leave the site at Barton Moss. The truck was at the front of a convoy meaning that all the other trucks were stuck behind it. The man was eventually removed by the Police’s ‘Protester Removal Team’. Meanwhile, there was a good turn from the local community to slow down iGas unwelcome operations.
More news at http://northerngasgala.org.uk/
Another unexpected arrival. A big orange bus appears to have mysteriously broken down, blocking the entrance to the fracking site. What next?
Another unexpected arrival. A big orange bus appears to have mysteriously broken down, blocking the entrance to the fracking site. What next?
Five brave Barton Moss Protectors are locked to a BIG ORANGE BUS preventing access to IGas’ site.
* One locked to the steering wheel and accelerator
* One locked underneath
* One locked to the roof-skylight
* One locked to the back door by the neck
* One locked to front door by the leg
The blockade lasted for six hours until the afternoon, after police eviction teams removed the Defenders. iGas’ drilling rig arrived to site later in the day – having been significantly delayed.
The action is part of the growing opposition to fracking and in reaction to the Governments announcement yesterday of a new licensing round for onshore oil and gas which will now cover over 60% of the UK and will include the whole of Greater Manchester.
Stephen Lockwood who lives at the Barton Moss Protection Camp said, “Fracking is highly dangerous. The government is actively promoting it despite overwhelming opposition from the local communities it’s being imposed upon. Not only are they allowing the oil and gas companies to ride roughshod over the democratic process, environment and legally binding climate change targets, they are now giving them tax breaks whilst they do so.”
He continued, “Many powerful government figures have financially declared interests in the oil and gas industry and are ignoring the will of the people. It’s up to all of us to call them to account and stop these toxic developments.”
Ministers have also published draft legislation for tax breaks for fracking companies – while confirming the industry will offer financial incentives of £100,000 per well to persuade people to accept fracking in their local area.
Local resident, 82 year old Anne Power said, “What are the government thinking? How can they think that covering the whole of Greater Manchester with fracking rigs is a good idea. The industry themselves have admitted that they are struggling in the face of public opposition yet the government continue to think they can force this on us.”
She continued, “I have been delighted to see the resurgence of the community spirit in Salford and in fact, all over the country but what has this country come to when our younger generation are forced into taking such drastic action in order to protect their communities?”
The land on which IGas plan to drill is leased from corporate giant Peel Holdings who own vast swathes of land in the area, including the Manchester Ship Canal and a number of ports and airports. Peel Holdings, the empire of billionaire John Whittaker[3], has several pockets of land leased for drilling in the Manchester area including another a site in Trafford for which IGas also has planning permission. Peel look to be tied up with the future of unconventional gas in the North West where they have been securing parcels of land for fracking development in recent months.
December 17th The UK government has announced that roughly 60% of the UK is now available to be licensed to fracking companies.
December 17th The UK government has announced that roughly 60% of the UK is now available to be licensed to fracking companies. After a brief “consultation” period it is likely that the licenses will be handed out to fraking companies in the first half of 2014. The licenses would cover the exploitation of both shale oil and gas and coal bed methane (CBM).
The area is based on that covered by a newly finalised Strategic Environmental Assessment (PDF). Despite the name the document does not seem to be particularly focused on the environment and does not address the long term impacts of issuing these potentially 30 year long licenses.
To extract the amounts of gas that companies are bragging are in existing license blocks would require tens of thousands of wells. If large additional areas are licensed next year, the scale of threat will be much larger still. These developments would devastate our remaining countryside, industrialising huge areas with well pads, pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants.
The reality of unconventional gas is that it is very hard to extract. It is literally scrapping the bottom of the fossil fuel barrel. Densely packed wells must be drilled (up to 8 wells per square mile) over large areas, since each well individual wells does not produce much gas and then only for a short time. Worse, fracking is not an isolated technology but is part of a wider trend towards more extreme forms of energy extraction, which if not resisted could see even larger threats such as Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) become widespread.
Right now the community around Barton Moss near Manchester is fighting the threat to their region posed by IGas Energy’s attempts to drill a Shale/CBM exploration well there. Across the country communities are getting organised to resist these threats, with around 70 anti-fracking groups already formed in the last two years, and that number growing fast.
Wind Turbine. Photo by Sherborne G.
The fracking test site at Barton Moss has been blockaded with a giant wind turbine blade!
Around fifty people arrived at 5.30 this morning to leave this imaginative early Christmas gift for fracking company IGas.
The Barton Moss site, near Salford in Greater Manchester, is the latest frontline in the battle for clean energy in the UK. IGas are trying to carry out test drilling to see if the site is suitable for extracting coal bed methane and shale gas, despite strong opposition from local residents and the community protection camp that has been resisting the drilling since mid-November. However, the site’s only entrance is now completely blocked by the 1.5 tonne blade, so there won’t be any drilling equipment heading in there for a while…
~Sherborne G.
Barton Moss Protection Camp.
http://northerngasgala.org.uk/ – for regular updates, press release with references from today.
Livestream from action
Barton Moss Protection Camp Barton Moss Road, Just off A57 next to Airport, Eccles M30 7RL
ADDRESS:
Barton Moss Protection Camp Barton Moss Road, Just off A57 next to Airport, Eccles M30 7RL
LINKS:
BIFF ! (Britain & Ireland Frack Free)
Barton Moss Community Protection Camp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BartonMoss
A big day of resistance from the Barton Moss Protection Camp against IGas’ drilling plans. Around 12 drilling trucks were delayed entering the site for 2 hours under a heavy police escort. Three people were arrested, including a pregnant women and elderly lady. Police were widely condemned on social media for their hea
A big day of resistance from the Barton Moss Protection Camp against IGas’ drilling plans. Around 12 drilling trucks were delayed entering the site for 2 hours under a heavy police escort. Three people were arrested, including a pregnant women and elderly lady. Police were widely condemned on social media for their heavy handedness. A disabled man suffered a broken knee after being thrown into the hedgerow by police.
Many trucks also left the site the same afternoon, taking a lot of equipment with them. It is believed that IGas are preparing for their next stage of exploratory drilling.
Friday 13th December marks a year since the government lifted the moratorium on fracking but we’ve still had no fracking this year thanks to the amazing and inspiring community campaigns around the country.
Photos at http://northerngasgala.org.uk/ along with news from other days
