In the early hours on Friday anti-fracking campaigners locked themselves onto the entrance of the Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire. The well co-ordinated action was executed amid double security and the police present at the site at around 5am. Despite that activists managed to successfully block the site for hours, with the second lock- on cut out at around 3pm. Over the course of a day, several people were arrested.

Later it was confirmed that the reason for extra twitchy security and the police was that the site had run out of diesel and was expecting its delivery. Thanks to the lock-on the fuel tanker couldn’t get in and the site ran out of fuel, meaning that the activists managed to not only block the site, but also successfully shut it down for a day.

It was the second successful lock-on at Preston New Road this week: on Monday January 8th anti- fracking campaigners locked themselves onto the entrance of the fracking site, blocking it and delaying traffic on the nearby roads.

Preston New Road site is operated by Cuadrilla: a privately owned  oil and gas exploration and production company founded in 2007. In 2015, Lancashire County Council had initially refused Cuadrilla’s application to extract natural gas by fracking, but it was granted, despite of local protests, following an appeal and planning inquiry.

This weeks actions are welcome news in light of recently published NASA study on natural gas and its impact on global warming. The study dismisses the claim that natural gas is a legitimate “bridge” from the dirtiest fossil fuels to low-carbon fuels such as wind and solar.  Fracking is not only a practice with significant impact on local communities, but also fuels climate change more than its advocates are ready to admit.

ZB

Photo: PNR (Gates) Community Protection Camp Facebook