This film was made in the USA by a UK film team from the highly respected Ecologist Film Unit:

http://wn.com/Fracking_Hell_The_Untold_Story

I believe this could be the most important issue in Bridgend and the South Wales region today (along with many other parts of the country).
Ask yourselves who is letting this happen.
Who was in government when the licenses were issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)?
Who was in control of Bridgend Council when they allowed exploratory wells to be drilled next to Pencoed and Llangeinor?
Who is contemplating planning applications for next stage development without even requiring Environmental Impact Assessments?

Who can the people of South Wales turn to to lobby on their behalf to ensure fracking hell is not let loose beneath our feet?

It is time for the Green Party to step forward.

To: glamorgan.gazette; gemeditorial; Bridge FM; newsgathering.wales@bbc.co.uk
Subject: Fracking hell – Bridgend beware!

Dear Editor,

I had heard a little about the disastrous impacts of fracking in North America, but it was only this week that I have come realise just how serious the threat is here in Bridgend.

Fracking is the controversial method of extracting natural gas from shales and coal seams, often utilising highly toxic chemicals in the process. It is the focus of a newly released film called ‘Gasland’ that I sincerely hope reaches Bridgend soon. It graphically depicts how fracking interferes with groundwater and can contaminate water resources with devastating consequences for humans and wildlife. The release of the film prompted a news report about a fracking project starting close to Blackpool, and there was a passing reference to South Wales being a good prospect for it too. This got me curious.

A little digging has revealed that the whole South Wales coalfield area has already been subdivided and licensed out (by the DECC) for potential fracking to four main companies. Centrica are the big name player involved around Bridgend (alongside a local company, Coastal Oil & Gas). Test drilling has already been allowed to take place by BCBC near Pencoed and Llangeinor. The results were apparently encouraging – from the money men’s point of view. Centrica have publicly stated their intention to commence full scale operations at two sites – near Llangeinor and near Ogmore Vale / Lewistown – in 2012, subject to planning approval. Those plans were submitted to BCBC last summer and must be close to a decision soon – so time is of the essence if we are to ensure these applications are dealt with properly. I have reason to doubt this is happening.

The big issue with fracking is groundwater and water resource implications. As someone who is geography/geology trained, I appreciate how complex these issues are. No-one at BCBC seems aware of this in the least. If you check out the the documentation for the planning applications (P/10/500/FUL and P/10/462/FUL) – available online – you find lots of concern from BCBC over relatively petty surface issues like traffic, noise and light pollution and not a single mention anywhere of groundwater concerns. The surface impacts are indeed modest, and based on these alone, Chief Planning Officer, Tony Gore, has astonishingly already decided that an Environmental Impact Assessment is not necessary for these applications!

Centrica’s own consultation documents also skillfully avoid the issue, and stress the benign surface impacts. One document tucks a blunt enough question in at the back, as too whether Centrica can guarantee there will be no groundwater issues. It simply lists a few precautions it will put in place as a response. So that is NO GUARANTEE then. A watertight guarantee (excuse the pun) is indeed impossible.

In the light of evidence emerging all the time about the possible negative consequences of this technology, and the evidence that BCBC has completely failed to address the correct issues, it must surely be incumbent on BCBC to put an immediate moratorium on these planning applications until all due diligence is complete. I would happen to concur with Professor Kevin Anderson of the renowned Tyndall Centre and Manchester University, who said this week: “If we are serious in our commitment to avoid serious climate change, the only safe place for shale gas remains in the ground”. We have to break our dependency on fossil fuels. Bridgend could and should be the focus of renewable energy technology and production – not the focus of horror stories when fracking hell breaks loose.

A lot more information is a available via the Bridgend Greens blog – address below.

Andy Chyba
Bridgend Green Party
Blog: https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/
Mobile: 078 1066 3241
Email: greens@chyba.go-plus.net

Bridgend and much of south Wales has been licensed for fracking already!!!

Re-enforcing my earlier points:

Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester, said: There is also a significant risk its use will delay the introduction of renewable energy alternatives.

Consequently, if we are serious about avoiding dangerous climate change, the only safe place for shale gas remains in the ground.

The report has been released to coincide with the UK premiere of the documentary film Gasland which focuses on the problems with the industry in the US.

Highly hazardous and carcinogenic chemicals are mixed with water and pumped thousands of feet under ground to release gas from the shale rock.

It doesn’t take a scientist to realise that this kind of gas extraction leads to water contamination on a massive scale, killing wildlife and causing irreversible harm to local people.

If anyone has any doubt as to the harmful consequences of fracking please watch the new documentary film ‘Gasland‘ which is to be released in the UK on 17 January 2011.
http://gaslandmovie.co.uk/

Fracking has already devastated rural areas in the the USA and it’s coming here. It has already started in the Blackpool area
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/8272767.

A company called Composite Energy has earmarked a 100km squared area of natural beauty outside of Swansea for fracking and there are appraisal wells being drilled all over the UK as we speak.
http://www.composite-energy.co.uk/wales.html

South Wales is particularly at risk- across the old coalfield areas especially:

Support this Facebook page to give a big ‘FRACK OFF’ to the energy companies who put money before anything else:
Http://www.Facebook.com/pages/Stop-Shale-Gas-Drilling-Fracking/147049632015983?v=wall#!/pages/Stop-Shale-Gas-Drilling-Fracking/147049632015983?v=info

As per usual, the main ‘establishment parties’ are turning a blind eye to the dangers, beholden as they are to the fossil fuel lobby and seduced by being less dependent on Russian reserves in the short to medium term:
http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/tag/fracking/
http://www.commercialriskeurope.com/cre/67/101/Fracking-could-free-Europe-from-Russia-s-stranglehold-on-gas-says-UK-politician/

SOUTH WALES SHOULD BE THE FOCUS RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FREE THE UK COMPLETELY FROM FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCY. ONLY THE GREEN PARTY CAN LEAD US TOWARDS THIS KIND OF FUTURE.

You can tell that there are elections coming up – the undignified scramble for votes has begun. First we had Carwyn Jones suggesting disgruntled Lib Dems should ‘come home to Labour’. Then we have Tim Thomas pecking at the perceived corpse of the Lib Dems on behalf of Plaid Cymru. For Plaid to slam the Lib Dems for having the courage to enter into a coalition government is utterly disingenuous as Plaid Cymru support proportional representation (as indeed I do), which would make coalition government the norm rather than the exception.

The whole point of proportional representation is to get people voting for what they do actually want, rather than voting tactically to try and manipulate results to avoid what they really do not want (as is too common with FPTP and will remain the case with AV). As the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections are on a reasonably proportional ‘additional member’ system, then true democrats should be encouraging people to vote for what they really want in terms of policy – pure and simple.

I challenge Carwyn Jones and Tim Thomas, and every reader who wants to really understand who they should be voting for on the basis of policy, to take the quiz on this site:
http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/wales.php . Then the 20 to 25% who find that they should actually be voting for the Green Party (as revealed by the similar ‘Vote for Policies’ website, that unfortunately excludes regional parties like PC and the SNP) can get themselves down to the Bridgend Green Party’s meeting tonight (Thursday 20th January) at the Haywain Function Room, 7.30pm. If this is too short notice, they meet there on the third Thursday of each month (so Feb. 17 next). Let us change the way we do politics in Bridgend. Positivity rather than negativity. Cooperation for the common good instead of obstructive adversarial politics. I know what I want – and I will be voting for just that.

ANDY CHYBA
Bridgend Green Party

P.S. The old adage about lies, damned lies and statistics is reflected in correspondence about the size of the VAT increase. It went up from 17.5% to 20% which means we are actually paying 14.3% more VAT than we were before the increase, if I am not mistaken (not 20% more or 2.5% more as suggested by your correspondents). This is nonetheless a regressive, inflationary, ideological choice promoted only by true blue Tories – the choice of a mere 36% of the voters last year (the same percentage that Madeleine Moon won the Bridgend seat with would you believe).

More than half of all adults aged 16 to 65 in Wales have poor numeracy skills and one in four has a reading age of 11 or below, according to figures from the Welsh Assembly Government.

The figures reported in the Western Mail earlier this year, show that 25% of 15 to 65-year-olds have a reading age of 11 or below and 53% have numeracy levels of 11 or below. These are shocking figures and an indictment of decades of ineffective meddling and a lack of the vision needed to reshape our education system in line with the needs of the 21st century.

Companies have warned that some employees struggle to write a letter and there are fears Wales will get left behind in the global economy unless basic skills are improved.

More than 220 employers in Wales have so far signed the EMPLOYER PLEDGEwith the Basic Skills Agency and its providers to provide reading, writing and maths help in the workplace.

The WAG funded EMPLOYER PLEDGE initiative is certainly something we should be getting behind. If anyone would like to know more, or know of a local business that would like to know more, they can check out the WAG website:

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/employerpledge/?lang=en

Or contact Andy Chyba direct.
Andy
078 1066 4231
01656 647314

Wales Green Party has today responded to growing concerns about fuel cost rises by calling for investment in public transport to provide an affordable and convenient alternative to the car.

Jake Griffiths, who is set to become the first Green Assembly Member according to recent polls (1), said:

“Continued car dependency just to get around is simply unfair at a time when people are feeling the pinch from spending cuts, job losses and the VAT rise. Increasing demand for oil from developing countries such as India and China means that fuel prices are only going to go one way in the future.

“It’s therefore vital that people are given the choice of affordable and convenient public transport. The Welsh Government needs to shift spending from building new roads to stopping train and bus fare rises, to grow the rail network and regulate bus services to ensure they go where people need them to.”

Griffiths is bidding to become Wales’ first Green Assembly Member in May, he concluded:

“This May just 7% of the regional vote would send me to the Assembly, where I would fight for decent public transport as an alternative to increasingly expensive car-dependency. Labour has never elected any regional AMs in South Wales Central so I would urge people considering them to lend the Greens your second vote.”

20th January 2011, Haywain Function Room, 7.30pm.

PROVISIONAL AGENDA

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. Blog articles – review posts and broadening submissions
6. Campaigning: ‘Green Wales’ distribution/WAG election/Bettws Group/petitions
7. National Conference – Cardiff, February.
8. Any Other Business
9. Date of Next Meeting
10. Discussion topics – choose for next meeting

In preparation for item 5, could you all endeavour to have a good look through the blogsite articles.
https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/

To date, I am the only one who has submitted any thing to the blog. I would welcome feedback on what has been posted and would like to discuss broadening things out to encourage more people to share material of interest.

Feedback via email would be welcomed if you are not in a position to attend the meeting.

Item 9 is picking up an excellent suggestion from Tunny (or was it Neil?) to have a discussion topic that we could chew over at the end of other business (over some liquid refreshment dare I suggest). This would be an excellent way of looking at current party policy, things in the news, and sharing opinions and expertise. By agreeing topics a month in advance, it allows me to ensure I am abreast of Party policy, and gives everyone a chance to think about it and form opinions and/or questions.

Hope to see you all at the meeting,
 
Andy Chyba
Bridgend Green Party
Blog: https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/
Mobile: 078 1066 3241
Email: greens

http://www.twodoctors.org/myimages/patrickgreenhornet.html

This backs up continued good news in the latest opinion polls in Wales that continue to indicate that we are on course to secure our first WAG AM.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/01/04/poll-shows-greens-on-course-for-first-welsh-assembly-member-91466-27926497/

And for those that may think that electoral success could lead to compromising our ideals and radical policies, Caroline Lucas says, in her New Year message to the Party:

Politics does not have to be a straight choice between power and principles. In our election campaign in May, the Greens did not drop any of our radical policies. We stuck to what we believed in and against all the odds we won our first seat in Westminster. It shows that if you tell the truth and offer people something better, the public will respond. And this is what we must keep on doing. We must carry our message to the growing numbers of people abandoned by the Conservatives, disillusioned by Labour and betrayed by the Lib Dems. We must grow the Green Party as the radical progressive alternative, and give ourselves a louder voice than ever before.
Read her message in full here:

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/mediacentre/releases/2011-01-01-new-year-message.html

He rightly pleads with us to all to pour our hearts and souls into our politics in order to create a better world where there is no place for such atrocities.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40983401#40983401