Combe Haven Defenders join national anti-fracking march

August 21, 2013 by combehavendefenders

Photo: Balcombe

Press release
Combe Haven Defenders [1]
19 August 2013

COMBE HAVEN DEFENDERS JOIN NATIONAL ANTI-FRACKING MARCH IN BALCOMBE
Climate change links anti-roads and anti-fracking protests say campaigners

Hastings and St Leonards residents, including members of the Combe Haven Defenders, joined the national March for a Frack Free Future in Balcombe, West Sussex last Sunday (18 August), where UK energy company Caudrilla has set up an exploratory drilling rig.

An estimated 2,000 people from across the country took part in the march against fracking, the process that uses high pressure fluids to free hydrocarbons trapped in certain kinds of rock.

Concerns about the process include fears that contaminated water from fracking could spread into the environment, polluting ecosystems, and the fact that – according to groups like the International Energy Agency –  most of known gas deposits will need to stay in the ground if we are to have a hope of averting catastrophic global warming [2].

Gabriel Carlyle, a spokesperson for the Combe Haven Defenders, said: “Climate change is the issue that links disastrous projects like the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road with fracking – a process that, contrary to Government spin will do nothing to reduce energy bills or increase the UK’s energy security [3]. We travelled to Balcombe this weekend because we simply can’t afford to extract new fossil fuels in the face of potentially catastrophic global warming. We’re all locals when it comes to the impact of fossil fuels on the planet.”

[1] http://www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/3-reasons-why-we-could-all-be-fracked-fracking-20130812
[3] http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/08/12/banker-destroys-argument-for-shale-gas-in-a-short-letter/