Cuadrilla's plan to drill test well in West Sussex leads to furious reactions at public meeting
People gathered in the village hall in Balcombe, West Sussex, hear of hydraulic fracturing plans. Fracking techology was blamed for triggering earthquakes near Blackpool. Photograph: Martin Godwin/for the Guardian
After earthquakes in Lancashire and tales of poisoned water and flaming taps in the US, "fracking" for gas or oil in the English home counties was never likely to be easy. And so it proved when oil executives faced the fury of a village hall full of West Sussex residents in a clash over a controversial technology that energy companies believe could open up major reserves of energy from underground rocks.
"What you are about to do will make our water beyond toxic!" Ella Reeves shouted at Mark Miller, the Pennsylvania oil man who had come to Balcombe to explain plans to search for hydrocarbons 800 metres under the Sussex weald. "It's about money for you, but for me it is about life."
Reeves was one of around 200 residents squeezed into the village's well-kept village hall to hear Miller, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, a multinational oil and gas company, explain why he might want to use hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" less than a mile from the village, which lies on the London to Brighton commuter line, just five miles from Gatwick airport.
The technique involves forcing thousands of gallons of chemical solution under high pressure into rocks to release oil or gas, but opponents say it pollutes groundwater, adds to greenhouse gas pollution and destroys local ecosystems.
The meeting on Wednesday night was the latest skirmish in the battle between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over access to the UK's shale gas and oil reserves, which in Lancashire alone could deliver £6bn a year for 30 years, according to one industry estimate.
Supporters say it will improve the UK's energy security and the battle has intensified in recent months with anti-fracking activists scaling a rig in Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, halting work in November.
Balcombe laid on a more polite welcome, but after two earth tremors near Blackpool last year were attributed to Cuadrilla's fracking operations, the atmosphere was tense. A warm-up video screened by the meeting organisers about the toxic impact of the technique in America raised the temperature to furious.
Miller and his two PR minders, all dressed in black, gritted their teeth as the film spoke of "red nasty water oozing out of the hill", "radium in waste products", "methane in drinking water" and how "our heaven has turned into our hell".
Fracking "threatens to destroy the environment and wreck lives", the voiceover said, adding frightening claims that the chemicals used in the US had been linked to bone, liver and breast cancers and disorders of the nervous system.
"I am going to be following a bit of a tough act with that video," said Miller as he took the microphone nervously. "I'm not sure I can."
He managed to explain that his company has acquired an exploration and development licence from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and that it only planned to drill a test well at this stage.
He said the pollution suffered in parts of America, where the fracking industry is huge and growing, represented "the poorest part of our industry". "Drilling and fracturing for natural gas is safe," he said to disbelieving tuts. "It about doing it right. Environmental incidents are rare."
By this point some in the audience wanted to hear no more. There were shouts of "you've gone on long enough" and "you're talking rubbish".
Anti-fracking campaigner Will Cottrell, chairman of the Brighton Energy Co-operative, claimed a 10-well fracking facility was "like setting off a 4.4 kilotonne nuclear bomb". Cuadrilla said this was untrue, but the hall was in foment.
"You are in Sussex now and we will not be drove [pushed around]," shouted Alan Gold, 67.
"If you put fracking fluid down there at 10,000 pounds per square inch it is going to disturb our drinking water," yelled another man. "Go away!"
"Frack 'em and forget 'em, isn't it?" said a voice from the back. "It's all about the money."
"This is how they burn witches I guess," Paul Kelly, a director of PPS, Cuadrilla's public relations and lobbying firm told the Guardian. "I can think of dozens of oil companies who wouldn't put themselves through this in a million years and maybe they have it right."
"It has been pretty disastrous," added Nick Grealy, a former gas executive who promotes the shale gas industry for clients including Cuadrilla. "They were set up."
For many residents this was the first they had heard of the plans and they voiced worries about the millions of gallons of water needed for the operation in a drought-affected area, and noise and water pollution. Two young women spoke about their fears that fracking would hinder their recovery from cancer.
Miller said the fracking technology used in the UK was designed to prevent pollution of water courses. He repeatedly said the well was only at exploration stage and that a further licence would be needed for extraction. He said the chemical used in the fracking solution was not carcinogenic.
Just one resident, retired Rod Jago, spoke up in Miller's defence. "Surely we should welcome any contribution to self-sufficiency provided it is safe," he said to gasps of disbelief from some of his neighbours. "All new technologies have teething problems. We wouldn't have trains or aeroplanes if we had meetings like this when they started."
A spokesman for Cuadrilla, whose backers include former BP chief executive Lord Browne, said said it was pleased to have been allowed the platform. "We couldn't answer all the questions and there was a great deal of confusion about some of the claims that were being made about America," he said. "In the European Union there are some very rigorous controls on groundwater pollution."
"What you are about to do will make our water beyond toxic!" Ella Reeves shouted at Mark Miller, the Pennsylvania oil man who had come to Balcombe to explain plans to search for hydrocarbons 800 metres under the Sussex weald. "It's about money for you, but for me it is about life."
Reeves was one of around 200 residents squeezed into the village's well-kept village hall to hear Miller, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, a multinational oil and gas company, explain why he might want to use hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" less than a mile from the village, which lies on the London to Brighton commuter line, just five miles from Gatwick airport.
The technique involves forcing thousands of gallons of chemical solution under high pressure into rocks to release oil or gas, but opponents say it pollutes groundwater, adds to greenhouse gas pollution and destroys local ecosystems.
The meeting on Wednesday night was the latest skirmish in the battle between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over access to the UK's shale gas and oil reserves, which in Lancashire alone could deliver £6bn a year for 30 years, according to one industry estimate.
Supporters say it will improve the UK's energy security and the battle has intensified in recent months with anti-fracking activists scaling a rig in Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, halting work in November.
Balcombe laid on a more polite welcome, but after two earth tremors near Blackpool last year were attributed to Cuadrilla's fracking operations, the atmosphere was tense. A warm-up video screened by the meeting organisers about the toxic impact of the technique in America raised the temperature to furious.
Miller and his two PR minders, all dressed in black, gritted their teeth as the film spoke of "red nasty water oozing out of the hill", "radium in waste products", "methane in drinking water" and how "our heaven has turned into our hell".
Fracking "threatens to destroy the environment and wreck lives", the voiceover said, adding frightening claims that the chemicals used in the US had been linked to bone, liver and breast cancers and disorders of the nervous system.
"I am going to be following a bit of a tough act with that video," said Miller as he took the microphone nervously. "I'm not sure I can."
He managed to explain that his company has acquired an exploration and development licence from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and that it only planned to drill a test well at this stage.
He said the pollution suffered in parts of America, where the fracking industry is huge and growing, represented "the poorest part of our industry". "Drilling and fracturing for natural gas is safe," he said to disbelieving tuts. "It about doing it right. Environmental incidents are rare."
By this point some in the audience wanted to hear no more. There were shouts of "you've gone on long enough" and "you're talking rubbish".
Anti-fracking campaigner Will Cottrell, chairman of the Brighton Energy Co-operative, claimed a 10-well fracking facility was "like setting off a 4.4 kilotonne nuclear bomb". Cuadrilla said this was untrue, but the hall was in foment.
"You are in Sussex now and we will not be drove [pushed around]," shouted Alan Gold, 67.
"If you put fracking fluid down there at 10,000 pounds per square inch it is going to disturb our drinking water," yelled another man. "Go away!"
"Frack 'em and forget 'em, isn't it?" said a voice from the back. "It's all about the money."
"This is how they burn witches I guess," Paul Kelly, a director of PPS, Cuadrilla's public relations and lobbying firm told the Guardian. "I can think of dozens of oil companies who wouldn't put themselves through this in a million years and maybe they have it right."
"It has been pretty disastrous," added Nick Grealy, a former gas executive who promotes the shale gas industry for clients including Cuadrilla. "They were set up."
For many residents this was the first they had heard of the plans and they voiced worries about the millions of gallons of water needed for the operation in a drought-affected area, and noise and water pollution. Two young women spoke about their fears that fracking would hinder their recovery from cancer.
Miller said the fracking technology used in the UK was designed to prevent pollution of water courses. He repeatedly said the well was only at exploration stage and that a further licence would be needed for extraction. He said the chemical used in the fracking solution was not carcinogenic.
Just one resident, retired Rod Jago, spoke up in Miller's defence. "Surely we should welcome any contribution to self-sufficiency provided it is safe," he said to gasps of disbelief from some of his neighbours. "All new technologies have teething problems. We wouldn't have trains or aeroplanes if we had meetings like this when they started."
A spokesman for Cuadrilla, whose backers include former BP chief executive Lord Browne, said said it was pleased to have been allowed the platform. "We couldn't answer all the questions and there was a great deal of confusion about some of the claims that were being made about America," he said. "In the European Union there are some very rigorous controls on groundwater pollution."
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