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To frack or not ?
- Thread starter United57
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shoes
Well-Known Forumite
No, let them get on with it.
Not sure why you specifically want it in the home counties though?
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
Unfortunately the whole subject has been hijacked by the nutter brigade who are now dominating the news on fracking and stopping people getting a proper informed view of what it means and what the pros are as well as the environmental cons. Caroline Lucas is an elected MP. If she wishes to make a political point then she was returned to Westminster by the Brighton electorate to represent them in that chamber. She should concentrate more on the job she is paid and was elected to do rather than sitting in the middle of a road in a constituency that she does not represent.
I read a report that many of the "protesters" around the proposed drilling site in Balcombe are not locals opposed to the scheme but more a rabble of rent a mob, village idiot band wagon jumpers who perhaps even don't really know what fracking is but going on a student protest march is after all a right of passage and something to bore the Grandkids with about how I grew my hair long and fought against the establishment man....
There is an absolute huge potential for fracking in the UK, estimates suggest that there are more reserves here than there are in the US and over there they are swimming in the stuff. Whole areas of the north of England that are still at least two decades on decimated by unemployment and deprivation following the closure of traditional industries stand a real chance to be economically re-born and become a huge economic power house to re-balance the power of the south-east. This is a very big deal. Of course the environmental aspects should be given close scrutiny but it should be done so outside the grip of the left-wing loons who would rather see everyone go back to living in a mud hut with a few burning twigs for heat and light.
I read a report that many of the "protesters" around the proposed drilling site in Balcombe are not locals opposed to the scheme but more a rabble of rent a mob, village idiot band wagon jumpers who perhaps even don't really know what fracking is but going on a student protest march is after all a right of passage and something to bore the Grandkids with about how I grew my hair long and fought against the establishment man....
There is an absolute huge potential for fracking in the UK, estimates suggest that there are more reserves here than there are in the US and over there they are swimming in the stuff. Whole areas of the north of England that are still at least two decades on decimated by unemployment and deprivation following the closure of traditional industries stand a real chance to be economically re-born and become a huge economic power house to re-balance the power of the south-east. This is a very big deal. Of course the environmental aspects should be given close scrutiny but it should be done so outside the grip of the left-wing loons who would rather see everyone go back to living in a mud hut with a few burning twigs for heat and light.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Will the money really stay in the 'desolate North-East'?
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
Possibly not but there'll be job opportunities in areas where there haven't been any for years. Jobs and opportunities in areas brings with it regeneration - have a look at "oil town" Aberdeen as a prime example, it is now one of the wealthiest towns in Scotland since the North Sea oil boom started in the 1970's, before that it was one of the poorest following the demise of traditional fishing, textile, shipbuilding and paper making industries.
Most (if not all) of the Oil companies that work out of Aberdeen in the North Sea have their HQ and corporate money stashed outside of the town but this hasn't stopped the town being economically re-born.
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
Wealthiest town in say Lancashire or Yorkshire could also be described as niche.
I should imagine that if you ask the average "Aberdeenian" today whether the oil industry has been good or bad for their town then most would say good - they might not have been so keen back in the 1970's when off shore oil exploration was very much in its infancy.
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
You make a very fine point, I think that's the problem. The "lets not frack" viewpoint is dominated by the hysterical green agenda, the "lets frack everywhere" viewpoint is dominated by the money men and their Government chums. I'm not sure where you look for truly independent advice.
They've been fracking in the US for some time now, ok the geography and population density are very different to the UK but it would be useful if there was some independent evidence as to the effects of the process there - both economically and environmentally.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Indeed, but I wonder what people would say if it was an on-shore oil industry.
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
They obviously embraced it. Much of the kit associated with the off shore oil and gas industry is on shore in and around Aberdeen with all of the associated environmental & visual blight this brings. The town has also lost a number of its population through rig accidents and helicopter crashes since the exploration began.
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
Opposed - the environmental impacts and risks are too great.
It is a sticking plaster for a flawed energy policy. Renewables can and should contribute far more. There is a lot more that can be done in terms of deriving gas from waste. The government continually prioritise cheap energy when the real problem is that as a nation we are hideously energy inefficient. The focus needs to be on reducing consumption in the first place.
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Hydraulic fracturing - drill a hole into, usually, shale - pump in high pressure water and sand - create fissures, which remain held open by the sand when the pressure is reduced - and reserves of, usually gas, which are not available by conventional means will percolate up for collection.
It can sometimes be used for other minerals, too.
There are some who quite like the idea of doing it over the fence from a stockbroker's back garden...
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
It is a process known as Hydraulic Fracturing, called "fracking" for short. As a brief description the process is one of drilling wells into the ground, some to a depth of 3,000m. From the well a mixture of chemicals and water are forced into deep rock layers under great pressure - this in effect fractures (or cracks) the rock and releases natural gas stored within that can then be brought to the surface for use commercially.
The technique has been around from donkey's years (certainly since the 1940's) but has only fairly recently become commercially viable on a large scale, mainly because we have increasingly exhausted other "easier to get at" gas reserves, like for example in the North Sea.
It is controversial as the immense pressures used so deep within the ground have been known to trigger earth tremors, also the cocktail of chemicals added as part of the solution mix has been known to contaminate water supplies, particularly ground water.
On the up side the British Geological Survey estimates the UK has potentially huge reserves of shale gas (not all is likely to be commercial to extract but still a lot down there nonetheless) that could help secure the Country's energy security as we would have to rely less on gas imports and thus foreign volatile prices. Shale gas has brought the cost of energy in the US down hugely, it is debatable whether the same would happen here as our energy market is quite different to theirs. It also brings jobs in the drilling, working, monitoring and maintaining of the wells.
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt
Well-Known Forumite
Wow, HC opposed - I didn't see that coming.
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Not that he would accept an invite to my house anyway, but I am struggling to think of anyone I would welcome to a dinner party any less than HC. Or go for a pint with.
Does anyone know him outside of the forum - I mean, has he any friends?