South West England – Page 6

New UK Fracking License Areas Confirmed

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.

A Victory for “People Power”

1st December from Stop the Cull

At lunchtime on the 29th of November a moment in history was created when the guardian released this story. Telling the world that finally the British government had been beaten into submission and called an early end to its wildlife massacre it called a “badger cull”.

The cull was always sold to the British public as a pilot to see if over a period of 6 weeks, badgers could be killed “effectively, safely & humanely”. Toward the end of those 6 weeks we the public were told that the original population studies had changed and the new population figures were actually much lower, they refused to credit us the sabs with destroying their Hair DNA population studies and instead decided to blame badgers for “moving the goalposts”. With massively reduced populations (strangely David Heath had been complaining along with many farmers of population “explosions”) the target to kill was made much easier for them to reach.

What they hadn’t planned on was the perseverance, tenacity, endurance & craftiness of those opposed to the cull. Many experienced hunt saboteurs walked the fields and woodlands of the cull zones night after night, as did many other people, these people just like sabs came from a wide variety of backgrounds, teachers, graphic designers, care workers, the very rich, the retired and yes even the unemployed and students. A dedicated number of these people before the culls started, going as far back as June last year had been sett surveying the entire area, one of them “Jo Badger” recently passed away, her passing has been a great loss to many of us. Their work was the foundation for all the defence of the badgers during the cull & it is these people who know how active setts are in certain areas, finding the Hair DNA traps was an easy task for them.

With a total of over 500 sq Km’s surveyed, protecting the badgers from free shooters was a question of team work, whilst some people working tirelessly within the law traversed hundreds of miles of footpaths and reported in any sightings, Sab groups and people prepared to break minor trespass laws got closer to shooters and often moved them on with noise. Several weeks into the cull a small fortune was spent on night vision equipment and the amount of shooters being stopped increased rapidly. That equipment like the fuel in the tanks was generously donated by supporters from across the country, without their support the campaign would have struggled greatly and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped with fundraising to get people to the zones.

When the 6 week culls ended and it was announced in Somerset that they hadn’t achieved their targets we sighed with relief & prepared to focus just on Gloucestershire for the final week, to our dismay they announced extensions, in Somerset with the drastically reduced populations they announced that they had to kill another 165 badgers over a three week period. Having managed to kill over 100 a week during the 6 week cull people on the ground knew they had a lot of work to do to stop them reaching their targets. With little or no holiday time left to claim many people took unpaid leave from work, relationships were strained and many people were suffering with extreme fatigue. Still they did not give up, with the weight of knowing that the culls would be rolled out if these succeeded, people buckled down to the work knowing that tens of thousands of badgers lives were in the balance. At the end of the 3 week extension 90 badgers had been killed, making the Somerset cull and extension a failure.

The shooters having failed at free shooting early on had gone over heavily to cage trapping as a tried and tested method of killing large numbers of badgers, when we knew this for sure, our efforts accordingly varied and we focussed as much resources as possible at finding cage traps and “neutralising” them. In Somerset we never found more than 3 cages on one sett. Meanwhile in Gloucestershire the figures on the total killed came out, it was shockingly low at only 30% of the revised pop. figure, Natural England issued an extension for 8 weeks with a target of just 58% to achieve “disease control” the NFU didn’t mess about and promptly put down hundreds of traps.

Protest culture has for some years attributed minor criminal damage done at night to “pixies”. Some people find this word annoying, just as other people don’t identify with the word “sab”. Semantics to one side, the cage traps were destroyed as fast as they went down, for the most part by very normal people doing extraordinary work, through the day traps were found then by night they were destroyed, each one costing approx £150. In just over 4 weeks nearly 400 of these traps had been made useless. With “free shooting” being proven to be a methodology that didn’t work, cage trapping was undertaken to kill as many badgers as possible. We the British public just weren’t having it.

Whilst we celebrate the failure of these badger culls and the part we played in their downfall, we mourn the loss of all the badgers that have been needlessly killed during this cull. We would ask anyone who thinks that killing badgers to stop the spread of bTB to spend a few minutes watching this video filmed just before the culls started

We will continue with our campaign, filming farm conditions, sabbing pheasant shoots, organising boycotts, all the time building our numbers and reach on social media. The culls may continue, but so will we.

As has been proven today, if you ignore the will of the people, the people will fight back, we are organised, we have built teams of people who rely on each other, our supporters know the methods we use and are comfortable knowing that we behave honourably, we know how to disrupt culls, we are strong and we are many, and we will never leave our badgers undefended to be attacked by brutes and thugs.

NEVER

Badger Honour

14th November From schnews

Badger killings in detail

14th November From schnews

Badger killings in detail

When the Badger Trust threatened Natural England with legal action for extending the badger cull, Natural England said the the claim was based on a fundamental confusion, but can you blame them, when those involved in the cull have been so, well, confusing. Between the secrecy, the lying, u-turns and even the blaming of the badgers for not co-operating with being shot. Schnews attempts to digest the badger farce a little…

TRIGGER WARNING

The theory is that killing badgers will reduce TB in cattle by 16%. Previous trials used traps to catch the animals before shooting them, but this was vetoed as too expensive and too vulnerable to disruption. This time, they've gone for the economy version where the badgers are shot while free running. Vaccinating badgers has been dismissed by government as too expensive though several independent groups are vaccinating. The whole policy ignores the real problems around bovine TB, which you can read about here (SchNEWS 836)

One of the important criteria of the cull is that at least 70% of the badgers in a given area must be killed, to minimise the number of disturbed survivors roaming about spreading the disease further afield – the so-called 'perturbation' effect.

The main problem with this was pretty clear from the beginning; nobody knows how many badgers there in the first place. Previous data showed more about the distribution of badger enthusiasts than badgers.

In 2012, Defra postponed the cull, using the excuse that the badger population was far higher than expected. when their population estimate shot up suddenly. This year, when half way through the process it was clear the cull was floundering, they revised the population estimate down – the famous 'pesky badgers moved my goalposts' moment. In a statistical manipulation worthy of anybody's Five Year Plan, Paterson's Politburo announced that 940 badgers amounted to 65% of the population (Unmolested populations of badgers have shown no sign of these wild oscillations in numbers)

Stalin Paterson has been caught out fibbing about more thasn the numbers though. On 10th October he stated in parliament that ‘…some of the animals we have shot have been desperately sick-in the final stages of disease…’ Mark Jones vet and executive director of Humane Society International said: “As a vet I find Mr Paterson’s claim that badgers shot in the pilot culls were ‘desperately sick’ highly suspicious. I know of no evidence to back this up, indeed all the available data suggests that even where bovine TB is rife among cattle, only a tiny proportion of badgers will be suffering any symptoms of the disease. The figure is perhaps as low as one in a hundred. As Mr Paterson has refused to have the badger carcases tested for TB, he cannot possibly have any scientifically credible data to support his assertion and nobody will be permitted to challenge his claim because DEFRA is having all the bodies incinerated”

In Somerset they have killed 940 badgers, which with the current population estimate of 1450 is 65%. But at one point they said the population was 4300, which meant they had to kill 3000 badgers. If we've got the maths right, 940 is only 22% of 4300. At the end of the original Gloucester period, only 30% had been killed.

The Somerset cull has now stopped but the Gloucester cull zone has been granted an eight week extension.

Action against the cull

The sustained level of resistance to the cull has been impressive, never leaving shooters to operate in peace. Hundreds of people have been spending their nights in the cull zones, often travelling long distances. A single badger killed is clearly one too many but the determined work of so many has helped make the cull a failure. Whatever the government spin says, shooters on the ground have been admitting there was 'no point even turning up most nights.'

SchNEWS spoke to a regular traveller to the cull zones “One of the best things about the cull is how it has brought together such a diversity of people together for the sake of the badgers. There has been good co-operation and acceptance of different tactics with those going on legal night patrols on footpaths working alongside those directly sabotaging the shooters with noise and torches. Meanwhile, the Badger Trust have been fighting the cull in court and the likes of Brian May have been doing the media bit. There have been lively pro badger marches in towns all round the country. Hunt saboteurs have reported an increase in support since sabotaging the cull.Those sorts of alliances and radicalising of the animal loving middle england could be a bit of an own goal for the shooting lobby.”

Info for Action

Policing tactics in the two cull zones have been very different but they haven't in either case suceeded in disrupting the sabotage. Gloucestershire policing has been a lot more pro-active, more arrests and harassment of activists, than in Somerset.

“In terms of tactics, the hardest part has generally been finding the shooters. Good sett surveying beforehand, recording and communicating sightings and sheer numbers of people out looking have all proved helpful. The groups walking footpaths with torches have made certain areas impossible to shoot in and noisy disruption of shoots have stopped them as well. When cage traps are used you can squash them or cut them open with bolt cutters. The cull is still going on in Gloucestershire so get on down there to practice your trap destruction skills.”

Next

The licences for these two cull zones last for four years, but other pilot culls may be started next year. Top of the list is Dorset. Culling has to stop over the winter but may start again in the spring.

An 'independent panel' is supposed to be evaluating the evidence to decide if the trials are successful. Indications suggest that Owen 'shoot the buzzards' Paterson will not accept any thing but approval of the cull.

Support Spied Upon, a vital expose film telling the story of activists targeted by secret police

Dear Earth First!ers,

Due to its effective use of creative direct action tactics in recent decades, Earth First! has consistently been a target of state repression and excessive police tactics. Now we are making a film with other environmental activists who have been targeted by undercover police, with the goal of exposing these abusive repression tactics.

"Spied Upon" is an internationally made full-length documentary that uses the outing of former UK undercover cop Mark Kennedy as it's starting point. Kennedy had begun his international operation by targeting Earth First! in the UK in 2003, and had worked across Europe as well as for the FBI for seven-years before being outed by his unknowing activist girlfriend and her circle of Nottingham friends in 2010. Now this woman and a number of other women are suing police bosses in the UK for what has been exposed as a regular undercover police tactic of duping activist women into long-term relationships. Spied Upon is working with some of these women to support them and help them have their story told.

Mark Kennedy turned private in 2010 and started his own security firm as well as saying that he was working for Global Open, a private security firm known to target animal rights activists on behalf of pharmaceutical company clients. It appears as though that is exactly what Kennedy was doing when he went to Italy to spy on an animal liberation gathering in the summer of 2010. He even tried to strengthen his credibility by saying he was an important Earth First! activist, see the video clip here we shot with Italian activists who tell about when they were unknowing targets of Kennedy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx38iZ14nc

State repression has long featured the use of undercover police, but a lesser known use of undercover tactics has been those used by private security firms on behalf of private corporations. These practices construe an intense invasion of privacy that is not even allowed for state undercover police, and this scandal needs to be exposed! We have also uncovered illegal collusion between private and state security forces. This collusion is a key focus of the film Spied Upon, which we are also making as a tool that activists can use to highlight the current problems environmental groups face today.

We plan to release Spied Upon internationally in 2014. However, to do this, we need your support to make this film happen. Our film crew comes from grassroots activism, and we are turning to the grassroots, meaning you, to seek funding. Please take a look at our crowdfunding web-site and teaser video at Indiegogo, and take action to help us please by making a donation if you support our work: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/spied-upon

In solidarity,
The crew at Spied Upon

PS. Lots more info at: www.spiedupon.com

Gloucestershire Badger Cull Extended by 8 Weeks

29th October

Humane Society UK appalled & flabbergasted at “madness” of Gloucestershire badger cull 8 Week extension, risks spreading bTB

Leading animal welfare charity, Humane Society International UK, is appalled by news that an eight week extension to the Gloucestershire badger cull has been granted by Natural England. The charity warns that prolonging the shooting is the very worst thing the government can do because it increases the risk of spreading bovine TB as badgers flee the area.

Perturbation danger
The extension of the killing period in Gloucestershire more than doubles the original six weeks to 14 weeks. The seminal Randomised Badger Culling Trial highlighted the importance of any cull to be done quickly because of the danger of perturbation.

Fiasco
Mark Jones, Gloucestershire resident and Executive Director of HSI UK said: “I am appalled & flabbergasted that an eight week extension has been granted to DEFRA’s badger killing fiasco in Gloucestershire. By extending culls here as well as in Somerset, the pilots are moving even more dangerously away from the recommendations of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial which were very clear – the longer you subject badgers to this sort of disruption, the greater the risk of worsening the spread of bovine TB among both badgers and cattle. It is utterly illogical to continue with a policy that has already proven such a disaster, and flies squarely in the face of sound scientific advice. Surely somebody in Government can put a stop to Owen Paterson’s badger cull madness before it’s too late.”

In Gloucestershire 708 out of a target 1,650 badgers have been killed. In Somerset 850 badgers out of a target 1,020 have been shot.

HSI UK has also written to Owen Paterson to ask him to explain himself over unsubstantiated claims he made last week about badger suffering. On 10th October he stated in a parliamentary answer to a question from Angela Smith MP that ‘…some of the animals we have shot have been desperately sick-in the final stages of disease…’.

No bTB tests on badger carcasses
Mark Jones said: “As a vet I find Mr Paterson’s claim that badgers shot in the pilot culls were ‘desperately sick’ highly suspicious. I know of no evidence to back this up, indeed all the available data suggests that even where bovine TB is rife among cattle, only a tiny proportion of badgers will be suffering any symptoms of the disease. The figure is perhaps as low as one in a hundred. As Mr Paterson has refused to have the badger carcases tested for TB, he cannot possibly have any scientifically credible data to support his assertion and nobody will be permitted to challenge his claim because DEFRA is having all the bodies incinerated. As usual, the Secretary of State is fond of making wild assertions without providing a shred of evidence to support them but in doing so his own credibility is crumbling day by day. It is not animal groups but the Government this is causing badgers to suffer. It is men armed with rifles and shotguns taking pot-shots at these animals who are condemning many to a painful death and no amount of creative accounting by Mr Paterson will change that.”

Shell PR event shut down in Oxford

23rd October Shell set up a fairly large structure in Broad St yesterday, an plush enclosed unit with mezzanine floor and carpet, to plug their latest PR/recruitment scheme. They were planning to be there from 10am until 6pm, but things didn't go according to their plans.

A protest had been called, and around lunchtime people started arriving and giving out leaflets. Earlier the Shell PR people had been roaming around the street chatting to people and giving out glossy bullshit, but once protesters arrived they seemed to withdraw a bit more into their self-built shell. One person heckled them enthusiastically.

Then, about 12:45pm, another group arrived, went inside, grabbed handfuls of Shell propaganda, poured black oily stuff everywhere, and wrote anti-Shell slogans on their whiteboard (in permanent marker, apparently – it looked like they weren't able to remove it!). I heard that the oily stuff even went all over their computer gizmos, presumably causing quite a bit of damage.

Unfortunately as they were leaving they got chased and grabbed by security, and despite a struggle were handed over to the cops and arrested. Meanwhile Shell had apparently had enough, as not long afterwards they packed up and went home.

The 3 arrested people were released about 11 hours later – all 3 had been given cautions for criminal damage, and 2 also had fixed penalty notices (£90 each) for obstruction. They all seemed fine with this outcome.

Here's an article from some of the people that organised the leafletting session, explaining why they were there:
http://tarfreetowns.org/news/oxford-is-saying-no-to-shells-whitewashing/
…it has some decent stuff in it but doesn't mention the longstanding struggle in Rossport, Ireland against Shell's occupation there, which for me personally was near the top of my mind when I went along to the protest:
http://shelltosea.com/

Shell have been targeted plenty of times before when trying to run graduate recruitment events in Oxford: http://oxford.indymedia.org.uk/2009/10/440301.html http://oxford.indymedia.org.uk/2010/03/447286.html
(as have other oil companies), but this was the first time I know of that they'd had the gall to do an event on the street (usually they are in some kind of plush hotel).

Biased policing of the badger cull

West Midlands Hunt Sabs encounter with police 26/9/13

Policing of the badger cull has been overblown and completely biased. If you’re out driving in the cull zone past a certain time and are know to be against the cull your guaranteed to get pulled by police at least once that night, possibly your car searched and if your lucky you'll end up with police following you around everywhere you go. West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs have filmed some of this behaviour, the first video shows police telling people in the car that they will be followed everywhere they go in the cull zone because of "intelligence" they have.

The second video, the second day the group are being followed by police completely rips apart the police's reasons for following people around

Day 2 of police harassment 27/9/13

While the third video is a conversation with police about what their opinions are of people out in the countryside with firearms.

Day 2 of police harassment: People & Firearms

The fourth video shows the police saying they will hand personal details over to the National Farmers Union, completely disregarding civil liberties and the Data Protection Act and further showing the biased nature of the policing of the cull.

Police hand details over to NFU

Badger Cull Update: We’re Winning

24th September, Due to high numbers of protestors, patrolers and sabs the badger cull is basically f**ked.

To begin with the shooters started by luring badgers out to sets buy burying peanuts in 'good shooting spots'. this resulted in all the peanuts being replaced with repellant thus having the opposite effect they wanted.

Now they have moved to cage trapping, a much slower and more expensive form of killing badgers. Lets just say there are many things that can be done with theese expensive cages (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXmcc-skcdY)

Now we've learn't that the shooters are pulling out and staying at home. This is because all the big sets are constantly protected and all they have left is the 'slim picking' (and getting paid per badger killed is'n't paying them enough to justify getting out of bed)

Some very good news from one of our spies in the farming community:
During an NFU dinner in Cheltenham a couple of nights ago, many farmers from within the cull zone were in attendance, moaning:
"the anti's are bloody everywhere and it makes the cull impossible"
"We wish we had never heard of the badger cull"
"it just doesn't work, we haven't killed any"
Best news of all was that one farmer was overheard to say:
"Our contractor was supposed to come in this week, but he's cancelled, he said "there's no point in coming"

Now we have just learn't that that out of all the hundreds of protesters out there the police have only arrested 7 and all 7 of theese cases have been dropped!

We are half way through the cull, get down to the cull zones and lets end this nonsence once and for all

If your going to the Glous zone contact Three Counties hunt Saboteurs

if your going to the somerset zone contact Somerset Against The Badger Cull

If you cant make it to the zones please consider donating some equipment to make us more effective by clicking this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/1A1V6TQIH6BBB

Badger Cull: Three Protesters Released without Charge

23rd September, Three people believed to be badger cull protesters who were arrested in Gloucestershire have been released without charge.

A woman, aged 52, from the United States, was detained by officers along with a 20-year-old man from Walsall and another woman, 26, from Croydon.

They were arrested on 19 September on suspicion of aggravated trespass.

Four other people were arrested and bailed on suspicion of theft and aggravated trespass earlier this month.

About 5,000 badgers are to be shot in a six-week pilot in Gloucestershire and Somerset in a bid to curb bovine TB.

Defra will not confirm how many badgers have been shot so far during the pilot.

Those against the cull argue shooting badgers is “inhumane” and will be ineffective.

28 Days Later: Please spread far and wide

A Rolling Blockade of the Balcombe fracking site, 1st September – 28th September

Fracking company Cuadrilla’s governmental licence to drill in Balcombe ends on September 28th. The government may be allowing them to drill but they have no social licence from the people of Balcombe to frack their land and threaten their water supply. Neither do they have any mandate to begin an entire wave of fracking across the country. The vast majority of people in the UK want cleaner, greener energy.
After the upsurge of climate activism at Reclaim the Power in August, let’s make these last 28 days count. Let’s halt their work at Balcombe, and also send a strong message to those wanting to frack elsewhere.

A blockade has been on-going at the drilling site, but trucks have still been getting through. Now it’s time to up the ante.

We invite groups from around the country to come and play a part in a 28 day rolling blockade.

Think creatively and act responsibly. Pick a weekday before September 28, gather friends and useful kit get yourselves to Balcombe.

Fracking is stoppable, another world is possible.

* People are reminded that this is a peaceful blockade and that the Balcombe camp is alcohol-free.

* For further information please contact 28dayslater.balcombe@gmail.com

* Follow us on Twitter (@28_dayslater) and like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/28dayslaterrollingblockade)

Author earthfirstPosted on August 30, 2013Categories Climate Chaos, East Midlands, Eastern England, Fracking, London, North East England, North West England, Northern Ireland, Scotland (Central & Southern), Scotland (Highlands & Islands), South East England, South West England, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire & The Humber

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