After debating GM foods at its inaugural sitting in September, the Rational Parliament returns on 26 November to debate fracking and shale gas. This week, we're gearing up for the session by bringing you opinions from people on both sides of the argument. Today, Ewa Jasiewicz says we must also take into account the opinions of those who will need to live with the effects of fracking. Inspired? Book your tickets for the event here.
There's one thing about fracking that you rarely hear, and that’s how the communities that will be affected by it actually feel. The government's paternalistic narratives have dominated public discourse – “we know best”, despite earthquakes in Lancashire and risks associated with well leakage and water pollution, and “we want what’s best”, in that it will tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions associated with coal and the use of imported gas. The logic of how much you could save by not pursuing a new extractive industry over 64 per cent of England which would tie the UK into dependence on a fossil fuel for the next 30 years and trash the Climate Act hasn't surfaced. There’s also a narrative of “this is best for you” – the government has backed the cash “bribes” of £100k per well offered to communities by the industry (a drop in the ocean compared to the 50 per cent tax breaks for companies).
For the Con-Dem government, Balcombe in West Sussex was a constituency they thought they could trust to trust them. Democracy doesn't work that way. A No Fracking in Balcombe Society survey of the village found that over 80 per cent opposed drilling in their area. Balcombe couldn't be dismissed as an “activist travelling circus” despite the marquees and tents that arrived first with the Frack-Off-inspired Balcombe Community Protection camp and then with Reclaim the Power, which swung in for seven days and stopped drilling altogether through the implied and historically substantiated threat of radical direct action. The fact was that locals participated in both camps on a daily basis, and the 2,000-strong “March for Frack-Free Future” was full of locals. One mild-mannered parent struck up a conversation with me on it, saying, “If you need somewhere to stay or even to take action from, you're welcome. We want to stop this but we can't take the risks ourselves because of our children.” Farmers came to the evening camp shindigs and one even spoke on stage of his fears for contamination of his well and the impact on his cows. Articulate strong spokespeople – mainly women – came to the fore. They had done their research – funny that, when you're fearful of what might happen to you and your family you avidly seek out the facts about what you're facing – and were able to win argument after argument in the local and national media.
Local anti-fracking groups, inspired by Balcombe and the resistance on Lancashire’s Fylde coast, spread throughout the country. There are 45 and counting, including East Kent Against Fracking, which recently claimed an early victory when the local council withdrew three drilling licenses due to concerns about risks to water. A recent poll by the University of Nottingham showed support for fracking in the UK steadily rising for more than a year, peaking at 61 per cent in favour in July 2013, but falling to 55 per cent by September – a result directly attributed to protests. In Salford where I-Gas plans to drill at Barton Moss, a Northern Gas Gala – akin to the Balcombe-based one – will mobilise on the first day after drilling has been declared.
The Con-Dem approach of trying to convince the public with carrots of benefits, energy security and jobs (24,000 at best according to DECC, a third of what Cameron had been quoting) is now one of pure “stick”. The latest from Energy Minister Michael Fallon amounts to “fracking is coming, get ready for it”. The tools to counter this streamroller strategy are also under threat. Plans to reform the Judicial Review process are in part a response to campaigns including, anti-fracking protests, that have used Judicial Reviews to challenge government policy, including by frustrating and delaying projects to such an extent that they can become non-cost effective. Under the proposed reforms, a judge could dismiss a case if it has a strong likelihood of failing and lawyers representing plaintiffs could be fined for wasting the court's time. Furthermore, proposed planning permission reforms will allow firms to drill deep beneath homes without telling residents beforehand and will enable central government to trump the decision-making power of local authorities on drilling licences.
Fracking has the potential to become a serious climate-changing, landscape-changing, life-changing new industry which, if rolled out, will instill in corporations and governments the confidence to impose their will in spite of democratic resistance. Most people in the UK want renewable, safe energy, under public control, and would rather have a wind turbine than a fracking rig in their vicinity. Before you think about supporting fracking, listen to the people about to face it. If it gets through them, it's coming to all of us.
For other points of view, read our previous fracking articles from Rational Parliament host Adam Smith, Labour MP Angela Smith and Joseph Dutton & Michael Bradshaw from the University of Leicester
Book your tickets to debate fracking at The Rational Parliament here
