Frack Off is a grassroots
direct action campaign aimed at stopping the extraction of
unconventional resources in the UK, specifically concentrating on
unconventional gas
Unconventional gas is natural gas obtained from sources of production that are, in a given era and location, considered to be new and different when compared with conventional gas. Sources that are at times considered to be unconventional include ...
extraction.
History
Frack Off began with a campaign against the use of hydraulic fracturing, colloquially known as
fracking
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...
for
shale gas
Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some ...
extraction with a banner drop from
Blackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the tallest man made structure in the British Empire. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in ...
on 6 August 2011, which also launched the website www.frack-off.org.uk.
On 2 November 2011, the Frack Off activists stormed
Cuadrilla Resources
Cuadrilla Resources is an oil and gas exploration and production company founded in 2007. It is headquartered in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, and has operations in the United Kingdom. The company intend to develop shale gas in the UK by using h ...
' drilling site at Banks in Lancashire at 5:30am and four activists scaled the drilling rig and dropped banners. The action was timed to coincide with an industry conference, the Shale Gas Environmental Summit, in London and the release of an independent report commissioned by Cuadrilla Resources which said that its fracking in Lancashire may have triggered two small earthquakes. Fracking later resumed, after changes to reduce the risk.
Frack Off jointly organised "Camp Frack" with
Campaign against Climate Change
The Campaign against Climate Change (variously abbreviated to CCC or CaCC) is a UK-based pressure group that aims to raise public awareness of anthropogenic climate change through mobilising mass demonstrations. Founded in 2001 in response to ...
in March 2012. The camp was a weekend event with anti-fracking activists from around the UK coming together with local people from around
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
where test drilling for
fracking
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...
is most advanced in the UK. Camp Frack was attended by around 150 people and consisted of workshops around education, sustainable living, movement building and
direct action.
The Camp culminated in a march to the drilling site where Cuadrilla is currently drilling for
shale gas
Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some ...
.
Since then the campaign has broadened out to a campaign against
coal bed methane and
underground coal gasification
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process which converts coal into product gas. UCG is an ''in-situ'' gasification process, carried out in non-mined coal seams using injection of oxidants and steam. The product gas is brought t ...
too.
In summer 2013, the organization was involved in the
Balcombe drilling protest near
Balcombe in the
Weald Basin
The Weald Basin () is a major topographic feature of the area that is now southern England and northern France from the Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. Its uplift in the Late Cretaceous marked the formation of the Wealden Anticline. The rock str ...
in
Sussex where Cuadrilla was engaged in oil exploration.
See also
*
Anti-fracking movement
The anti-fracking movement is a political movement that seeks to ban the practice of extracting natural gasses from shale rock formations to provide power due to its negative environmental impact. These effects include the contamination of drinking ...
*
Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom
The modern environmental direct action movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with the formation of the first UK Earth First! group for a protest at Dungeness nuclear power station. Within two years, there were fifty Earth First! groups a ...
*
Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing
The environmental impact of fracking is related to land use and water consumption, air emissions, including methane emissions, brine and fracturing fluid leakage, water contamination, noise pollution, and health. Water and air pollution are the bi ...
*
Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk o ...
*
Hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Society, United Kingdom, Environment, Energy, Global warming
Protests in the United Kingdom
Anti-fracking movement
Hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom
Direct action
Environmental protests in the United Kingdom