We, the undersigned, call upon Northumberland County Council and all MPs in Northumberland to support our campaign to declare the whole of Northumberland a fracking-free zone.

Fracking is the process by which water, sand and a combination of chemicals are blasted underground to obtain gas or shale oil.

At present, a substantial area of our county lies within the area proposed for potential fracking licenses by the current government.

It is our proposition that Northumberland should remain a fracking-free zone and our rationale is as follows:

- Construction of underground wells would spread for miles underneath our countryside and homes. This would require the construction of new roads to allow trucks carrying chemicals and waste fluids to and from the sites, causing damage to the environment;

- The fracking process involves toxic chemicals at every stage;

- The UK Environment Agency found high proportions of sodium chloride, bromide, iron and lead in flow-back fluid from the process;

- There is the potential for such chemicals to leak into our main water supplies - higher proportions of these substances have been found in water wells close to fracking sites in Pennsylvania and Texas;

- Fracking entails the pumping of many millions of gallons of chemically treated water underground and will potentially make current UK water shortages worse;

- Industry experts do not support the government’s contention that fracking will reduce current energy bills;

- Exploratory fracking near Blackpool has been directly linked to an earthquake in the area;

- 'Deep injection wells’ used to store contaminated water in the US have also been linked to increased seismic activity in their areas;

- The burning of the gases released by the fracking process releases carbon dioxide and this will have an impact on the UK government’s commitment to reduce its C02 emissions to 80% renewables.

 

This is why we wish to declare Northumberland a FRACKING-FREE ZONE and why we oppose fracking in general.

Let us send a very clear message - keep your fracking hands off Northumberland!

Sources:

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/fracking​

http://www.durhamgreenparty.org.uk/#!the-folly-of-fracking/c1zi0​

http://www.cagreens.org/platform/fracking

Picture courtesy of David Taylor Photography, used with permission.