A couple of days ago I tweeted my outrage at a story that appeared in the Croydon Advertiser reporting on a fracking license in that borough. Any resulting Croydon earthquakes, I said, would certainly be felt in neighbouring Sutton.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that very same license also covers Sutton. Local councillors have today been assured that Northdown Energy Ltd “appear…[to] have little interest in our area at this time. We will be following the situation very carefully.”
Having previously seen an email from a council officer that stated “We have not received any planning applications for fracking” I was somewhat taken aback, especially having replied to residents repeating this point.
Of course it is technically true that Sutton has not received any planning applications, a point that was reiterated to councillors today. However the fact that an exploratory license was granted by the government in 2008 was relevant to the issue.
That said, I am relieved the Council has been told by Northdown that they have no interest in fracking in Sutton and it would appear that any attempt to start drilling would be met with stiff opposition from Sutton’s Lib Dem council.
The Council is currently formulating its position on fracking and I am sure that local outrage at the very idea of fracking will help inform our policies.
I also hope that strong opposition across the country will persuade the Energy Secretary Ed Davey to change his mind. The experience of fracking, particularly in the United States, regarding pollution of water and small earth tremors, make this a ‘dirty’ energy and it certainly isn’t a renewable one.
The Observer has reported “two key executives of the energy trading giant Vitol, whose boss has given more than £500,000 to the Conservatives, were personal shareholders in a company bringing “hydraulic fracturing”, commonly known as fracking, and a related technology, coal bed methane (CBM) extraction, to the UK.”
Lib Dems in government have been instrumental in promoting renewable energies, a record of which the party can be proud. Fracking does not come into that category.
Whatever big business lobbying pressures are at play behind the scenes I would hope that Lib Dems can reassert their belief in clean renewable energy and stop the fracking.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway
