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C.3.d.ii. Resisting Fracking
Celebrates UK government decision to halt fracking because of size of seismic shocks caused by drilling, but stresses role of nearly a decade of campaigning, especially at the Cuadrilla fracking site in Sussex, where local residents from the village of Balcombe were joined by activists in resistance, and at the Cuadrilla site in Lancashire.
See also: McWhirter, Kathryn, Frack Free Balcombe Residents' Association, 'The biggest thing since the arrival of the railway', pp. 85-90 in Rodriguez, Global Resistance to Fracking (listed below)
See also: ‘How summer fracking protest unfolded in Sussex village’, BBC, 17 April 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-26765926
Detailed account of the the protests in Balcombe that centred on oil company Cuadrilla's attempt to drill a 3,000ft (900m) vertical well to test for oil.
See also: Vaughan, Adam, ‘Fracking firm gets green light to test for oil at Balcombe … again’,The Guardian, 9 January 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/09/fracking-firm-gets-green-light-to-drill-for-oil-at-balcombe-again
See also Perraudin, Frances and Helen Pidd, Anger and blockades as fracking starts in UK for first time since 2011’, The Guardian, 15 October 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/15/fracking-protesters-blockade-cuadrilla-site-where-uk-work-due-to-restart
Reports on Reclaim the Power campaign’s against fracking in Lancashire.
Reports on the Argentine government plans and the oil companies involved in exploitation of the Vaca Muerta formation, close to one of the country's most important water basins. The UN Committee on ESCR had warned in October that the project would have a serious impact on the climate and the local territory. Cabrera also notes that over 60 municipalities had banned fracking, but several of m these bans have been ruled unconstitutional for exceeding communal powers.
Reports on surprise promise by newly elected Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to stop fracking in the country, which would be the largest area yet to ban this process. But also notes that anti-fracking activists were not ready to abandon resistance yet.
Reports on the campaign during the 2017 UK election by Frack Free United (a network of residents near fracking sites and campaign groups) and Cross Party Frack Free (group of MPs, Peers and parliamentary candidates, as well as local councillors, who support a national ban on fracking).
Overview of opposition to fracking plans in Argentina, includinga provincial law in the province of Entre Rios to ban fracking (it is not directly involved in the plans) and Vista Alegre became the first municipality to ban fracking. The Supreme Court suspended the ban, but residents marched to the capital and blocked a highway to demonstrate their commitment to it. Brandon notes also that the Mapuche, the largest indigenous group in Argentina were mobilizing to resist the threats to their land, especially near the Vaca Muerte basin. (The article was reproduced from the Waging Nonviolence website.)
See also Platform London, 'UK-Argentina Fracking Talks Targeted by Protest', 22 May 2019.
https://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/uk-argentina-fracking-talks-targeted-by-protest/
Reports on water ceremony in Pittsburgh, conducted by two indigenous tribal faith leaders, followed by march and rally by local and national environmental groups to protest against the development of fracking in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The protests were timed to coincide with a large fracking convention in the city.
Reports on the pressure from multinational companies to extract hydrocarbons from rocks through fracking in Bolivia, Columbia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, and documents the harmful environmental effects including contamination of water supplies. The report also notes the growing resistance in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina to fracking, for example the No Fracking Brazil Coalition (Coesus) protests outside the offices of fossil fuel companies tendering for areas to frack in October 2015, with international support.
Story of six Maolucho women from the Campo Maripe community in the Argentine Patagonia, who have resisted fracking where they live by chaining themselves to fracking rigs and barricades. Pineiro represents the women as representative of the Latin American wide resistance by indigenous women to oil extraction.
This book, edited by the international coordinator of Ecologistas en Accion, covers 15 varied struggles against fracking around the world, and is intended to be a source of inspiration for continued resistance. Many are first person accounts, by those involved. Chapters cover personal opposition fracking in the courts or at the municipal level, resistance by local farmers to corporations backed by the government, as in Poland and Romania and the campaign for 'frack free' municipalities in the Basque territory of Spain. There are also accounts of resistance from Argentina, Algeria, South Africa, Australia, the UK (against drilling in Sussex) and Northern Ireland, and on the role of ATTA C in France. Includes a timeline and 'some snapshots' of the resistance, as well as some conclusions drawn by the editor.
The online version of Vol. 1 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). ICNC is an independent, non-profit educational foundation that develops and encourages the study and use of civilian-based, nonmilitary strategies aimed at establishing and defending human rights, democratic self-rule and justice worldwide.
For more information about ICNC, please see their website.
The online version of Vol. 2 of the bibliography was made possible due to the generous support of The Network for Social Change. The Network for Social Change is a group of individuals providing funding for progressive social change, particularly in the areas of justice, peace and the environment.
For more information about The Network for Social Change, please visit their website.
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