Oppose Fracking: Support Community Resistance

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers fully supports the inspiring community resistance to fracking and extreme energy projects in the UK. As set out on the Defending Human Right Defenders website, people have the right to a healthy environment, to breathe clean air and to defend the planet from capitalist exploitation.

The government has made it clear that it has no interest in meeting the goals set out in the Climate Change Act 2008 to avoid catastrophic climate change, and has implemented a series of measures to enable fossil fuel companies to impose extreme extractive projects on unwilling communities. The most audacious of these measures include making ‘maximising economic recovery’ of oil and gas a legal obligation, and changing trespass law to allow fracking companies to drill below people’s homes without permission, as set out in the Infrastructure Act 2015.

To defend the land and their health, communities now have no choice but to take direct action to block extreme energy. An action camp is being planned by Reclaim the Power at Didcot Power Station at the end of May. Didcot still runs a gas fired plant and may use fracked gas in future. As socialists we support this social movement.

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers calls on Lancashire County Council to listen to the people of Lancashire and public health doctors  - and reject fracking company Cuadrilla’s pending application to frack in Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood.