Fracking will it eventually make an appearance in Britain?
Lucy is scrabbling round my feet trying to make herself comfortable as I contemplate this subject. Just down the road from us at a village called Kirby Misperton, an application by Third Energy to sink a well has been on the table these last few months. There is an anti-fracking campaign going on, I see signs everywhere No Fracking in Ryedale. Our conservative MP, Kevin Hollincrake has even been to Pennysylvania to hear about the benefits of fracking.
"We should also be realistic and honest with the public and let them make their own minds up based on actual evidence," he said. Kevin Hollincrake. I suspect as no one in Britain has had experience of fracking that this would be difficult, except of course the small earthquake near Blackpool, which portended a rather ominous future.
So as someone who is usually anti most things, where do I stand? I think very much against it, the thought of polluting our water supply is very frightening, let one fracking well in, how many more will follow, (there are 10,000 in Pennysylvania) can we really be contemplating soaking our land in harmful chemicals, risking pollution of our water, and then there is all that 'burn off'. Yesterday though as we cooked the evening meal, the news came through that the power companies for the National Grid would probably have to use special measures to keep the lights on between 4.30 and 6.30, peak time. And this is only the beginning of the Autumn, and mild weather to boot.
I am inclined to agree with you thelma. One application is the thin end of the wedge. It is absolutely USELESS trying these measures to help keep the lights on when the writing has been on the wall for the last decade or more - build more power stations or a nuclear alternative (however unpalatable the idea) - when you can see they are needed and not just turn a blind eye to that need and hope someone else will have to step up to the mark and get blamed for it retrospectively. (Does that make sense?! I know what I mean anyway!) Windfarms just cannot be relied upon to give 100% of the power needed 100% of the time.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I support many eco-friendly ideas, windfarms are not one of them, for many reasons. You may disagree, and we will just have to live with that.
I think that we may well have to learn to live with power restrictions until this is all sorted out (presumably by the Chinese). Candles, firelight and cooking on the woodburner here we come!
Well windfarms were one of the culprits the other day Jennie because there was no wind there was no power. I can see why a lot of people do not like wind turbines, they have been scattered over the landscape willy-nilly by farmers and others hoping to get rich.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what the answer is though, actually quite like the idea of candles and firelight, but it is not the answer for most people, except there is enough wood round here to fuel a million wood burning stoves... The government allowing the planning laws to become lax may mean of course fracking will come in, there is an enormous potash mine to be allowed on the North York Moors which seems to be getting the go ahead.
Don't really understand....Like the idea of candles though....
ReplyDeleteMorning Ana, I love the idea of candles and firelight to. The problem is that we are running out of energy, and it gets pretty serious when winter comes around.
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