Campaigners vow to fight gas plans

Chorley Guardian
Published Date:
07 January 2011
By Elizabeth Broughton
CAMPAIGNERS are gearing up to fight plans for controversial gas drilling in the Fylde countryside.

Cuadrilla Resources are already drilling for shale gas on a site at Preese Hall, near Weeton, carrying out tests in Singleton and the company now has permission to expand its operation on Anna's Road, Westby.

Dozens of Fylde residents have already put their names to a petition against the plans, and the Blackpool and Fylde Green Party is now calling on more concerned locals to make their voices heard ahead of a Government inquiry into shale gas drilling.

There are fears that drilling for the natural gas, which is trapped in tiny rock cracks thousands of feet deep, could lead to explosions.
A public meeting is set to take place tomorrow.

Philip Mitchell, local Green Party chairman, said: "The fact they have launched an inquiry shows they cannot prove it is safe.

I, and others in the Fylde, have always said that there is just not enough evidence that the methods used are safe to the public and the countryside.

"We will hold public meetings and petition residents, particularly in areas potentially affected by the risks, with the aim of demonstrating to Parliament that shale gas is a vote-loser."

The inquiry has been launched by Parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee.

And Mr Mitchell hopes those on the Fylde can rally to help prove that drilling for the gas isn't safe.

He added: "Problems have occurred in the US because of the unconventional methods used to release the gas. The current drilling and testing in the Fylde uses exactly the same methods as used in gas production so we want this stopped too."

"The three sites in the Fylde where Cuadrilla are testing these methods are close to a busy railway line, a local airport, and residential communities. In America, there have been examples of wellhead blowouts spilling out explosive liquid. An accident such as that would present a risk to rail and air travellers as well as to residents."

But Dennis Carlton, Cuadrilla Resources executive director, has said that, despite problems in America, the procedure on the Fylde would be safe because there are "hours and hours and days and days of preparation time to make sure that the correct job will be conducted in a safe manner."