Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Deptartment of Psychiatry is so corrupt that when David Stephen says "The Government can do anything... Wed Aug 14, 2024 11:41 | dop
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left Human Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Mon Aug 26, 2024 00:55 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Teachers Will Be Trained to Challenge ?Whiteness? in Schools Sun Aug 25, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred New UK teacher training guidelines are pushing educators to "disrupt the centrality of whiteness" by questioning basic concepts like meritocracy and objectivity in a bid to combat racism in classrooms.
The post Teachers Will Be Trained to Challenge ?Whiteness? in Schools appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Why Did the Bayesian Sink? Sun Aug 25, 2024 17:00 | James Alexander Politics professor James Alexander examines the sinking of the Bayesian from a Bayesian perspective. What were the odds?
The post Why Did the Bayesian Sink? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Diverse Man Interrupts ?Festival of Diversity? in Solingen by Stabbing Eleven People, Killing Three Sun Aug 25, 2024 15:00 | Eugyppius Eugyppius takes stock of the recent fatal knife attacks in Germany and how the usual state media "Diversity Explainers" are already working to undermine our pattern-recognition systems.
The post Diverse Man Interrupts ?Festival of Diversity? in Solingen by Stabbing Eleven People, Killing Three appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Billionaire Founder of Telegram Arrested in France Sun Aug 25, 2024 13:00 | Richard Eldred French authorities have arrested Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram, the world's seventh-largest messaging app, over claims that its lack of moderation has enabled criminal activity.
The post Billionaire Founder of Telegram Arrested in France appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°96 Fri Aug 23, 2024 15:28 | en
China chooses international law, distances itself from Israel and reunifies the ... Fri Aug 23, 2024 15:18 | en
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Fracking arrives on the island of Ireland
InfraStrata begin drilling in Woodburn Forest, Co. Antrim
Woodburn Forest near Carrickfergus in County Antrim has become the site of the first operational fracking rig on the island of Ireland. On Monday 16 May InfraStrata PLC began to drill, seeking to confirm a viable oil find which will pave the way for large scale extraction. Community campaigners continue to resist and all support is welcome on the site to stop the drilling while one local mounts a legal challenge. Fracking has come to the island of Ireland. InfraStrata PLC are targeting the community of Woodburn Forest, Antrim, for oil extraction using the controversial drilling technology being banned across the world.
InfraStrata is a small UK dirty energy company which also holds a licence for underground gas storage facilities at Islandmagee in Antrim.
Local campaigners from the Stop the Drill campaign have been fighting a marathon battle against the company's plans to drill in the forest. The community has had a physical presence in the forest since February, when a protest camp was established.
No planning, no consultation
InfraStrata has been granted permissions to drill through a mechanism known as "Permitted Development Rights" (PDR) which allowed them to by-pass the planning process without any public consultation process. The PDR mechanism is normally used for small scale developments such as minor residential home changes and it is extremely unusual for it to be used for large scale heavy industrial development.
The drilling site has been leased to the company by the public water utility Northern Irish Water, who had previously managed the site as a protected water catchment for over 100 years. The fifty year lease cost the company £1,000.
Woodburn Forest is the location of four water reservoirs which serve the nearby town of Carrickfergus as well as a number of areas of Belfast and communities along the Antrim coast. Three of these reservoirs have been closed as a precautionary measure as drilling gets underway.
There has been a litany of procedural and planning failures by the Northern Irish government and the local authority, Mid and East Antrim Council. The company was granted Permitted Development Rights by default when the Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Investment failed act on time to assess the licence.
InfraStrata went on commence works on the site in February without producing a Waste Management Plan for the handling of toxins and dealing with contamination on the sensitive water catchment site. The plan that was subsequently produced, and approved the local authority, contained a number of serious flaws according to a review carried out by Synergy Energy and Environment on behalf of the Stop the Drill campaign
Non-violent direct action
The drill rig arrived through the port of Larne on Monday, and its arrival on-site was delayed by over 6 hours by the non-violent direct action of local community members, including one man in his 60s who locked himself on to the rig when it was stopped by community members who blocked the road.
Up to 100 PSNI officers closed the roads around the forest and refused to allow community members in or out of the site while the dealt with the lock-on. As this blockade progressed, a harp player played in protest for three hours at the police line.
Court case
A member of the local community has sought a judicial review of the process in the Belfast High Court. The court has instructed Mid and East Antrim to review the case by Monday, 16 May, when the council must decide if it believes that the company has breached Permitted Development Rights.
The community do not believe that the council will find against the company as this would be admitting error on its own behalf. Instead, campaigners are preparing to challenge the council's decision through the judicial review.
The date for this review will be set by Thursday, 19 May, but it is hoped that it will take place before the end of May.
Support needed
While the community awaits the judicial review, work on site continues apace and the only thing that can halt fracking is people power on the ground. The community appreciate all support both at the protest camp and online.
The address of the camp is 15 Paisley Road, Carrickfergus, Carrickfergus BT38 9YB, UK.
Visit the Stop the Drill campaign website for full details of the handling of the case by the government, including copies of all available documents and reports: http://www.stopthedrillcampaign.com/.
Caption: Video Id: gSPdZ7Ja0Oc Type: Youtube Video "Stop the Drill" by Ursula Burns
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2This sentence from above sums up the attitude to "precious resource" by the private water companies.
Carrickfergus Drill Site in PSNI Lock Down As Protester Chains Himself to huge Oil Rig
http://www.belfastdaily.co.uk/2016/05/09/exclusive-carr...-rig/
Mark, chained on the rig for 6 hours, until he was arrested.
Road Closed
Drill site