Anti-fracking protests in Balcombe signal major shift in public awareness

Cuadrilla demonstrations show how fracking has gone from largely ignored to hotly debated, both publicly and politically

theguardian.com, Fiona Harvey, Monday 19 August 2013

Anti-fracking protester in Balcombe holds a poster featuring a Ghandi quote.
Photograph: Tim Andrews/ Corbis

The partially drilled oil well at Balcombe, which has been besieged by thousands of protesters, is not the UK's first or largest fracking site. In fact, it is not even a fracking site at all, as Cuadrilla's plan is to extract oil by conventional drilling if possible.

But it has caught the public imagination in a way that the recent history of fracking in the UK has not, with the scale of the last few days of protest signalling a major shift in the public consciousness of the issue, and a major headache for the government.

Anti-fracking is drawing together a sizeable coalition of people at demonstrations: "middle England" has been as much in evidence as Occupy; Daily Mail readers have outnumbered Guardianistas; first-time protesters mingled with veterans; old and young joined hands; and people whose primary concern is preserving the countryside found common cause with climate change activists.

The breadth of the opposition to fracking was amply illustrated in last week's Guardian poll – 40% oppose it in their area, 40% support it. The fight for the government – particularly Conservatives who are much more pro fracking than the Lib Dems – is over that 20% who are so far undecided. Fracking – the process of blasting high-pressure water, sand and chemicals at dense shale rock to release the tiny bubbles of methane or oil trapped within – has gone from being an obscure bit-part player in the energy industry to taking centre stage, and that is just where its proponents do not like it.

When Cuadrilla started exploring in the UK, in 2009-10, it attracted little attention outside the oil and gas industry. As a venture capital-backed company, it had no need to raise money on the stock market or to publicise its plans. Rather the opposite – there was no fanfare and little attempt to inform anyone, outside the handful of government agencies whose permission Cuadrilla required.

The company's first application to frack went through the local and parish councils near Blackpool unopposed and almost unremarked. Cuadrilla consulted with the Environment Agency and Health and Safety Executive, both of which had to work swiftly to establish protocols on fracking, and went about drilling its first wells. There was local grumbling, but few outside the affected villages took much notice.

It was only after the first exploration in early 2011 that Cuadrilla attracted attention, when its Lancashire operations literally woke up the neighbours. Two small earthquakes – too little to do any damage, but strong enough to be noticed – struck the local area. Questions were raised, drilling was stopped. It was then nearly a year before the tremors were conclusively ascribed to Cuadrilla's activities.

At this point, in spring 2012, fracking began to gather significant public attention. The coalition government sought to calm fears with new regulations that would halt drilling if tremors occurred, but it also announced a series of tax breaks and other incentives for fracking, and strong support for gas more generally, which angered climate change campaigners. A growing anti-fracking chorus internationally, including from the US where it has been linked to air pollution, the despoliation of the landscape and the over-use of water compounded many people's fears.

So too did leaks from the industry that suggested Cuadrilla had failed to notify the safety authorities of damage to one of its wells, and the revelation that tall chimneys flaring excess gas were likely to be a common sight at fracking wells.

Even so, people in the main drilling area near Blackpool were apprehensive but not out on the streets. What changed over the next year was a combination of greater public awareness of the problems that can accompany shale drilling, bullish government support for shale gas ("we'll see how thick their rectory walls are and how they like flaring at the end of the drive" is how Tory energy minister Michael Fallon threatened middle England), and most of all the decision by Cuadrilla to make Balcombe – a small village in the leafy heart of the Sussex commuter belt – its next target. The quiet invasion of Lancashire two years ago may have gone unnoticed the first time, but the company should have realised that this time round it would be different.

Now, not only government ministers and conservationists but the Church of England has weighed in. It is important to note that an indigenous source of gas, if it can be extracted safely and without too much destruction, could play a part in making the UK more self-sufficient in energy and, given certain conditions, could even reduce bills. But these are still very big ifs.

With thousands of people now protesting at Balcombe and more at sites around the country, the anti-fracking movement is now clearly a force in UK politics. This may in itself provoke a backlash, and result in further support for gas, but it cannot be ignored.

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