Can I remind everyone that the date to get in objections to Rathlins two-year extension at Crawberry Hill, Walkington is midday today. Letters need to be sent to: [email protected] REF: 14/02622/STVAR Letters must be individual, but pls use this as a template to paraphrase the issues and send ASAP: Dear Sir/Madam I am writing to strongly object to the two-year extension for Rathlins Crawberry Hill Site. When permission was first granted in 2011, Rathlin were given a special dispensation to drill on controlled waters, this was before alarm bells had been sounded about how dangerous the process of fracking (even if they insist on calling it a mini-frac) is, particularly to the integrity of the aquifer, which the whole of Yorkshire relies on. Now, with more information about the experimental nature of the process and the hazards it poses to health, environment and the value of local property, I think it would be sound for the local council to withdraw this special dispensation and deny Rathlin their two-year extension. Though they deny they will be using sand and chemical (and at this point Im not sure I can trust anything they say), they will still be using highly pressurised water at extreme depths to target the shale and explore reserves, which could potentially lead to full fracking at a later date. Due to the heavily faulted geology of the UK – and particularly this area - even the exploratory work Rathlin have admitted to could lead to methane leaking to surface and to the aquifer, via a sub-surface fault that could be opened up by the extreme pressures they are using to measure reserves. The work could also trigger earthquakes, that in turn could open up more faults and cause damage to local properties and businesses. Exploratory sites alone have caused property prices to slump in Blackpool – after Caudrillas Preese Hall site triggered two earthquakes. It is unsound to expect the local community to pay with the financial security they have worked hard all their lives to pay for only to find a boom-and-bust industry descending on them and de-valuing years of hard work. People live in the East Riding for the beautiful rural landscape it offers. This exploration is the gateway for an industry that could see 173 hectares of land transformed into industrial waste land with stacked flares burning methane – and the chemically inert and highly radioactive radon gas it contains within – 24/7, turning the air noxious and affecting the health of those within a ten mile radius with cancers, head aches and constant nosebleeds. The topography of the area means that the fumes would sit in the natural basin that is Beverley, turning a quaint market town into a pollution no-go area. As for the smaller villages, the light, air and noise pollution will be severe – well flaring being as noisy as a jumbo jet backfiring. It really doesnt bear thinking about, and how any elected representative could view that apocalyptic vision as something good for their community is beyond me. Furthermore, on top of the fact that Rathlin couldnt even organise themselves adequately to complete the works in the good time they have had, their run off tank has leaked on to the crops of the farmers field behind the site, and they failed to instal a protective bund around the site to prevent leaks. Produced water is radioactive when it returns from depths. Contamination such as this could get into the food chain. I think they are inadequate to the task of doing this work safely, and Im throughly unconvinced the process of mini-fracking or full fracking is safe fullstop. The idea that it can be robustly regulated when the buck for the monitoring duties can be so easily passed between the operator, the EA and the HSE, with no one body responsible, is simply ridiculous. With no truly independent oversight and no baselines demanded how can we know what damage they will do? If they do find shale reserves, then what? Its not worth giving big oil and gas an inch here when it is obvious they will take a mile, whilst the local community pays for their profiteering and is scarred irrevocably for reserves that – at the most hyped – will be spent within 50 years, tops. We can live without gas, but we cannot live without fresh water. And with no plan in place for disposal of the trillion gallons of radioactive waste that this industry will create, we at risk of following the USA and Australias example and just dumping it – with all the contamination risk that presents to wildlife, the farming community and the health of the local community. You are not elected to represent big business. You are elected to represent us and what is best for our community, looking at all the evidence of harm to health: which includes considerable risks to maternal outcomes, I would advise you not to give the renewal. Families living within a 10-mile radius of a fracking well in the USA have experienced low Agpar scores in their children at birth; low-birth weights increasing by 50%; women are twice as likely to give birth to a baby with a neural tube defect; and parents 30% more likely to be devastated by the birth of their child with a congenital heart defect. I don’t think this is a risk to which any human being would knowingly and willingly expose their unborn child, and in that respect it cannot morally or ethically be asked of the community you represent. If life in the womb is not sacred, what is? Please do the right thing by the people you represent and decline Rathlins application for a two-year extension. Yours Sincerely,
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:27:29 +0000
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