There’s been a lot of hullabaloo in the UK over the Balcombe fracking protests. WUWT reader Eric Worrall writes in with this comparison photo.
Original picture source: http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-08-16/anti-fracking-activists-camp-without-permission/
Here is a tagged version of the same picture of all the plastic high tech synthetics used by anti fracking protestors in England, captured in a single photograph.
![frackpic[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/frackpic1.jpg?quality=83)
It really makes you wonder – do anti-fracking protestors think nylon tents, PVC groundsheets, and plastics grow on trees? No doubt the tents also contain high tech synthetic fibre sleeping bags, and gas powered camp cookers.
Do these hypocrites actually think about what sort of world they would have to endure, without the cheap hydrocarbons, and cheap plastic synthetics, the petroleum source of which they oppose?
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Every year Corfe Castle receives several hundred thousand visitors. None of those visitors, at least none of those that I know of, were aware of the fracking that has been taking place only a couple of miles away for more than twenty years. I doubt if many living near some of the several other fracking sites in Britain were aware of the fracking taking place near them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10233955/The-town-where-fracking-is-already-happening.html
Thorium and radon; conventional ignorance magic. Believe nothing heard or read without verifying it oneself unless it fits ones preexisting worldview, a congruent Weltanschauung.
Greg says: @ur momisugly August 23, 2013 at 10:30 pm
…If they were protesting about drilling for oil your comments might make sense.
Since they are protesting about injecting chemicals into the ground to extract gas ( not commonly used for making plastics) your whole article is pretty STUPID and you allegations of “hypocracy” totally unfounded.
……In fact, deliberately confounding oil extraction with gas extraction in order to make a false criticism of hypocracy is pretty hypocritical in itself.
This is called projection. Nice work Eric.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Greg your IGNORANCE is showing.
The first patent for FRACKING was U.S. Patent No. 59,936 awarded in November 1866 to Civil War veteran Col. Edward A.L. Roberts. It was used to make OIL WELLS as well as natural gas wells more productive. The technology of ‘FRACKING’ has been used ever since with modifications along the way.
The Roberts Torpedo was a an iron cylinder containing between fifteen to twenty pounds of black powder. It was exploded by means of a detonation cap connected to the top of the well by a wire. The borehole was filled with water, Roberts “fluid tamping,” to concentrate the concussion. By 1868 nitroglycerin was preferred to black powder, despite the fact nitro is very very touchy and frequently detonated accidentally with fatal consequences.
On March 17, 1949, the first commercial application of modern hydraulic fracturing was made.
There is nothing NEW about this technique except the hysterics.
Which are these chemical ‘poisons’ in the fracking fluid?
Ian H answered that question back on June 24, 2013 at 3:59 am
Since fracking has been used for over a hundred years WITH fracking fluid I would expect to have seen plenty of data showing ground water contamination by now.
As I said HYSTERICS without a shred of intelligence or curiosity showing. Just Sheeple following their pied piper. I am sitting in an area where the protesters are saying fracking will contaminate my well and the city water supply so I got off my duff and researched it before opening my mouth.
The green activists and fellow travellers demonstrating at Balcombe live in a strange parallel universe when it comes to economics. They seem to think that money grows on trees to pay for the State Benefits that many of them live on, fund their education, provide free NHS health care and, when they get older, their State Pensions. They are not prepared to recognise that in the real world these luxuries (for that’s what they are to the majority of the world’s inhabitants) have received massive funding over the past forty years from North Sea oil and gas tax revenues.
This vital revenue stream is now diminishing but fortunately for all of us, we have discovered that we are sitting on a replacment source of considerable national wealth, with the technology to exploit it. It will also help us to keep our lights on despite the hapless green energy policies of succesive goverments. Shale gas and oil needs to be extracted in a controlled manner but we simply cannot afford not to do so, and quickly too.
babsy: – ?????????????????
patrick – you need to look into the Chnbyl issue to get some facts – the whole world got dosed! Literally. I’ve seen documentaries on the deformities, post accident effects, etc and they are not pretty. It is interesting how the way you p;ut it seemed to make it sound almost ok with only a few deaths and that not too bad compare to other deaths from energy stuff. I’m sure you should not do that. and I’m sure it was sooooo much worse than you imagine.
Neil: radon will not be released by fracturing. The danger from radon is most acute in dry, permeable formations or soils, and which already have a high concentration of Uranium. Oil and gas usually occurs in a waterwet environment. Granite is the most common source of radon. Oil and gas is not not found in these formations.
And, as I have said, the EPA has stated that no cases are known of shallow water contamination via fracturing. You have to get throught the water to get to the surface.
If a Neil did not exist it would be necessary to invent one. This is beyond hilarious.
Butch says: @ur momisugly August 24, 2013 at 12:30 am
……On a serious note though; I have decided to make it my goal to become more environmentally friendly and do my part to curb emissions. Can some one point me to a site where I can purchase a small cheap carbon capture unit…..
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Here is my favorite site for small cheap carbon capture units: Edible Landscaping, the original since 1979
my favorites are:
Triple Crown Blackberry
Caroline Everbearing Raspberry
Tristar Everbearing Strawberry
Tifblue Blueberry – Vaccinum ashei
Joy Bush Cherry – Prunus jacquemonti x japonica
Adams Elderberry – Sambucus canadensis
Chocolate Mint…. YUMMMmmmmm
old’un – this vital revenue stream is diminishing? really? really? where are you?
gail, tell me what did you want to believe before you got off your duff and researched it? The truth is hard to discover – I would have so little confidence in the stuff you read that said go ahead.
doug thorium, radon? what point you trying to make doug? Show me.
I’m always gobsmacked at the ignorance and complete cognitive dissonance of the green mentality.
There have been millions of fracs performed in the US and the rest of the word. No aquifers have been contaminated by fracing. Oil companies do not want to frac aquifers for several reasons. They know the political fallout would hurt their industry and they don’t want to waste their money fracing a formation that gives them no return on their money.
If, Neil, above could show how a frac can contaminate an aquifer from thousands of feet below the surface; please show the math.
To show you how ridiculous many of these claims are; lets go back about 40+ years when the US government was trying to figure out how to exploit the Williams Fork formation in the Piceance Basin of Western Colorado. They tried using atomic bombs. These bombs fraced the Williams Fork formation at an instantaneous rate of energy input millions of times greater than the fracs these greenie bozos are complaining about.
In the areas around Rulison and Rio Blanco there is continuing testing of the aquifers to monitor any possible contamination. What has this testing shown? NOTHING!!! Nada!
Reading this thread, I am amazed at the patience of Les Johnson in dealing with Neil. My hat is off to you Les for your patience but I think Neil made up his mind a long time ago and your arguments, as good as they are, are not going to break through the closed minded, brain washed people like Neil who have convinced themselves that fracing is bad.
Like An Inconvenient Truth, the movie Gasland is a compete fabrication. Both movies meant to appeal to those around us in need of a cause to rally ’round. If not fracing, there would be the World Bank, Multi-National Corporations, GMO’s, nuclear plants, a herd of farting cows; and so many more “perceived” evil causes. There is an expansive list of scare-of-the-month club causes these people take up. Led into battle with little idea of what they are protesting. Ignorance leading ignorance.
“Neil says:
August 24, 2013 at 6:28 am
patrick – you need to look into the Chnbyl issue to get some facts – the whole world got dosed! Literally. I’ve seen documentaries on the deformities, post accident effects, etc and they are not pretty.”
Evidence to support your claim would assist your view. So far, you are…funny! No, I retract that. You are, errm, uninformed, and maybe 12?
George Lawson says:
August 24, 2013 at 12:48 am
An excellent way to express the hypocrisy that these people display. Is it worth sending the picture to the Press Association in London….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Just send it to James Delingpole….
Ferdinand Engelbeen says:
Surely Northern Holland is sinking for the same reason southern England is, namely up lift in northern Europe after the last lot of ice sheets retreated?
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=555&cookieConsent=A
DonS – I ask about the effect of fracking on radon and you think it hilarious?
les – thanks for that.
Neil, radiation is invisible, same as your witch doctor’s magic. If it was easy then everyone would do it.
Rapidly growing coal use – in China
Robert Rapier eloquently graphs the exploding growth of coal in China compared to the small decline in the USA: King Coal gets fatter while the US goes on a diet
Making it difficult to use coal in the USA or UK will move American & British jobs to China while shipping US coal to China to use.
(Part of the US coal decline is recent temporarily cheaper US fracked gas.)
Reducing coal use in the UK by importing wood from the US is similarly perverse – it would be better for the UK to buy carbon credits from US companies to use wood in coal plants and avoid the shipping.
David, UK says: @ur momisugly August 24, 2013 at 1:03 am
…..That includes eating meat and objecting to the way animals are reared. The point is: it’s HYPOCRISY.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bad example. You can object to certain practices in an intelligent manner. Such as inbreeding in commercial livestock and the resulting loss of the genetic diversity that makes a breed ‘Robust’ (I really hate that word)
I also have a problem with the indiscriminate feeding of antibiotics again because of disease resistance problems.
Neil 6.38am – ‘Old’un – this vital revenue stream is diminishing?, really?, really?, where are you?’
Yes Neil, the revenue stream from the UK’s North Sea fields really, really, is diminishing. I know that, because although you haven’t been able to work it out from my comments, I live in the UK.
Neil says: @ur momisugly August 24, 2013 at 2:00 am
I’ve never seen so many stupid comments, most claiming hypocracy. Fracking is frought with problems known and as it is a new technique, some no doubt unknown – unpleasant suprises in store? ….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Your ignorance is showing the technique is over 100 years old. See my comment above
old’un, the tax revenue on the price of fuel alone is huge compared to only a few years ago, so I don’t see how it is diminishing. The governments have hit the motorist rather hard – I would have said they feel they have hit the jackpot with the revenue from fuel.
SMS – if you think I made up my mind a long time ago, then you should read carefully what I have written. I’m not sure you did that. I don’t consider myself a ‘green’, just someone who wants to take care about his choices, avoid long term consequences of things so ‘big’, widespread and long term in their effects. I would frac but not near town/village/people/natural resources – e.g. 1 mile from Balcombe, if that deserves the criticism you wrote then so be it…
I’m afraid you look rather foolish in your poorly informed comment.
Les made it clear that contamination of water is from toxic waste injection into the well – I took this point and made a reply. Why do you ask me to prove otherwise?
Did you really read this thread?
rishi says:
August 24, 2013 at 2:32 am
so, basically, i cannot protest against anything, because i have been made into a hypocrite….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is known as putting your money where your mouth is.
If I chose to show up at one of these protests I would make D@^N sure I took public transpo or car pooled, I would wear COTTON, LINEN and WOOL. My shoes would be made of natural fibers too like a Soft Star Shoe. I would use a cotton canvas tent and an eco-friendly sleeping bag.
The fact that they do not bother makes them hypocrites. Heck back in the 1980s the Boston Globe had ads $10/hour paid for Nuclear protesters. I wonder how many of these people are PAID for their protest time. SEE: CalPIRG Astroturfing
To put it bluntly I am less of a hypocrite then these guys are because my ‘Carbon foot print’ is small and I recycle, reuse, haunt thrift shops and flea markets and buy whatever food I do not grow locally as much as possible.
Neil says:
August 24, 2013 at 6:38 am
doug thorium, radon? what point you trying to make doug? Show me.
Its basic knowledge Neil:
“Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless[1] noble gas, occurring naturally as an indirect decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon
gail: – the claim of hypocrisy is/was wrong. see my 1st couple of comments above
lars I have no idea why you mention this or doug(think doug is a computer designed t spit out conversaton pieces based on other comments) – what did I write to illicit this helpful response?
ROM says: @ur momisugly August 24, 2013 at 3:42 am
It would probably be interesting to find out if the organizers and some of the leading anti-fracking activists at these so called anti fracking demonstrations are getting a considerable supplementary income via the notorious brown paper bag route…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not at all surprising. The Wall Street Journal had a back page article about Kremlin papers showing that the Activists in the USA were not only funded by but actually LEAD by KGB agents. (April 2004) Funny how that never made the front pages….
My husband, a Bostonian, knew a fellow who ‘ran’ an extreme left newspaper. When the USSR went belly-up he had to close his newspaper and was moaning over his loss of funding.