Prospectors and protesters await crucial UK fracking decision

So runs the headline in today’s Financial Times above an article which begins

Britain’s leading shale gas explorer Cuadrilla has cited rural Pennsylvania in the US, home to America’s “fracking” revolution, as a model for Lancashire where it hopes within days to win the go-ahead for a contentious drilling campaign

Those of you who have been following the great shale gas debate may now be shaking your heads in amazement that Cuadrilla’s PR operation is so arrogant that they don’t think people are capable of making the rather obvious connections.

Pennsylvania where the “List of the Harmed” has grown to a staggering 16,000 + reports

https://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/

Pennsylvania where the impact of shale on local employment is routinely overstated by a factor of 10!

http://keystoneresearch.org/publications/research/exaggerating-employment-impacts-shale-drilling-how-and-why

Pennsylvania where the trucks are overwhelming the road network. Take a look at

(Look about 2:30 in for an idea of what we are talking about)

and

http://www.fractracker.org/2014/09/truck-counts/

Mr Egan – we really don’t want you to turn us into Pennsylvania thank you very much.

And then, later in the article we see the typical scaremongering of this industry.

Myles Kitcher, managing director of Peel Oil and Gas, said that big industrial users such as Ineos, the chemicals group, could quit the UK if they do not get shale gas supplies.

This presumably is the same Ineos who are investing £150 million in an ethane tank at Grangemouth to facilitate the import of LNG from US shales.

http://www.ineos.com/Sites/Grangemouth/News/Tank-Location-selected-for-Grangemouth-/

Please Mr Kitcher, don’t treat us like fools!

And finally we have the old reds under the bed , Qataris in Ferraris routine from Mr Egan when he
blusters

And the question is do we import that? Do we import it from Qatar? Do we import it from Russia? And do we ignore the gas sitting here beneath our feet?”

Perhaps Francis should ask his pals at Centrica because, amusingly, the deals to import gas from Russia and Qatar have been done by the same Centrica who are one of Mr Egan’s main backers:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10430701/Centrica-signs-4.4bn-gas-import-deal-with-Qatar.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6fb10734-f969-11e4-be7b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3cuqI61MD

Of course the other question is do we just carry on importing it from Norway and the Netherlands. And yes, Francis, we ignore the gas sitting beneath our feet because getting it out risks ruining the agricultural area which LCC councillors, who will make a decision next week, are entrusted by us (not by you – you live in Cheshire) to protect.