WARNING: Sulis and Chalice Well Under Threat from Fracking!

[Cynewulf]

The Goddess Sulis (the geothermal springs in Bath) and Chalice Well in Glastonbury are, as the title of this thread states, currently under massive threat from the devastating effects of coal bed methane extraction (CBM), or as it is more commonly known, Fracking.

CMB is an extreme drilling technique used to extract methane gas from coal seams. Seams are drained of the toxic water they contain using purpose-drilled wells and fractured by pumping them full of millions of gallons of sand, toxic chemicals and water at high pressure. In some cases, water, foam, or air are pumped into the well at high pressure, causing a jet of rock fragments, gas and water to explode to the surface for up to fifteen minutes. This is done repeatedly, creating up to a 16-foot crater and a radius of fractures through the ground.

A steady stream of evidence from America and Australia, where fracking is already extensively used, clearly illustrates this technique’s destructive consequences for local people and the environment. Fracking destablises coal seams, allowing methane and other toxins to escape into the environment; causing everything from flammable tap water in residential properties, to children dying from brain tumours.

The way in which Fracking heavily pollutes the water table is what places Lady Sulis and Chalice Well under threat. There is a high chance that the sacred waters of the Chalice Well and Sulis’s geo-thermal spring in Bath will become flammable – i.e. you will be able to litraly set fire to the water that flows forth from them. This is a situation of MASSIVE significance for not only British Pagans, but the wider global community as well.

Pockets of resistance are already springing up across North Somerset and within Bristol. We are at the start of what will most probably be at least a decade long struggle. A number of Pagan’s are already responding to this travesty, and it is our hope that the wider Pagan community will not only support us, but make the sacrifices required to directly get involved. The very least you can do is spread the word and keep informed about the situation.

For more information, check out the following websites:

Frack Off (the national mobilisation hub): http://frack-off.org.uk/

Frack Free Somerset (the local mobilisation hub): http://www.frackfreesomerset.org/

Fracking is one of the biggest threats in recent memory to face Albion’s sacred lands. Together, we can stop it.

[Cynewulf]

Here's a petition to sign. Signing this is the very least we can all be doing, but its a very good start. I fear things are going to get messy, so if we can stop it before reaching that stage, then all the better.

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.g ... ions/40905

[katie bridgewater]

Thanks for posting about this, Cynewulf. I hope lots of OBODies will put their names to this petition, Glastonbury being of such importance in modern British Druidry and all that HINT HINT EVERYONE!!!

ps, come and see us sometime, we often have cake, you know xx

[Heddwen]

signed it and good luck

[Aphritha]

Tried to sign, but only allows those in the UK to do so.

[Jackdaw]

I haven't had much awareness of fracking until recently, and I don't think there is much awareness in the UK. The information I have seen is concerning. Having googles aquifer and fracking it would appear to be of great concern.

The information I have seen I think comes from America, what has peoples awareness of the issue been like over there?

[Aphritha]

There isn't much awareness in America at all, in my experience. To be perfectly honest, I never heard of it until my husband started researching the causes of all the sink hole issues the nation's been having.
There really isn't much exposure of the information for people to be aware of around here, sadly. No one perceives a problem until things start going wrong...

[Bris-Eilid]

Thanks for the info and links Cynewulf, I'll sign the petition! The whole scenario is deeply troubling. Will be doing what I can to protest! We've a very significant seam of shale gas in my area of the Nottinghamshire Wolds too called the Widmerpool Gulf that runs from Melton Mowbray in Leics all the way to Derbys which local news reports they're now ramping up to exploit.

[Kris Hughes]

Awareness of this in the US varies, depending on whether you live in affected area (there are quite a few) or what news sources you follow.

As well as sink-holes, drinking water is severely affected in many areas, particularly where folk are dependent on their own wells for this, which is quite common here in some rural/semi-rural areas. Naturally, this has a knock-on effect on people's property values, so that they then end up trapped in this situation.

People would be wise to organise in every way they can to resist fracking.

[lotuswelcome]

Thanks for posting this Cynewulf. I've read about the dangers of fracking. Considering this ghastly lot we have as government will, of course, do nothing to stop it, it's important to voice our concerns collectively.

Light and peace

Maca

[Tynan Elder Oak]

have etitioned and passed on to every one on my mailing list too!

[Jackdaw]

Came across an article in the guardian today:

Cuadrilla has suffered a series of setbacks, having invested £100m in the UK with no result so far. Its first fracking attempts in April and May 2011 caused two small earthquakes and a deformation of one of its wells. The company called off operations in May 2011 pending an investigation, and the moratorium was only lifted last December, with stringent new conditions placed on its operations.

Lord Browne, chairman of the company and a managing partner at its venture capital backer Riverstone Holdings, told the Guardian he would do "whatever it takes" to make fracking a success in the UK, comparing the opportunity to North Sea gas.

Link to full online article: http: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... NTCMP=SRCH

Taken from Wiki:

Cuts and safety record controversy

Browne is described by journalist and author Tom Bower as irresponsible for a "ruthless" programme of cost-cutting at BP that compromised safety, and thus the man most responsible for a string of major accidents including the Texas City Refinery explosion (2005) and the Deepwater Horizon explosion (2010). Bower also accuses Browne of tolerating only "sycophants" in his "corporate court", said to include Tony Hayward who succeeded him as BP Chief Executive.[23] Browne has rejected Bower's account, saying that he (Browne) increased the number of engineers appointed to BP.[24]

According to the Guardian newspaper, "Browne's reputation was tarnished by a string of accidents in the US which hastened his retirement", and Browne declined to appear in an hour-long BBC2 documentary on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in which Tony Hayward was extensively interviewed, broadcast in November 2010.[25]

Seems to me people in high places with vested interests and attempts at offering small incentives to keep people quiet are not a healthy means of operating any endeavour.

[Fox]

In the UK budget today George Osborne is proposing tax incentives for fracking. Bastard.

[lotuswelcome]

In the UK budget today George Osborne is proposing tax incentives for fracking. Bastard.

He does make me sick.