Greenpeace: Landowners can work together to block fracking 'trespass'

[Tony Gosling]

Greenpeace: Landowners can work together to block fracking 'trespass'

Campaigners change tack in fight against fracking
JONATHAN BROWN  Author Biography   MONDAY 14 OCTOBER 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/greenpeace-landowners-can-work-together-to-block-fracking-trespass-8879636.html

Householders are being urged to block plans for 
widescale fracking in Britain by denying 
permission for drilling companies to extract oil 
and gas from underneath their homes.

Environmental group Greenpeace is calling on 
local residents who oppose shale gas or oil 
exploitation near them to join together to 
assert, what they claim, are common law rights to 
forbid the “trespass” of energy firms from 
conducting activities below their property.

The legal challenge, which was launched in 
Preston, Lancashire, was joined by residents from 
the Fylde and campaigners from Balcombe, West 
Sussex, who have been fighting Cuadrilla over 
energy exploration close to their communities.

Lawyers for Greenpeace claim that a Supreme Court 
ruling in 2010 in which Mohammed Al-Fayed sought 
a share of the proceeds from an energy firm after 
it drilled for oil under his Surrey estate paves 
the way for mass action by concerned citizens.

Five justices rejected the former Harrods owners’ 
demands for compensation and damages but 
unanimously upheld the claim of trespass.

Environmentalists said that ordinary homeowners 
must give their permission before horizontal 
drilling - which could see gas removed from under 
their land - can begin close by and claimed that 
the industry is planning to ride roughshod over 
individual rights in the dash to recover oil and gas

However, the industry group representing 
operators described the challenge as “extremely 
misleading”. The UK Onshore Operators Group said 
in a statement: “Operators in this country are 
abiding by the law, which states that activities 
at depths of over a mile under the ground do not 
impact landowners. However, in line with the law, 
operators will inform all landowners in a very clear and transparent manner.”

Under UK law, underground resources are the 
property of the Crown. The Government is in the 
process of issuing a 14 round of licences for 
petrochemicals which campaigners say will cover 
two thirds of England. Green groups fear it could 
lead to mass industrialisation of the countryside 
whilst polluting water and air around exploration sites.

A moratorium on fracking activities – which 
involves fracturing gas-rich shale rock with 
water, sand and chemicals - was lifted in 2012 
following concerns over two seismic events around Blackpool.

The Government remains keenly committed to 
exploiting unconventional energy reserves. This 
summer the British Geological Survey estimated 
130 trillion cubic feet of shale gas could be 
recoverable onshore, mainly from across the north 
of England - the equivalent of 40 years of UK supplies.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Anna Jones however said 
fracking was a "desperate ploy" by the Government 
to keep the UK hooked on fossil fuels.

She said: "Fracking is risky for local 
environments, risky for our water supplies and 
risky for the global climate. People are right to 
stand up and say 'not under my land you don't'."

Andrew Pemberton, a Lancashire dairy farmer said 
he was worried for the ecology of the Fylde near 
Blackpool and would be joining the protest. "I'm 
supplying milk to 3,000 households, and if for 
any reason my water became contaminated, my 
business would be ruined and my livelihood 
destroyed, as well as the livelihoods of the 16 
families who work for me. Fracking is dangerous 
and short-sighted. We should be keeping this gas in the ground,” he said.

Francis Egan, Cuadrilla CEO, said: "This country 
pioneered subsurface infrastructure. All of our 
existing subsurface underground rail, water, gas, 
telecommunications and electric development has 
historically succeeded in legal coexistence with 
surface property rights. Newer technology such as 
geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage 
will also have to negotiate this.”










Brennan - Wikileaks



On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began 
publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over 
five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered 
"global intelligence" company Stratfor. The 
e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 
2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company 
that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but 
provides confidential intelligence services to 
large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical 
Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon 
and government agencies, including the US 
Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines 
and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The 
emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off 
structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.


Obama Leak Investigations (internal use only - pls do not forward)

Released on 2012-09-10 00:00 GMT
Email-ID
1210665
Date
2010-09-21 21:38:37
From
burton at stratfor.com
To
secure at stratfor.com
Brennan is behind the witch hunts of investigative journalists learning
information from inside the beltway sources.

Note -- There is specific tasker from the WH to go after anyone printing
materials negative to the Obama agenda (oh my.) Even the FBI is
shocked. The Wonder Boys must be in meltdown mode...




Germany Outlines New Strategy for a European Army

Source: The Trumpet  http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/15918

Rather than create a European army all at once, 
Germany should focus on building it bit by bit, 
according to a paper published this month by the 
Konrad Adenauer Foundation (kaf). Germany should 
develop “islands of cooperation”­small groups of 
countries whose militaries work together­that can 
be used as “building blocks” of a pan-European military power, it wrote.

To dedicated Trumpet readers, this should sound 
very familiar. It is exactly what we described 
Germany doing in the August print edition of the 
Trumpet. Now you can read it in black and white, 
from a think tank that describes itself as 
“closely associated with the Christian Democratic 
Union of Germany (cdu)”­the party of Angela Merkel.
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