Frack off! 4

I don’t often do politics but I do care about the environment. Please feel free to skip this post if you aren’t very eco.

The following is written by GreenPeace and shared with their kind permission.

Image by Greenpeace.

Recently David Cameron opened up huge new areas of the country to fracking. More than half of Britain is now up for grabs in the prime minister’s latest frack-a-thon, including areas in 10 national parks. But already, almost 250,000 people have signed our petition calling for David Cameron to keep the UK frack free. Can you help us hit 300,000 and show prime minister the strength of opposition he and his government are up against?
Sign here : Fracking petition.

Despite the government claims that national parks will only be targeted for drilling in “exceptional circumstances”, the announcement is littered with loopholes – meaning the tranquillity of the Peak District, the Lake District and Brecon Beacons could still be shattered as fracking companies move in to drill.

Not only has the fracking industry still to prove it can operate safely, the oil and gas produced by fracking would increase our carbon emissions at a time when we need to be massively reducing them. But there’s still time to stop the industry before it begins. A few weeks ago Cameron’s fracking juggernaut was forced off the road in West Sussex when the county council unanimously turned down an application to drill in the ancient village of Wisborough Green, just outside the South Downs National Park.

Nearly 2,500 people voiced their concerns about huge lorries thundering through country lanes. And on the day the application to drill was heard by council leaders, an expert geologist described the fracking company’s plan as “incompetent and disingenuous.” [1] The brakes might have been put on fracking in Wisborough Green for the time being, but the prime minister’s obsession with fracking has blinded him to the scale of opposition up and down the country. Remind him what he’s up against – sign the petition now to urge David Cameron to ditch fracking. Here https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/newfracking or here https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/frack-free-uk

Thank you for your support,
Richard from Greenpeace.

PS. If 2,500 people can put the brakes on fracking in Sussex, imagine what 300,000 of us can do. Please sign the petition today: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/newfracking
1. http://greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/massive-victory-sussex-declares-it-not-shale-20140723

Thank you for reading.