Unconventional Gas in Scotland – Introduction
An introduction to Unconventional Gas in Scotland. In this Parliamentary Briefing, Scottish Environment Link, a Scottish Charity, make a very convincing case against UG extraction.
http://www.scotlink.org/files/policy/ParliamentaryBriefings/LINKBriefingFUGJune13.pdf
Friends of the Earth: Fracking in Scotland – unsafe, unnecessary and unwanted
http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/fracking#What%20is%20happening%20in%20Scotland
Fracking Scotland: Time to get Organised:
http://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-scotland-time-to-get-organised/
Fracking Scotland: FRACKING AROUND WITH THE LAW:
http://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-around-with-the-law/
The Broad Alliance
http://broad-alliance.btck.co.uk/
The Broad Alliance (BA) is a coalition of Scottish communities opposed to onshore and near-shore unconventional oil and gas development. It is supported by a range of NGOs, environmental groups, Trades Unions, Public Health experts, and political groups.
BA communities will each have their own specific concerns and spheres of activity, but there is also a significant shared agenda. Member groups have therefore agreed a Protocol to clarify what is shared by all, and to offer guidance about how groups can act on behalf of the wider Alliance.
Drill or Drop
Recent articles on research relating to fracking and damage. :
Useful links to other sites on the web in the menu system.
https://drillordrop.com/2016/09/23/recent-research-round-up-march-sept-2016/#more-27191
Recent Reports and Studies
Contrary to rhetoric asserting that there is no scientific evidence that shows the risks of Unconventional Gas, there is a continually growing body of independent evidence. We shall continue to try and add links to these here for you to read and research for yourself.
Westminster commissioned Environmental Audit Committee report on Unconventional Gas calls for a UK wide moratorium Jan 15 2015 :
This 2014 Compendium from the Concerned Health Professionals of New York is a fully referenced compilation of the significant body of scientific, medical, and journalistic findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking. It informed the recent ban in New York
http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/
This 2014 Report argues that the UK Government has a clear and urgent duty to fully investigate the human rights implications of fracking before authorising any exploratory or extractive fracking operations in the UK.
http://gnhre.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/HRIA-FINAL-WITH-APPENDICES-HIGH-RES.pdf
This study, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, reviews the technical and economic status of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technologies, and develops a series of scenarios to assess the possible implications for the climate. It finds that the technical and cost obstacles to effective deployment of high levels of carbon capture in UCG are more significant than advocates of the technology acknowledge, and that the risk of increased or prolonged unabated use of coal as a result of UCG could become a serious climate threat.
https://sites.google.com/site/mclarenerc/research/ucg-and-climate
Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People published a briefing in 2014 on how Uncoventional Gas relates to the rights of children and young people.
http://www.sccyp.org.uk/ufiles/Full-fracking-briefing.pdf
An independent health survey in the Tara rural residential estates and environs. This report documents an investigation during February and March 2013 by a concerned General Practitioner, in relation to health complaints by people living in close proximity to coal seam gas development in SW Australia
This analysis from PSE Health Energy is intended to provide a cursory overview of what is currently known about the potential impacts of shale gas development on human health and the environment. It includes only the published peer-reviewed literature available on the subject.
http://psehealthyenergy.org/site/view/1233
This 2013 paper shows significant health risks posed by outdated regulatory frameworks, outlines the current state-of-the-art regarding low level exposures to industrial toxins and relates these failings to Dart Energy’s Proposal to extract gas in Falkirk Local Authority
Independent Analysis
Coastal Paradises set to become Coal Seam Gas Experiments. February 16th 2015 by Laura Cameron Lewis.
Geo Thermal Energy Provides a Real Solution to Energy Security. February 15th 2015 by Laura Cameron Lewis.
Sold from Under our Feet. February 15th 2015 by Laura Cameron Lewis.
https://lauracameronlewis.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/sold-from-under-our-feet/
Biggarideas: Infrastructure Bill: What’s really happened?January 27 2015 by Janet Moxley
https://biggarideas.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/infrastructure-bill-whats-really-happened/
Biggarideas: What Scottish Government could do about fracking even without Independence. October 22 2014 by Janet Moxley:
Community Charter
The following links are to Concerned Communities of Falkirk, community campaigners and pioneers who wrote the first Community Charter in the UK.
Falkirk Against Unconventional Gas: No risky gas in Falkirk:
http://www.faug.org.uk/
Concerned Communities of Falkirk Representation to Scottish Ministers:
https://cdn.evbuc.com/eventlogos/89642973/ccofrepresentationtoscottishministers28final29.pdf
Community Councils and Peoples of Larbert, Stenhousemuir and Torwood; Avonbridge and Standburn; Bo’ness; and Shieldhill and California, Community Charter
https://cdn.evbuc.com/eventlogos/89642973/communitycharter.pdf
Our Forth Public Meeting October 26th 2014
Here are videos from Our Forth’s first public meeting in October 2014.
Videos from the second public meeting in January 2015 will be here soon.
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 1 – Introduction
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 2 – Laura Eaton-Lewis
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 3 – John Fitzgerald
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 4 – Jamie McKenzie Hamilton
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 5 – Q&A
Portobello Public Meeting 26/10/14 – Part 6 – Structuring A Campaign
NOT FOR SHALE – A film by Purdy.
SYNOPSIS (also as subtitles if you need – just click CC):
25 September 2016
Jim Ratcliffe as a boy discovers an interest in boats and chemicals. Time warps to the future. As a grown billionaire, JR moves to Switzerland for tax purposes. The boy’s toys have got bigger. JR’s petrochemical company INEOS, ‘The word for chemicals’, develops a virtual pipeline to import cheap fracked gas from the USA to feed his terminal Grangemouth refinery in Scotland. Members of the community in the USA protest against the fossil fuel industry and fracking. Back home, INEOS threatens to frack Scotland’s central belt. Members of the community protest by linking hands across the Forth Bridge. INEOS’ new so-called Dragon Class ship, the ‘Insanity’, (made in China) transports the first shipment of liquefied gases across the Atlantic to arrive at Grangemouth, 27th September 2016. INEOS organises a VIP welcoming event and a PR frenzy. We return to that memorable day when JR first discovered an interest in chemicals. JR’s Mum tries to teach him a lesson about destructive behaviour. She cleans up after him and takes his boat away. In an alternative universe, Jim Ratcliffe never became a petrochemical tycoon and the earth was saved from a lot of pollution.
Health risks
In order to demonstrate the significant health risks posed by outdated regulatory frameworks, this paper first outlines the current state-of-the-art regarding low level exposures to industrial toxins. Next, it relates these failings to the current Proposal to extract gas in Falkirk Local Authority.
In this presentation at the Lismore Community Information evening concerning CSG mining in the Northern Rivers, Dr Lloyd-Smith presents a detailed and devastating analysis of the poisonous effects of this destructive industry.
The recent coal bed methane gas development proposals in Scotland, with possibilities of related extensive fracking looming in the Central Belt, present many challenges for Scotland and raise questions about sustainability and energy policies, economic growth and public health. So says Professor…
The Compendium is a fully referenced compilation of the significant body of scientific, medical, and journalistic findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking.
A review of the scientific literature providing evidence that adult and early life exposure to chemicals associated with UOG operations can result in adverse reproductive health and developmental effects in humans.
A 2013 World Health Organization report discusses the health impacts of fracking.
This is an article by Morag Parnell that originally appeared in Perspectives magazine and is reproduced here with permission.
An independent health survey in the Tara rural residential estates and environs. This report documents an investigation during February and March 2013 by a concerned General Practitioner, in relation to health complaints by people living in close proximity to coal seam gas development in SW…
This analysis from PSE Health Energy is intended to provide a cursory overview of what is currently known about the potential impacts of shale gas development on human health and the environment. It includes only the published peer-reviewed literature available on the subject. Specifically, this…
As natural gas production rapidly increases across the U.S., its associated pollution has reached the stage where it is contaminating essential life support systems – water, air, and soil – and causing harm to the health of humans, wildlife, domestic animals, and vegetation. This project was…
Unconventional gas
This is the perfect introduction to Unconventional Gas (UG) in Scotland. In this Parliamentary Briefing, Scottish Environment Link, a Scottish Charity, make a very convincing case against UG extraction.
Transmitted in Australia on ABC1 on Monday 1st April 2013. ‘Gas Leak!’ raises concerns about the coal bed methane industry (known as coal seam gas, CSG, in Australia) on prime time television.
- A Human Rights Assessment of Hydraulic Fracturing and Other Unconventional Gas Development in the UK
This Report argues that the UK Government has a clear and urgent duty to fully investigate the human rights implications of fracking before authorising any exploratory or extractive fracking operations in the UK.
When new technology offers us great promise – and the new gas boom certainly does, offering up cheap, clean energy and jobs galore – it’s worth taking time to consider what lessons can we learn from history.
This study, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, reviews the technical and economic status of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technologies, and develops a series of scenarios to assess the possible implications for the climate.
This interactive map shows sites (drilled, planned and approved) for coalbed methane and shale gas in the UK. DECC licence blocks are also shown.
YouTube video of ‘Coal-Bed Methane: What it Means for Falkirk and Stirling’, a presentation by toxics expert Dr. Mariann Lloyd-Smith on 22 May 2013.
Contaminated sites and accidents related specifically to CSG / LNG in Australia (CoalSeamGasNew.org, 2012)