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Fracking controls ‘removed in dash for unconventional energy resources’
Posted by Independent: Jonathan Brown on July 22nd, 2013
Independent: Local communities are set to lose control over key environmental decisions affecting whether fracking can go ahead within their midst, it is claimed.
Campaigners opposing the industrial-scale exploitation of shale gas reserves in the British countryside said the Government has removed key democratic controls in its dash to bring unconventional energy resources on stream.
Under planning guidelines published last week, councils will no longer be able to investigate issues such as seismic activity,...
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United Kingdom: Now climate experts warn that every house in the country is at risk of flooding
Posted by Independent: Jonathan Brown on September 29th, 2012
Independent: The flood waters may finally be receding across parts of Britain lashed this week by the worst autumn storm in 30 years.But as home and business owners begin the long, demoralising task of clearing up the filth left in their wake, it has emerged that increasing numbers of flood victims are completely unaware that they were ever at risk from rising water levels.
Of the 5,000 properties damaged in the extreme weather events of this summer and autumn, more than half were hit not by overflowing rivers...
United Kingdom: Majority objected to badger cull before policy was approved
Posted by Independent: Jonathan Brown on July 28th, 2011
Independent: Evidence of overwhelming public opposition to the proposed cull of badgers was withheld until the Government had decided to go ahead with the controversial plan.
The results of a consultation held last year revealed that 69 per cent of respondents were against killing up to hundreds of thousands of the mammals in a bid to eradicate tuberculosis from cattle herds in England.
Scientific experts, animal-welfare organisations and wildlife groups objected to the proposal which was announced by the...
United States: Actors join campaign against fracking
Posted by Independent: Jonathan Brown on June 15th, 2011
Independent: Leading actors including Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana have joined the campaign against shale drilling by recording an online protest video in which they tell gas prospectors: "I love my New York water -- stop fracking with it."
Amid mounting concern over the controversial technology, which has been blamed for causing environmental degradation and contaminating water supplies, the stars are shown gargling, drinking, and taking a bath, to show their appreciation of their home state's...
British floods ‘were the result of climate change’
Posted by Independent: Jonathan Brown on February 16th, 2011
Independent: The catastrophic floods of autumn 2000, which saw river levels reach 400-year highs and left 10,000 homes underwater across England and Wales, were most likely the result of global warming.
It is the first time scientists have been able to plot with any confidence the link between the extreme weather with man-made greenhouse gases. Researchers from Oxford University and the Met Office aided by thousands of volunteers online believe 20th-century industrial emissions made the natural disaster almost...