WITH THE NEWS that hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’ – pumping a chemical/water cocktail into shale rock at huge pressure, to release gas) is to take place in Keynsham, Frack Free Somerset – a coalition of groups opposed to fracking in the region – have been touring town and city centres to show off their street theatre am dram, and on both the 10th November and 1st December (the national day of action, alongside other groups in Wales, Sussex and Lancashire), they took centre stage in central Bath: The Big Rig Revolt!
Mother(Earth)fuckers UK Methane have submitted their planning application to undertake fracking in Keynsham, in order to extract trapped methane gas. There is much hot air surrounding the process, with evidence pointing again and again at contamination of groundwater in fracked-up areas, but there are also links to air pollution, food source poisoning and even the odd earthquake in Lancashire.
Frack Free Somerset’s daring play involved a mock fracking rig and the 20-strong cast delivering a 5-star performance in their portrayal of ‘Frack the World Inc.’ employees, a fictitious company, proclaiming the safety of their drinking water, while pumping ‘toxic chemicals’ into drinking cups via a tube. Members of the public unsurprisingly refused a sip.
But back to real life: with news that recommencement of fracking in Lancashire has just received approval on the 13th of this month, campaigners are calling on the public to object to the planning application, details of which can be found at: http://www.frackfreesomerset.org/what-you-can-do/keynsham-action-alert/planningobjections/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20707574
