IS THIS BRIBERY?

Cash For Fracking: UK Households May Receive Pay-outs For Allowing Fracking.

The UK lifted its long-running ban on fracking last month, now UK households could soon receive cash pay-outs for allowing fracking in their neighbourhoods, as  drilling companies could soon go door to door in Britain, offering money in exchange for fracking support Media reported on Monday.

The UK may have lifted its long-running ban on fracking last month, but its fracking industry still has one big hurdle that it must overcome: local opposition.

Fracking has been criticized for its reported ties to earthquakes and other environmental damage, and has fallen out of favour. The practice’s sullied reputation has led to its ban in several countries, including France, Germany, Spain, and until recently, the UK.

When the UK’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss removed the fracking ban last month, she did so with one caveat: it would only be allowed in communities that showed at least 50% support. Drillers must now gain half the residents over to the controversial practice in order to commence drilling.

DEFINITION OF BRIBERY

Bribery refers to the act of offering, giving, promising, asking, agreeing, receiving, accepting, or soliciting something of value or of an advantage so to induce or influence an action or decision.  
A bribe refers to any inducement, reward, or object/item of value offered to another individual in order to gain commercial, contractual, regulatory, or personal advantage.
Bribery is not limited to the act of offering a bribe. If an individual is on the receiving end of a bribe and they accept it, they are also breaking the law.

OPPOSITION FROM COUNCILS AND ADVISORS TO FRACKING

Just some of the opponents to Fracking, Councils, Advisors, MPs and Scientists, and more.

 

Opposition to Wirral fracking grows
We need assurances that fracking will not be imposed on communities in Lancashire
Removal of fracking ban prompts concern in the Cotswolds
Conservative-led East Yorkshire Council votes to ban fracking
Fife Council opposes fracking as UK Government lifts ban.
Barnsley council will not pursue licences for fracking operations on its own land
Council reaffirms position against fracking across the Bath area
Council leader pledges to protect communities against fracking in North Lincolnshire
Government faces backlash from its own MPs after lifting fracking ban
Lancs MP doubles down on anti-fracking stance saying county’s land is ‘not suitable’
Salisbury Mayor, Cllr Tom Corbin, said: “Fracking is for the fools”.
Councillors in Woodsetts say there is ‘no local support for fracking’ in the area’
Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has said “The Isle of Wight is not a suitable area for fracking to take place and I would not support it.
Councillor Helen Hayden of Leeds City Council’s said: “we as an authority are opposed to fracking being imposed on local communities”.
Labour Party will Ban Fracking Again if Handed Power, 
Mark Drakeford’ firmly confirmed that there are no plans for fracking in Wales, 
Scientists and experts have been saying for years that the UK is not a suitable or effective site for fracking, as there are studies and reports to show the unpredictability of seismic activity across the country.
Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary  said: “To be clear – this policy change does apply in Scotland. “Fracking can only happen here if licences are issued by the Scottish Government and we do not intend to issue any licences.”
Liz Truss’s new adviser Chris Skidmore  on net zero emissions has warned investors to avoid fracking in the UK — saying the nascent industry would end up a “non-starter” — as he insisted the new prime minister would be resolute in her pursuit of Britain’s climate goals.
Keele University experts brand government fracking plans as ‘step backwards’
Kwasi Kwarteng himself has said we wouldn’t see any energy from fracking for at least a decade. And any shale gas that results will be sold by the producers on the international energy market to the highest bidder. 
The Climate Change Committee and the National Infrastructure Commission warned in a letter to the prime minister. “Our gas reserves – offshore or from shale – are too small to impact meaningfully the prices faced by UK consumers.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer referred in Parliament to some “myth-busting” tweets from Greg Hands in February when Mr Hands was energy minister. The tweet said it was a myth that extracting more North Sea gas lowers prices on the grounds that “UK production isn’t large enough to materially impact the global price of gas”.
Forest of Dean District Council climate emergency cabinet member Chris McFarling (G, St Briavels) said he would put forward a motion to renew the local authority’s stance that fracking is not welcome in the Forest. “It goes against our principle priorities of trying to address climate change and save biodiversity”, he said.
 RSPB England, on behalf of the UK-wide charity, stressed that the scheme means wildlife is facing “one of the greatest threats it’s faced in decades”. The charity fears this government could bring about the end of “laws that protect our birds and animals, everywhere from forests to our coasts”. “Where you live, the wildlife and places you love, from the shires to the cities – all under threat from bulldozers, from concrete,” RSPB England warned.
Mark Glover a trustee at Gedling University said “Allowing fracking to go ahead would  threaten this country’s ability to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.  Fossil fuels (including gas from fracking) have to stay in the ground to prevent an increase in the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”. 
British Geological Survey review into its safety was commissioned by the government but has refused so far to publish it. 
“Keep your fracking hands off Warwickshire”: Leamington and Warwick MP launches petition to prevent gas or oil extraction in our county.
Labour MP Matt Western has posted details about the campaign on his website demanding that the Government reverses its decision to allow fracking and calling on regional councils to pledge they will not allow fracking or underground coal gasification (UCG) in Warwickshire.
A  report from the London School of Economics said it’s a “false assumption” that shale gas produced at home would be priced significantly below international market prices.
Professor Andrew Aplin at Durham University’s earth sciences department said “Shale gas will only make a significant impact to UK supply if, over the next decade, thousands of successful wells were to be drilled at hundreds of sites across northern England,” 
 

 

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RAG OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

Welcome to our October Newsletter
 

There is only one subject in this Newsletter:

We must show that we, the local communities, do not support fracking
 

A message to RAG Supporters
Frack Free Lancashire October Newsletter
A Local Resident writes to Mark Menzies MP
Councils Against Fracking
Councils against Fracking

 

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TO FRACK OR NOT TO FRACK??

To frack or not to frack? That is the question. Because the price of wholesale gas is sending energy bills sky high and Vladimir Putin is weaponising Russia’s vast fossil fuel supplies, it is right that every avenue of lowering energy bills and increasing Britain’s energy security is being considered. Despite all this, the case for fracking remains weak. It is unpopular, expensive and, most importantly, unlikely to yield enough gas to make a difference to either energy prices or our security.

The government was right to invest in our domestic industries in the Energy Security Strategy earlier this year. But what could the contribution of fracking be? The industry’s best projections show that in five years, fracking could provide 5 per cent of UK gas. Previous reports commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which remain unpublished but were seen by government advisers at the time, point to there being as little as two years of the UK’s total gas supply available as shale gas which could be extracted through fracking. It’s not enough to make a significant difference to our energy security. Whereas a national energy efficiency drive to lower the average Energy Performance Certificate rating of each home to C instead of D would cut UK gas demand by a more impressive 7.4 per cent. It’s certainly not enough to make a difference on price. In the first half of 2022, gas production in the North Sea increased by 26 per cent. Yet gas prices have not gone down. Gas is sold at the global market price, and the UK’s supply is not enough to make a difference to global prices.

The main reason fracking is so unpopular is that it’s not perceived as safe. In 2019, after an earthquake measured 2.9 on the Richter scale, the government introduced a moratorium on fracking because we couldn’t accurately predict or assess the tremors the process might cause. And as the new British Geological Survey review ordered by the government found, we still cannot accurately predict these tremors. In Britain, we have a much higher population density than the US, where fracking has played a significant part in the energy supply. Fracking would have to take place much closer to people’s homes. That’s why it’s absolutely vital that fracking is only carried out if it has the consent of the local community.

This is what was promised by the Prime Minister in her leadership election. But despite lifting the moratorium, ministers have not been able to tell us how this consent will be defined (what counts as the local community, for example) and how it will be measured. Instead, there has been a suggestion that fracking companies will need to produce attractive investment packages to incentivise local communities to host fracking sites. I have no problem with incentives for hosting energy production, but that is not the same thing as consent. If communities wish to reject a fracking site on their doorstep, despite the investment package, they should have a legitimate route to doing so. 

Scepticism about the latest attempt to kick-start fracking is neither “hysterical” nor “Luddite”, but considered. It is based on true conservative beliefs in evidenced-based policy, empowering local communities and focusing our resources on the solutions that will give us the most bang for the taxpayer buck. New renewables are nine times cheaper than electricity generated by gas power stations, and insulation can conserve gas and cut people’s energy bills by hundreds of pounds. We must go further and faster with building new wind and solar power capacity, and launch a national drive to insulate the UK’s nearly 19 million energy-inefficient homes. Simplifying planning rules for rooftop solar panels and speeding up the deployment of wind power will reduce our reliance on gas and lower prices. These net zero solutions, and more like them, are key to ending the spiral of high gas prices. It’s a popular path that unites the majority of people, which will bring bills down while creating jobs and new industries. Fracking is a divisive distraction from this and will not deliver for the British people. If we are to lift the ban, our focus and efforts must remain resolutely on net zero and ensure any new system respects communities’ right to say no.

 

Fracking: I’d allow drilling in my back garden, says Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he would welcome shale gas fracking in his back garden after a ban on the contentious process was lifted.

He told a Tory conference event he would be “delighted” to allow fracking, particularly if he got “royalties”.

Last month the UK government ended the fracking ban in England as part of its plan to limit rising energy costs.

But Prime Minister Liz Truss has said “fracking will only resume where there is local consent”

Some Conservative MPs, environmental groups and residents have opposed the return of fracking, which is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock.

Fracking was halted in 2019 following opposition from environmentalists, and local concerns over earth tremors linked to the controversial practice.

With the energy crisis worsening globally, Ms Truss’s government has backed fracking as a way to boost the UK’s domestic gas supplies.

Continue reading Fracking: I’d allow drilling in my back garden, says Jacob Rees-Mogg.

People “strongly in favour” of using old gas wells for geothermal scheme – consultation


More than 80% of people have supported plans for reusing former gas wells in North Yorkshire to provide renewable energy, according to survey findings published today.

DrillOrDrop has reported on proposals by Third Energy, now owned by the renewable company Wolfland Group, to provide geothermal heat for homes and businesses in Ryedale.

The company is carrying out feasibility studies on eleven wells near Pickering, Kirby Misperton and in Dalby and Wykeham Forests.

 

 

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FRACKING EXPLORATION LICENCES

Fracking near me: map of constituencies with most exploration licences as ban lifted in England

Fracking is back in business, after a controversial announcement last week from business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg. New analysis shows the constituencies which could be affected and – like Rees-Mogg’s – the ones which won’t.

Nearly 150 constituencies across England and Wales could be in line for fracking within months, after the Government lifted the ban on the practice.

 

 

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Lancashire geology limits England’s fracking feasibility.

 Seismic Experts at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University confirmed today that rock configurations beneath Britain’s most advanced fracking project raise further questions over commercial feasibility of the controversial technology.

Other English sites besides Lancashire on the Bowland Shale will be even more technically difficult to extract, their research indicates.  Devolved governments at Holyrood and in Cardiff have continued to rule out fracking.

The peer-reviewed study led by John Underhill, professor of exploration geoscience, and Dr Iain Anderson increases the onus on Cuadrilla and other would be extractors to avoid earth tremors when seeking to commercialise the fossil fuel.

Continue reading Lancashire geology limits England’s fracking feasibility.

How unpopular is Liz Truss’s Government

Liz Truss’s government is as unpopular as John Major’s was after Black Wednesday – this matters

The window of opportunity for the Prime Minister to win back disillusioned Conservative voters is rapidly diminishing.

By Ben Walker

A new survey by Ipsos (formerly Ipsos Mori) shows a lot of uncertainty among voters over Truss. Former prime ministers such as Gordon Brown and John Major polled just as high for uncertainty when they took office. But the number of voters actively approving of Truss is the lowest of all modern PMs: just 27 per cent say they are satisfied with her time as Prime Minister so far.

 

This 27 per cent isn’t too dissimilar from Boris Johnson’s rating of 31 per cent when he took office in 2019. But unlike Johnson, Truss isn’t pulling ahead of the leader of the opposition on all of the key metrics. Keir Starmer, while a damp squib with a few too many voters – not least a substantive share of those who voted Labour in 2019 – is at least far ahead in areas such as honesty and judgement.

The problem for Truss is that few voters see her as a major improvement on Johnson. Whereas 26 per cent thought of Johnson as capable, only 32 per cent think the same of Truss. That is an improvement, sure, but it’s not much.

While almost two thirds of voters viewed Johnson as out of touch in May of this year, 49 per cent say the same of Truss. For a figure who is an unknown quantity to some 44 per cent of Britons, these perceptions are problematic and suggest the public mood could sour quickly if she fails to impress. Just 23 per cent say Truss gives them confidence about Britain’s future. A low figure indeed but her saving grace is that an equal proportion say the same of Starmer.

Seventy per cent, meanwhile, look poorly on the current government. Just 20 per cent are satisfied with the way it’s running the country. The net figures here bear a striking resemblance to the proportion that was dissatisfied with the Brown administration during the 2008 financial crisis, Theresa May’s during the Brexit wars, and John Major’s in the wake of Black Wednesday in 1992.

This isn’t good. You are a new government and yet you are as unpopular as Labour was after 11 years in office. You are as unpopular as May was after deadlocked votes on the number one issue of the day. And you are as unpopular as Major was after an economic calamity.

The political priority for Truss’s government is showing that it has the ability to manage the cost-of-living crisis. But after a mini-budget marred by political outrage over tax cuts for the rich, and a revolt in financial markets, the opportunity for the new PM to win voter confidence is diminishing by the day.

Daily accuses Truss of taking readers ‘for fools’ on front page

A regional daily accused ministers of taking its readers “for fools” on its front page after the fracking ban was lifted.

The Lancashire Post depicted Prime Minister Liz Truss and Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg as laughing at its patch when it covered the issue on Friday.

.Mr Rees-Mogg has said local people will be consulted before drilling resumes in any part of the country, but accused Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband and others who spoke out against it of being “luddites”.

LP fools

Mr Rees-Mogg added: “The scare stories have been disproved time and again. The hysteria about seismic activity, I think, fails to understand that the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale.

“People seem to think it is a straight arithmetic scale, which of course it is not.”

But his comments provoked anger from the Preston-based Post, which ran with the headline ‘They think you’re fools’.

Post editor Nicola Adam told HTFP: “As always, the Post takes a balanced approach to news, even polarising subjects like fracking.

“But as a local title impacted by this industry we will fight the corner of our readers and residents – and having their views and concerns belittled and condescended to so thoroughly, and with so little research, within the House of Commons, is unacceptable.

“The people of Lancashire have not reacted with ‘hysteria’ nor are they Luddites. They are a hard working community, and many are genuinely concerned about the impact of the fracking industry on their lives following earthquakes in the local area and subsequent safety fears.

“There was a reason fracking was halted – and it was very much down to science – not because Lancastrians object to job creation or energy production in principle.

“We would ask if politicians so dismissive of residents’ concerns would back fracking next door to their family homes? “

by David Sharman Published 26 Sep 2022                                                           Last updated 27 Sep 2022