There has been a meeting of in excess of 100 local people from the LLanelli area to share views about plans that an energy company is making to extract coal gas from under the Loughor Estuary using a process that is known as ‘gasification’.
Gasification is a process in which a very deep hole is drilled down to the coal under the surface, this coal is then set on fire which allows the trapped gas to be released. The gas that is the released is then piped up to the surface and collected.
The unnamed energy firm that has put the proposal forward to use the gasification process at the Loughor Estuary have just been granted a licence from the Loughor and Dee estuaries from the Coal Authority. But before the energy firm will be allowed to start work on this site, they must apply and get a large number of permits.
This process is very different from the controversial fracking, but you could say that is is still apart of the dash for gas industry within Britain. Just like the fracking industry people are very concerned about the gasification process as it has not yet been widely used within the UK.
We are predicting to see anti-gasification protests in a similar way we have seen all of the protests around fracking in the Balcombe, West Sussex area.
If the unnamed energy firm gets all of the correct permits, then it looks like they will start work on the Loughor Estuary gasification site at the start of the new year, January 2014.
Many people of the Swansea, Gwendraeth valley, Llanelli and Gower areas are seriously concerned about the impact this new industry could have on the landscape and environment.
The people in the Swansea, Gwendraeth valley, Llanelli and Gower areas and there is genuine concern about how this could impact on the landscape and how it could impact the estuary. This process is also very unproven in Britain and there is a great deal of concern around if it’s safe and if it will even work.
The gasification process is apart of the United Kingdoms dash for low carbon fuels, as currently we import most of the gas we consume. As a result of the United Kingdom importing all this gas, our domestic and business energy prices are soaring through the roof.
Plans such as fracking and this new gasification are being put into practice to make our nation a low carbon emitter and to also bring lower energy prices for both households and businesses.
The public meeting that consisted of well over one hundred local people that are campaigning against the proposals by the energy company got together to discuss the potential implications the new gas extracting process could have on the local beauty spot.
The unnamed energy company has said that there is no threat to the environment and any risk in damaging the local beauty spot in any way whatsoever.