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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/15/fracking-protesters-blockade-cuadrilla-site-where-uk-work-due-to-restart
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| Fracking protesters blockade Lancashire site as work begins | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Activists have blockaded a fracking site in Lancashire as operations began for the first time in seven years in the UK. | |
| A group from Reclaim the Power used a van to block the entrance to the site on Preston New Road near Blackpool at 4.30am on Monday. One protester climbed to the top of a scaffold on its roof, and locked his neck to it. | |
| Hours later, a spokesman for the energy company Cuadrilla said: “Cuadrilla is pleased to confirm that it has started hydraulic fracturing operations at our Preston New Road shale gas exploration site. Hydraulic fracturing of both horizontal exploration wells is expected to last three months, after which the flow rate of the gas will be tested.” | |
| Henry Owen, one of the protesters, said it was important to continue demonstrating even though the high court overturned an injunction on Friday preventing Cuadrilla from fracking at the site. | |
| “It’s absolutely vital because this industry has no social licence in the UK,” he said. “It’s being pushed through by government who don’t care about their commitments to take action on climate change. | |
| “They’re not interested in what local communities have to say. After democratic avenues have been exhausted over a seven-year campaign, there is a place for direct action to stop this industry.” | |
| Owen, who lives in Oxford and studied climate change at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, said he was still hopeful campaigners could stop fracking in the UK. | |
| “This is the first site in the UK that might go into commercial production, although it’s still a long way off that and it’s many, many years behind schedule, and has cost [Cuadrilla] a lot of money,” he said. “I’ll be here for as long as I can to do as much as I can to stop this industry from getting started.” | |
| In a separate protest less than half a mile along the road, two activists locked themselves together in the middle of the road at about 7am using a device made from chains and a metal barrel. | |
| Police initially closed the road, a key route into Blackpool, before setting up a contraflow shortly after midday. After hours of sawing through the chains and metal that made up the lock-on, the pair were separated at about 12.30pm. | |
| One of the protesters, Sadie Love, said she had taken direct action after talking to local parents. “There are women who have come to us crying because there is no proper safety plan for the evacuation of their children’s schools if something goes wrong,” she said. | One of the protesters, Sadie Love, said she had taken direct action after talking to local parents. “There are women who have come to us crying because there is no proper safety plan for the evacuation of their children’s schools if something goes wrong,” she said. |
| Another, Dave, from Preston, said he was not deterred by the prison sentences given to three protesters last month. | |
| “I think the fight against fracking is worth risking our liberty for. If it happens here, it will happen all over the country. That is why we are mobilising,” he said. | |
| In a statement, Reclaim the Power said the action was to prevent the start of fracking – in which water and chemicals are injected into rocks at high pressure to extract gas – and in response to the government’s “green Great Britain week”, which it described as “a token attempt to hide a series of climate-wrecking decisions such as expanding Heathrow airport and forcing fracking on the local communities”. | |
| A Cuadrilla spokesman said protests would not stop fracking. “All the equipment is already on site,” he said. As daylight came, a minibus arrived at the main gate carrying workers who walked into the site. | |
| The company had hoped to start work on Saturday following the high court verdict and long planning battles with the local council. The start date was postponed until Monday because of Storm Callum. | |
| Lancashire county council turned down two planning applications from Cuadrilla in 2015 to frack on the Fylde coast, citing visual and noise impacts, but Sajid Javid, then the communities secretary, overruled it the following year. | |
| “Shale gas has the potential to power economic growth, support 64,000 jobs and provide a new domestic energy source, making us less reliant on imports,” he said.” | |
| Cuadrilla’s chief executive, Francis Egan, has said if fracking proves commercially viable, it will “displace costly imported gas with lower emissions, significant economic benefit and better security of energy supply for the UK”. | |
| There were about 70 people at the site late on Monday morning. Jake Hooson, 29, who lives in nearby Weeton, said he felt sick to his stomach when he heard the high court decision. “There’s a feeling in the air that things have changed. People have had enough and are going to stand up to corporate corruption,” he said. | |
| Hooson came down to the site for the first time to join the protest after hearing fracking was imminent. “There’s a bit of a smear campaign against the protesters, with people saying they aren’t locals or don’t have jobs. I’ve met a lot of locals,” he said. | |
| Cuadrilla first began fracking on the Fylde coast seven years ago, but suspended operations following a series of small tremors. | Cuadrilla first began fracking on the Fylde coast seven years ago, but suspended operations following a series of small tremors. |
| The energy minister, Claire Perry, suggested last week that rules designed to halt fracking operations if they trigger minor earthquakes could be relaxed as the shale industry expands. Current regulations mean even very low levels of seismic activity require companies to suspend fracking. | The energy minister, Claire Perry, suggested last week that rules designed to halt fracking operations if they trigger minor earthquakes could be relaxed as the shale industry expands. Current regulations mean even very low levels of seismic activity require companies to suspend fracking. |
| Perry has also been critical of anti-fracking protesters. An appeal against the three activists’ prison sentences will be heard at the royal courts of justice on Wednesday. | |
| Charlie Edwards from Reclaim the Power said: “After granting permission to frack earlier in the summer, last week the energy minister had the hypocrisy to say there was ‘no excuse’ for inaction on climate change. | Charlie Edwards from Reclaim the Power said: “After granting permission to frack earlier in the summer, last week the energy minister had the hypocrisy to say there was ‘no excuse’ for inaction on climate change. |
| “So we’re here today to stop the start of fracking, and show Claire Perry what real action on climate change looks like.” | “So we’re here today to stop the start of fracking, and show Claire Perry what real action on climate change looks like.” |
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| North of England | |
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