The well known fracking company Cuadrilla has been granted the waste permit they needed to start drilling for oil in the village of Balcombe, West Sussex. The shale gas company obtained the permit and got the final regulatory approval from the Environment Agency earlier today.
Cuadrilla have been granted a permit to start drilling in Balcombe, West Sussex. The local people do not seem happy about this and are going to protest today!
The fracking company had already moved their drilling equipment onto site in anticipation for the approval. They are not wasting any time and will be starting to drill from Saturday once they have got all the machinery up and running.
The residents of the village where the exploratory drilling is set to take place are planning a protest. They have taken to the social networks and are planning to stage a protest outside the local school in Balcombe today. The campaigners are calling the protest the ‘Great Gas Gala’ and are protest against the latest Cuadrilla site in fears it will increase the traffic and pollution in the village.
The protesters believe that shale gas and oil are not a long term solution to the energy challenges our nation faces. These oil and gas drilling sites pollute our country and there is no solid evidence that any fuel obtained from them will help to bring down consumer and business energy prices.
Cuadrilla have defended the new drilling site in Balcombe by saying that the site is only temporary, they will not be using any hydraulic fracturing methods.
If the fracking company want to undertake more work within this area once they have done their exploratory drilling, they wuk then have to apply for new permissions from the local authorities and the Environment Agency. Cuadrilla have been in contact with the local community throughout the planning stages of the exploratory well via information sessions and written communications, but the people of the local area do not think this enough.
Like the fracking sites in Lancashire that have been all over the news over the past six to twelve months, the local communities around the sites are not happy. But as this new and unproven method could potentially help the UK’s energy supply on a massive scale, the governments and councils are having to work to help the gas and oil extraction companies.
There seems to be a lack of communication between the fracking companies and the people of the local towns and villages where the sites are popping up. If there was more communication and a compromise from both sides then we think the process for these exploratory wells would be a lot easier.
We hope that the new oil and gas extraction industry will bring down the prices of energy for both consumers and businesses in the years to come. If this does not happen then the whole process and billions of pounds put into the industry is pretty pointless.