As Gerwyn Williams (of Coastal Oil & Gas /UK Methane/ Seven Star infamy) and his cronies desperately scramble about trying to raise some capital (they are rumoured to be thinking of trying their luck with a share issue scam), the video below offers some insight into how Australian coal companies go about it. It will resonate with all the frackers!

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8367ecddd5/an-important-message-from-coal-oil-and-fracking-companies

The top 30 in full:
1.Ty Coch Inn, Porthdinllaen
2. Plough and Harrow, Monknash
3. The Coach, Bridgend
4. Ship and Castle, Aberystwyth
5. Kings Head Inn, Llangennith
6. City Arms, Cardiff
7. Y Mochyn Du, Cardiff
8. The Gwaelod-y-Garth Inn, Gwaelod-y-Garth
9. The Star Inn, Treoes
10. Blue Anchor Inn, Aberthaw
11. Urban Tap House, Cardiff
12. Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron
13. Black Boy Inn, Caernarfon
14. The Pelican in her Piety, Ogmore
15. The Star inn, Talybont on Usk
16. The Pentre Arms, Llangrannog
17. The Bush Inn, St Hilary
18. Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd
19. Old Swan Inn, Llantwit Major
20. The Sloop, Porthgain
21. The Goat Major, Cardiff
22. Uplands Tavern, Swansea
23. The Pilot, Mumbles
24. The Bear Hotel, Crickhowell
25. The Worms Head Hotel, Rhossili
26. The Lansdowne, Cardiff
27. The Ship Inn, Tresaith
28. The Ship, Llangrannog
29. Rummer Tavern, Cardiff
30. The Queens Hotel, Swansea

7.00pm Thursday 23rd January 2014 at NEW VENUE:

The Laleston Inn, Wind St, Laleston, Bridgend CF32 0HS

ALL WELCOME (Especially new members!)

AGENDA:

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes and matters arising
4. Officers’ reports (Andy/John/Neil)
5. Councillor feedback (Kathy)
6. Elections – Target ward /Euro campaign
7. Campaigns update – Fracking (Andy/Rozz); PAAA (Andy/John); Bridgend Against the Bedroom Tax (John/Trish/Andy/Gareth).
8. AOB
9. DoNM

REMINDER – If anyone needs a lift to any of our meetings, let Andy know and we will organise it for you.

Begin forwarded message:

From: MARGARET MINHINNICK <mm>

Subject: DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

Date: 12 March 2014 12:28:27 GMT

SORRY FOR DUPLICATE POSTING TO MEMBERS

Vine and Verse Rhian.pdf

RHIAN EDWARDS AT THE ‘GREEN ROOM’ PORTHCAWL8pm, FRIDAY, MARCH 28

The ‘Green Room’, above SUSSED, 5, James St., PORTHCAWL CF36 3BG.

Tel. 01656 783962

All welcome. Entry £3.

Rhian Edwards published ‘Clueless Dogs’ with Seren Books, in 2012. This won her the ‘Wales Book of the Year’ award for 2013.

From Bridgend, Rhian has quickly made herself one of the most popular and sought-after writers in Wales. This is why Sustainable Wales is delighted to welcome her to the ‘Green Room’.

Rhian’s performance will be followed by an ‘open mic’ for other writers.

The ‘Green Room’ is a performance space that is regularly used by Sustainable Wales. It features readings, debates, ‘bake-offs’ and innovative theatre. Events in 2014 have included a lecture on the Swansea Bay ‘tidal barrage’, a highly successful fair trade ‘Bake-Off’, a performance by Tracy Evans, and lectures for a party of Polish schoolteachers.

Sustainable Wales Director, Margaret Minhinnick said today: “The ‘Green Room’ is a wonderfully versatile and creative space, that we are determined to use as frequently as possible.

“Audiences can total 25, and the atmosphere is always friendly! Certainly the ‘Green Room’ now provides an innovative programme of exciting events.”
Margaret Minhinnick
Director
Sustainable Wales Cymru Gynhaliol
4/5 James St.
Porthcawl
Bridgend
CF36 3BG
01656 783962

http://www.sustainablewales.org.uk/

Donate

Sustainable Wales is an environmental charity. Committed to sustainable development, we focus on society, economy, jobs, creativity and the arts and their inter-connection with the natural world.

http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/watermelonconference-newsletter-of.html

SHALE WILL FAIL!

Andy Chyba (Bridgend Green Party/Frack Free Wales/ Anti-Fracking Network)

Such has been the success of the anti-fracking lobby that very few people have NOT now heard of fracking. Furthermore we have consistently won the arguments such that every poll on the subject consistently yields massive majorities (85 to 95% typically) against allowing fracking in this country.

Now The Tories have backed themselves into a corner and It is likely to cost them dear in terms of lost seats at the next election – especially in “impregnable strongholds” – such as Francis Maude’s seat in Balcombe. They have committed themselves to fracking for the benefit of their corporate paymasters, and the network of vested interests exposed goes right to the very heart of government. They are getting increasingly desperate and unscrupulous in their attempts to force fracking upon us. They have tried to bribe local authorities allowing them to keep 100% of the business rates generated by frackers. They will now pursue further changes to the planning system to take fracking related decisions out of the hands of local councils, allowing Westminster impose them on local communities. Their contempt for all of us is palpable.

But new local opposition groups start up often and seek the help of umbrella organisations such as Frack Off and BIFF. There is an ever-growing list of incidents of Police complicity with the frackers, and brutality towards peaceful protestors at Balcombe and Barton Moss in particular. Direct action is springing up everywhere. Witness the demos at Total petrol stations around the country –as this French company eyes British shale gas since the French government has indefinitely banned fracking in France. And the list of countries and regions banning fracking grows.

Although the Police role needs exposing, the judiciary are not, as yet, buying into the establishment persecution of peaceful protest. Witness the acquittal of every one of the Balcombe 16. This has vindicated and re-invigorated the growing army of fractivists around the country. We do know what we are doing – it is the Government who don’t!

The prospects for the frackers are bleak. Companies in are Poland realizing that it is not an economic proposition after all – despite encouragement from the Polish government. In the USA, there are many signs of trouble for the industry at every level. The New York Times carries stories of leaked documents revealing the growing scepticism within the industry economically viable (never mind the climate change implications)

So, this is another example of the Tories backing a complete loser and not having the sense to cut their losses.– they keep on drilling themselves deeper and deeper into a mire from which they will struggle to extricate themselves, like the addicted gamblers chasing their losses. They are FRACKED!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you all on an issue that has come to dominate my life over the last three and a half years.

As a former geography and geology teacher, I have a good grasp of the technical and planning aspects of the issue;

As an activist I have been to Balcombe and Barton Moss and represented The Vale Says NO campaign group at the Llandow Public inquiry

And as an ecosocialist, like Leanne Woods, I recognise that it is the people of Wales that will pay the price for the reckless pursuit of extreme fossil fuels, while corporate capitalist interests plunder us yet AGAIN in pursuit of a quick buck.

Kelvin has asked me to touch on 4 themes, namely the size of the extreme energy resources; the timescales involved; activity in Wales so far; and key local impacts. All in 5 minutes he insists!! I’ll give it a go.

So what is the size of the resource we are talking about?

Well, it is actually complete guesswork, no matter who you choose to listen to. Supposed experts like the British Geological Society, have offered varying estimates from 5 trillion cubic feet, to 1000 trillion cubic feet for the UK as a whole.

Meanwhile Eden Energy, who held interests here in Wales until quite recently, produced an estimate for South Wales of 34 trillion cubic feet in 2011. At this point time, the BGS was still sticking to its 5 tcf UK estimate – so who do you believe?

In this industry you choose who you want to believe, and don’t believe the BGS is completely impartial either!

What you need to understand is that this is a very imprecise science. Essentially, what happens is that they drill and take core samples that are often smaller than this (2L) bottle of coke. They than analyse the gas content and extrapolate this across the whole region.

This is utter nonsense in real terms. Firstly, the gas content can vary greatly over quite small distances. And secondly, the recoverable % also varies enormously depending on local conditions within the rock strata and the success, or otherwise, of the fracking operations.

Industry sources quote what they call the Technically Recoverable Rate, typically around 20%. But this is also a gross over-estimate of what is actually recoverable. Experience around the world has shown that 10% recovery is hard enough to achieve.

This has led to many fracking operations, that started with claims of 20 or 30 years production, shutting down after as little as 3 or 4 years production.

Reasons for this include:

1.   Much greater technical problems than anticipated

2.   Production rates dropping off exponentially, such that 90% of what proved to be recoverable was achieved in the first 3 years

3.   Large initial production rates impacting on wholsale prices in the USA such that profit margins quickly disappeared.

Such experiences are causing many operators to be a lot more cautious – even where there are huge incentives from government. For example, after huge amounts of hyperbole, every major player has withdrawn from Poland in recent months, claiming that the reality is nothing like the potential that was talked up just a couple of years ago.

So what is happening in Wales?

The short answer is ‘very little’ as yet, and certainly nothing resembling the mythical ‘dash for gas’.

There was a spate of test drilling operations around 2008, long before most of us had heard of fracking. They all pretty much dismissed the potential at that stage.

Subsequently, astute speculators, like Gerwyn Williams, picked up the PEDL licences across South Wales for a song. He is the man behind tinpot companies like Coastal Oil & Gas and UK Methane, based in Bridgend but with no assets worthy of the name.

Their modus operandum seems to be to pick up PEDL licences cheaply; ponce around putting in planning applications for test drilling here and there – even though they don’t have the resources to do the drilling themselves; talk up the potential and try to secure some backing from somewhat bigger companies like Australian firm Eden Energy (who after some initial interest and a little investment have now withdrawn); and they  then hope to make a killing selling on their licences to the really big boys, if and when full-scale production appears on the horizon.

Gerwyn is a retired miner, getting on in years. This is his Ponzi Pension Plan!!

FINALLY, just in case the frackers are ever let loose here, let me quickly list of my top 13 key local impacts, in no particular order:

1.   Hundreds of HGVs on narrow country lanes

2.   24 hr drilling causing noise, light and air pollution

3.   Dramatic impacts on house prices

4.   Loss of tourism

5.   Impacts on agriculture, such as losing organic status

6.   In total, more long-term jobs lost than short-term jobs created

7.   The threat to water supplies from the massive abstraction of scarce water resources to feed the fracking process

8.   Potential irreparable contamination of aquifers

9.   High probability of spills of frack fluids and toxic flow back water

10.                Likely minor earthquake activity that will cause and increase leaks of gas and fluids, and can cause some structural damage that will not be covered by insurance companies

11.                Long term severe health impacts from exposure to some of the chemicals involved (even in minute concentrations)

12.                Industrial injuries from chemicals, explosions, and silicosis associated with the type of sand used.

13.                The local consequences of climate change exacerbated by this reckless pursuit of extreme fossil fuels rather than focusing on the ample renewable resources that offer Wales genuine energy security and virtually free domestic energy in due course.

I will leave it there – thank you.

Hi Vic,

This wikipedia article matches my understanding of the contemporary perforation process:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perforation_%28oil_well%29

What has been uncertain is the strength of the charges used. Compared to conventional reservoirs which only need mild stimulation to trigger flows, the density of shale makes it much harder to ‘punch’ through, and in order to get any flow at all, fractures need to be extensive. The temptation must be to have much stronger charges in shale beds than conventional reservoirs, leading to increased difficulties in control and uncertain outcomes. It appears to be an area of considerable R&D by operators like Schlumberger:
https://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors06/aut06/new_practices.pdf

As for the use of depleted uranium, rumours have been around for quite a while, but I am not aware of any proven instance of it having been used – YET. The following is, however, good evidence that it has been on the minds of Halliburton, at least (dated 11 months ago):
http://williamahuston.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/finally-proof-of-use-depleted-uranium.html

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Andy Chyba

On 3 Mar 2014, at 16:00, Keith M Ross wrote:

Vic,

I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to use nitro or plastic explosives when searching for methane! Have heard rumours about DU (Depleted Uranium) being used in drill bits before, but have never seen any evidence.

Copying Andy Chyba, who knows far more about these things than I do and may be able to guide you to some reliable sources.

Keith Ross
Safe Energy/Frack Free Wales.

Byddwch yn wyrdd, gadewch hwn ar y sgrin. Peidiwch argraffu’r neges yma oni bai bod wir angen.
Be green, leave it on the screen. Please don’t print this message unless you really need to.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Hi,  I’m looking for information regarding perforation and explosion used in slick water fracking.

I’ve heard that DU mght be used, or is it ntro or plastic explosives?

Any verfiable information gratefully recieved!

Vic Doyle

Hi Andy,I was going to send you the link to the Webs site so try this…http://vinnabee.webs.com/apps/calendar/ If not here are the dates we have so far… The one in Brecon is a small pub and I plan on doing lots of songs I haven’t done for a while…They also serve food, so it will be a nice chilled evening…. Vinna

Sat. 22 March 7:00 PM Vinna Bee live @ The Shoemakers Arms, Pentre bach, Brecon. Vinna Bee live @ The Shoemakers Arms, Pentre bach, (Nr Sennybridge) Brecon. An intimate acoustic / electro show in the beautifull Brecon Beacons

Sat. 3 May 2:00 PM Vinna Bee live @ “Landed Festival” Nr. Rhayader, Powys, times to be confirmed

Sun. 4 May 7:00 PM Vinna Bee live @ Saith Seren, Wrexham + Support

Sun. 1 June 12:00 AM Vinna Bee live @ “HowTheLightGetsIn” festival, Hay on Wye, Gig 1 – Time: 11.30am Venue: The Stage at HowTheLightGetsIn site Gig 2 – Time: 3.15pm Venue: The Pavilion at the HowTheLightGetsIn site.

This is a reminder that the Bridgend Green Party AGM is this coming Thursday. Details below.

There have been no motions or constitutional amendments submitted so item 7 on the Agenda falls off.

I very much hope to see as many of you as possible on Thursday.

Best wishes,

Andy

Begin forwarded message from 02/02/14:

In its current incarnation, Bridgend Green Party is now over 3 years old. It has established itself as arguably the strongest local Green Party in Wales in this time.
However, it now finds itself at a vital point in its development. The founding members have done a great job in building a viable and effective local party – but unless other members get more involved and become prepared to take over the reigns, Bridgend Green Party may fade away.This would be an awful shame. So please come along to the AGM and see what you may be able to offer, and get out of it, if not immediately, perhaps over the next 12 months. Otherwise, next year’s AGM may prove to be the last.

Andy Chyba
(Current Chair)

7.00pm Thursday 27th February 2014 at theThe Railway PH at the bottom of Station Hill
ALL WELCOME (Especially new members!)

AGM Agenda:

• (1) Welcome, Election of chair,
• (2) Minutes,
• (3) Reports from officers and councillor,
• (4) Election of officers,
• (5) Review of year (including campaigning activity and Conference feedback),
• (6) Report on Election campaigns and situation re target wards,
• (7) Motions and BGP constitutional amendments (if any),
• (8) Dates and venues for next 12 months
• (9) A.O.B.

Notes:
OFFICERS
We run on a skeleton executive of three officers at present in order to satisfy National Party and legal requirements. We are reaching a point where we need to see different people taking on these positions if at all possible.
These consist of:

1. Chairman – acting also as Local Party Contact (and PPERA Second Officer)
2. Elections Officer – acting as Election Agent and Nominating Officer
3. Treasurer

On top of this, there is a need for a Minuting Secretary (currently being done by the Elections Officer) and Blog/Website Officer (currently being done by the Chair). In an ideal world, we also need a Membership Secretary (sort of done by the Chair currently); and a Fundraising Co-ordinator.

MOTIONS and/or BGP Constitutional Amendments
If any body wants to propose any, then please do so by email or post by 20th February, so that they can can be distributed for consideration before the AGM itself. They will need proposing and seconding by full members (either at the AGM or via email/post in advance) before they can be put to a vote at the AGM.