UK company begins fracking in Lancashire despite mass protest

A British company has started fracking operation at a site in Lancashire, northwest England, despite massive protests against the environmental damage of the operation.

Reports on Monday said Cuadrilla, an energy company focused on shale gas, had begun hydraulic fracking for natural gas at its Preston New Road site heedless of a demonstration outside where people were calling for an immediate stop to the operation.

The British government has ignored widespread calls for stopping its plans for fracking, which is the extraction of oil and gas under immense pressure. The operation has been proven to be highly destructive for the environment as it causes earthquakes and contaminates the water resources.

Courts have issued lengthy prison sentences for three activists involved in previous anti-fracking protests in Lancashire, saying they had disrupted the public order. The three had climbed up a truck carrying Cuadrilla’s equipment to Preston New Road.

In a ruling on Friday, Britain’s high court rejected an injunction meant to prevent Cuadrilla from fracking at Preston New Road.

Cuadrilla said in a statement on Monday that it will spend at least three months fracking two horizontal wells to test gas flow rates in the area. It said the operation will include injecting sand, water and chemicals to split tightly packed shale rock and extract gas.

The start of operation in Lancashire marked the first time in seven years that a company has been allowed to carry out fracking in the UK.

Activists continued to protest outside the site near Blackpool with some using a van to block its entrance. The Guardian newspaper said a protester climbed to the top of a scaffold and locked his neck to it.

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Protesters said they will continue their action despite government and judicial approval for the project. They said fracking still lacked the public consent in the UK.

“It’s absolutely vital because this industry has no social license in the UK,” said a protester identified as Henry Owen, adding, “After democratic avenues have been exhausted over a seven-year campaign, there is a place for direct action to stop this industry.”

In a major blow to UK approval for shale gas operation, a top international scientists on Saturday accused authorities of imitating US President Donald Trump in ignoring climate evidences.

“So the UK joins Trump, ignores science… full throttle ahead with the worst fossil fuels,” said James Hansen, known as the father of climate science, in an interview with the Observer.

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