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Shale gas extraction ‘will transform Britain’
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on January 17th, 2014
Guardian: The UK's push for shale gas will result in unavoidable changes to the countryside, the US energy secretary has warned. Ernest Moniz, who took over as energy chief for President Obama's second term, has overseen arguably the biggest changes to US energy production since the discovery of oil.
He said the exploitation of shale gas and oil on a vast scale in the US had been "transformative", vastly reducing energy prices, boosting industry and lowering carbon emissions as more electricity production...
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United Kingdom: Waste crime crackdown shuts 25 illegal sites a week
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on October 13th, 2013
Guardian: A crackdown on illegal waste and fly-tipping resulted in 1,279 unlicensed dumping sites being shut down in England last year – roughly 25 every week – according to figures published by the Environment Agency.
But the number of successful prosecutions of waste criminals was down, with 171 last year compared to 249 in 2011-12.
Most illegal sites are closed within a year of opening, but rogue disposal firms open up at new locations all the time.
Penalties for waste criminals have been toughened....
Climate change likely to turn UK’s weather more extreme
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on September 27th, 2013
Guardian: Warmer, wetter winters and more extreme rainfall are what the UK can expect from climate change, meteorological experts warned on Friday. Although the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) does not go into detail on individual countries, the regional and global trends identified in the assessment can be extrapolated to reflect some of the likely impacts on Britain. Dr Peter Stott, of the Met Office, said more extreme rainfall was likely to be the most noticeable impact....
United Kingdom: Company at heart of fracking protests applies for new drilling licences
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on September 4th, 2013
Guardian: The company at the heart of the anti-fracking protests in Sussex is applying for new licences to drill for oil in the local area, to the fury of campaigners, and is planning to reopen its Lancashire operations within weeks.
Cuadrilla's current licences to explore for oil at Balcombe in West Sussex, expire later this month, and the company had been seeking an extension. For weeks, hundreds of protestors have tried to disrupt its activities in the area in order to draw attention to what they see...
United Kingdom: Flood insurance scheme inadequate, says study
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 18th, 2013
Guardian: The government's new scheme to protect homes in England and Wales from flooding vastly underestimates the number of properties at risk due to climate change, says a study from the London School of Economics (LSE).
As many as 800,000 homes in England and Wales are likely to be at significant risk of flooding in a decade, even on optimistic assumptions of fewer homes being built in flood plains, with the number rising to 1.5m by 2050. That compares with about 370,000 homes at significant risk in...
United Kingdom: Drilling pause for Balcombe fracking protests is sensible move, say police
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 16th, 2013
Guardian: Cuadrilla has halted its oil-drilling operations in West Sussex in anticipation of an influx of anti-fracking protesters at the site this weekend.
The company, which is pioneering the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing in Britain, said that after discussions with police it had doubled the height of its security fences and installed razor wire at the Balcombe site, and had called a halt to the drilling until further notice. A spokesman said this was owing to concerns "for the health...
United Kingdom: Balcombe oil drilling stops in anticipation of weekend protest
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 15th, 2013
Guardian: Cuadrilla has halted its oil-drilling operations in West Sussex in anticipation of an influx of anti-fracking protesters at the site this weekend.
The company, which is pioneering the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing in Britain, said that after discussions with police it had doubled the height of its security fences and installed razor wire at the Balcombe site, and had called a halt to the stopped drilling until further notice. A spokesman said this was owing to concerns "for the...
United Kingdom: Fracking splits public opinion down the middle, ICM poll finds
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 14th, 2013
Guardian: David Cameron is likely to face resistance from voters if he aggressively pursues fracking for shale gas, new polling by the Guardian indicates.
Four in 10 people would welcome hydraulic fracturing - used to extract hard-to-reach natural gas - in their local area but just as many people would oppose it, a national ICM survey commissioned by the Guardian has found. About a fifth of voters are undecided.
Worryingly for Cameron, the research suggests that undecided voters could harden against...
United Kingdom: Why the ‘dash for gas’ has got off to a false start
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 3rd, 2013
Guardian: For all the talk of a dash for gas, the government-backed race for a new generation of power stations has had few willing participants thus far. So the suggestion last week by the chief executive of Drax, the UK's biggest coal-fired power station, that she might invest in new gas plants was a surprise. Nonetheless, her words were hedged with a caution shared by the rest of the energy industry. "We could start to look at it. But it would depend very much on the details of the government's energy market...
United Kingdom: Balcombe fracking protesters vow to fight on as drilling begins
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Drilling for oil started on Friday just outside the small village of Balcombe, in West Sussex, as oil and gas company Cuadrilla completed tests of its equipment and protesters chanted outside, surrounded by police.
This is the first time Cuadrilla, which is pioneering the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in the UK, has been able to start its exploratory drilling. The company says is not planning to frack the rocks under Balcombe at this stage. Its geological assessments...