Not sure what to make of fracking? Well, this should make your mind up. An American actor has been talking to the Guardian:
David Cameron is making an enormous “legacy mistake” by going all-out for fracking in the UK, the actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo has warned. The actor, who is famous for his role as the Hulk in the Avenger films and who stars in Spotlight about the Boston Globe’s investigation into Catholic child abuse…
At least actor Ronald Reagan stood for the vote. Actors today can just preach.
AH, the police. They like filming us but what when we film them? Fresh from the Mark Duggan stop and search killing (all stop; little search) and the Andrew Mitchell farce, the police are filmed arresting a man for being Non-Compliant Whilst Walking.
This incident was taped at the anti-fracking protest on Barton Moss Road, Irlam, Salford on 14/1/14. The man with the camera is Dr Steven Peers, an Electronic Engineer. On Linked In we learn that his interests are “Electronics, Jiu Jitsu, Aquaponics”.
The officer telling Peers he can smell booze on his breath is Sgt David Kehoe.
There are a few moments in his tape that stand out:
* The man with the camera does say he has had a couple of drinks. But says they were tea.
* The officer moves another man on, implying that “mithering”an officer is an offence.
* The second officer addressing Peers says police have seen the man driving. And that is key. The police can detain you if they saw you driving and then suspect you of having had had a drink before or during that journey. Did the first officer see him driving? He seems to know the man, calling him Steven and asking him if he arrived in his blue Mercedes. But did this officer actually see him driving his car? He has to have done so in order to demand a breath test.
Dr Peers says he had not arrived at ‘Camp Barton’ in his car because he had stayed there the night before. So. Did the officer see him drive up?
THE London borough of Brent is now a fracking-free zone.
A council spokesman said: “This is where it gets a bit hazy. Theoretically, Brent Friends of the Earth should let us know…It probably would not happen in Brent because it’s quite a built-up part of northwest London, although there are a lot of parks.”
This is good news for Brent Friends of the Earth, which had used placards and shouting to picket the council’s office. Their spokesperson adds: “I’m trying to remember the source. But I think Edgware was one of the areas being considered, along with Croydon.”
IS environmentalism a hobby? Bianca Jagger was at the Guards Polo Club in Surrey for the – get this – Audi International Polo. She was also at the anti-fracking protest in Balcombe:
I HAVE to admit that there are certain minds that I just cannot worm my way into. Just cannot grasp what is going on in the minds of people who say such stupid things:
George Osborne has infuriated environmentalists by announcing big tax breaks for the fracking industry
Has he? My word.
Lawrence Carter, a Greenpeace energy campaigner, said: “The chancellor is telling anyone who will listen that UK shale gas is set to be an economic miracle, yet he’s had to offer the industry sweetheart tax deals just to reassure them that fracking would be profitable.
WELL, along one dimension it is, fracking producing much less waste water (and polluted waste water) than normal drilling for gas does. It isn’t quite how we normally think of it of course, but it does seem to be true:
There is a perception that the hydraulic fracturing of rock to discharge natural gas produces inordinate volumes of wastewater. After all, millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals are pumped at high pressure into the ground and a considerable portion of this fluid rushes back to the surface when the pressure is released.
YOU may have noticed that one company claims to have found large amounts of shale gas underneath Blackpool. Cuadrilla Resources says that there’s untold trillions of cubic feet of gas down there. Enough to keep us all warm and toasty and lit for decades at the top end of their estimations.
You might also have noticed the screaming hordes of hippies demanding that such must be left in the ground. Which is odd really:
“Natural-gas generation is becoming the preferred generation of choice since it’s cheaper and more efficient, more flexible and environmentally cleaner than coal,” Jack Fusco, chief executive officer of Houston-based Calpine, said during a July 27 conference call with analysts. “Coal-fired generation is in a secular decline, facing pressure from both environmental regulations and lower natural-gas prices.”
OOPS! Hitting the wrong button when you’re in power can cause a problem. Clive James once said of President Gerald Ford:
“In the Bob Hope Golf Classic, the participation of President Gerald Ford was more than enough to remind you that the nuclear button was at one stage at the disposal of a man who might have either pressed it by mistake or else pressed it deliberately in order to obtain room service.”
THERE are indeed reasons not to like fracking for shale gas. Yes, those earthquakes but they’ll only be happening in Lancashire so who gives a crap? They’re also small, about the same as we used to get from coal mining and we dealt with those well enough for a century or more.
It’s also true that having lots of cheap gas around will keep us all warm and toasty for the next century or two. There are those who disapprove of that, might stop us from regressing to the peasant lifestyle which will make us all so much better human beings.
FRACKING is back. The Government is expected to give the thumbs up to fracking – extracting natural gas by hydraulic fracturing. There will be earthquakes as Blackpool turns into a giant trampoline. And that is not all. Fracking might infect groundwater and cause your taps to turn into flame throwers. Careful with that toothbrush!
Not sure what to make of fracking? Well, this should make your mind up. An American actor has been talking to the Guardian:
