Members of the group Frack Off (London) staged a die in outside the Responsible Shale Conference in London. [1] The conference held at Hogan and Lovells explores the benefits of shale gas and informs investors of its challenges. Speakers include members of the shale gas industry from the United States as well as senior members from StatOil, IGas and the British Geological Society. It is believed that they are preparing for the British Geological Society’s latest estimate of shale gas within the country. [2]
The demonstration comes within days of protest group No Dash for Gas’s ending their record occupation of the West Burton gas power station. [3] Both these demonstrations are part of the ongoing debate over the UK’s energy future. Last week Energy minister John Hayes entered the fray by suggesting that there are enough wind turbines in the UK and that we need to invest in shale gas. [4]
The group says that the die in was to highlight the fact that burning gas is not a clean fuel and that it will lead to us not meeting our climate change targets. Gideon George, a participant in the demonstrations says “Building more power stations to run on shale gas only leads to more coal being burned as the price drops on the global market. Instead of continuing to invest in dangerous fossil fuels, the government needs to continue to invest in renewables so that we can tackle climate change. Otherwise droughts and extreme storms like Hurricane Sandy will become commonplace.”
Fracking uses water and a mixture of chemicals to extract shale gas from the ground. The process is credited with reducing the price of gas in the United States. However in the UK the process caused two minor earthquakes in Lancashire.
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Notes for Editor
All photos are courtesy of Guy Bell. Please contact him for high resolution photos – guy@gbphotos.com
[1]http://www.responsibleshale.co.uk/
[2]http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/uk-shale-idUKBRE89F0JW20121016
[3]http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/05/no-dash-for-gas-end-occupation
[4]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/9644558/Death-knell-for-wind-farms-Enough-is-Enough-says-minister.html
Frack Off (London) is a peaceful direct action group campaigning against all forms of unconventional fossil fuel extraction. They have performed street theatre outside DECC and co-hosted last year’s ‘frack mob’ outside the unconventional gas conference.