the frack thread

[biffvernon]

Northern community group’s vow united front to stop fracking

Northern anti-fracking groups today vowed to unite to prevent any fracking in the north of England. The statement follows the announcement of the 14th round of licensing for on shore petroleum exploration and development licenses (PEDL).

The long awaited announcement made earlier today showed that the majority of licenses to be issued are based in the north of England and cover huge swathes of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Furious campaigners from more than thirty groups responded quickly to say they will show a united front and support each other in their fight against fracking and onshore fossil fuel extraction.

Bob Dennett from Frack Free Lancashire said “The fact that the vast majority of the licenses being issued are based in the north shows the governments contempt for our communities. Obviously they have listened to Tory Peer, Lord Howell and decided to focus fracking in the ‘desolate north’. They will get a shock if they think we will be so easily pushed around.”

Frack Free Lancashire recently won a major victory against the fracking company Cuadrilla when they forced Lancashire County Council to turn down their planning applications. A community campaign in East Yorkshire also won a victory this month when Rathlin Energy was forced to abandon an exploratory well at Crawberry Hill in the face of massive local opposition.

Pippa Hockey from Frack Free East Yorkshire said, ‘The more they try and push fracking on us, the harder we will fight back. We have made friends all over the UK, especially with other groups in the north, and now we will all work together to stop fracking happening anywhere.’

The announcement of the 14th license round follows a recent announcement that the government plans to give itself more power to rush local councils into making decisions and be able to overrule decisions they do not agree with.

Rachel Thompson from Manchester Reclaim the Power said, “They can change any laws they want, what they fail to register is that we have a really strong movement here in the North West. This is not just about the destruction of our local environment and potential water contamination; this is about stopping climate change and local communities making their own decisions about our energy future.”

Fracking company IGas, faced massive community opposition at Barton Moss, Salford and a local group has now set up its own energy cooperative in response to the threat of fracking in their community. In Upton, Cheshire the local community have been occupying land earmarked fracking for over a year.”

Riley Coles from Frack Free Leeds said “Frack Free Leeds has been supporting anti-fracking campaigns across the north because we know fracking is a dangerous, polluting technology which doesn’t even bring down people’s energy bills. Now the threat of fracking is on our doorstep and we know that people across the north will join together to put a stop to fracking in the UK.”

Geologist, Biff Vernon from Frack Free Lincolnshire said, “Any support for extracting fossil carbon is a denial of climate change. Campaigners in Lincolnshire are delighted to be joining up with so many other groups in the north to stop this addiction to fossil fuels.”

[johnhemming2]

To be fair the only good arguments here are from Biff. The rest tend to base their justifications on obvious nonsense.

[biffvernon]

Flattering, but quite unfair. That statement was pout together yesterday by a bunch of people with a great deal more understanding of the state of the world than our government is showing. I just got to add the last line.

[emordnilap]

There are no good arguments for fracking.

[AutomaticEarth]

A handy article in the Telegraph showing where fracking might happen...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/e ... r-you.html

I'm of the opinion that it'll be a while before any of it happens as oil prices look like be low for some time to come.

Here's a question - is fracking / using shale gas and oil more environmentally polluting than using coal?

[clv101]

There are no good arguments for fracking.

Indeed, it's not even clear that there's any private profit to be had.

[emordnilap]

There are no good arguments for fracking.

Indeed, it's not even clear that there's any private profit to be had.

Not from the process itself, agreed.

[RenewableCandy]

Here's a question - is fracking / using shale gas and oil more environmentally polluting than using coal?

Apparently fracking for gas is, if you take likely leakages into account. CLV (iirc) quoted some numbers on this site, a couple of years ago.

[biffvernon]

Coal, gas, we really shouldn't be having the conversation any more what with the speed tat global surface temperatures are rising. The latest numbers are getting dramatic:

[biffvernon]

US shale finances going pear-shaped:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... e-drillers

[raspberry-blower]

On the same track:

Forbes: Frackers could face mass extinction (Well let's hope so )

On Friday, credit ratings firm Standard & Poors reported that its distressed ratio, which measures the percentage of corporate borrowers that investors appear nervous may not be able to pay back their debt, had reached the highest level since 2011. The oil and gas sector accounted for the largest number of the distressed borrowers, 95 out of 270.

Most of the fracking firms that face extinction are relatively small. But the problems are starting to affect some of the bigger companies in the industry. On S&P’s list of distressed borrowers is Linn Energy, a $1 billion market cap oil and gas exploration company based in Houston. It has nearly 2,000 employees. Shares of Linn ( LINE 5.08% ) have dropped 90% in the past year. S&P says the company has nearly $6 billion in outstanding distressed debt.

What also needs to be considered are the derivatives that are linked with this sector. This could have "unforeseen consequences" in the banking sector - such as another financial crisis

[AutomaticEarth]

It was just announced on the South East news that UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) is now saying that there is 124bn barrels of oil under the Wield Basin near Gatwick Airport. Then the usual caveat was applied saying 'but we're not ure how much of that can be extracted'.......

Was looking for the link on the BBC website but couldn't find it.

[emordnilap]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... pany-warns

Actually, reduce humans' desire to fly by 1 Gatwick or more and hey presto, the energy's not needed. Simple.

[raspberry-blower]

Zero Hedge: US Shale "On the Cusp of a Staggering Default Wave"

Of the 153 oil and gas companies that S&P applies credit ratings to, roughly two-thirds are E&P firms. Among these E&Ps, 77% now have high-yield or "junk" ratings of BB+ or lower. 63% are rated B+ or worse, and 31% — or 51 companies — are rated below B-. What does this all mean in layman's terms? "Quite frankly it's a lot of gloom and doom," says Thomas Watters, managing director of S&P's oil and gas ratings. "I lose sleep over what could unfold." He says companies with ratings of B- or below are "on life support," while those further down the ratings scale at C+ or lower are "maybe looking at a year, year-and-a-half before they default or file for bankruptcy." While capital markets were still open to struggling E&P firms in the first half of the year, they are closing fast as investors accept a "lower-for-longer" oil price scenario. High-yield E&P firms raised $29 billion from 44 issuances of public debt in 2014. So far in 2015, $13 billion in junk-rated debt been raised from 23 issuances — but only two have come after June

2016 will be an interesting year for US Shale

[PS_RalphW]

And one we lose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35107203

MPs back fracking under national parks, reversing an earlier commitment not to.

Meanwhile, the official report recommends fracking because they don't know
if there is much gas down there , it will take decades to come on line and it won't cut the price of gas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35107203