Get ready to fight the frackers!

Submitted by Matthew on 21 May, 2014 - 10:56

A recent report from the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has urged the government to go “all out for shale”, encouraging the exploitation of UK gas reserves through the technique of fracking.

The dash for extreme energy is implicitly linked to the dash for short-term profits. Previously, extracting fossil fuels like shale gas from the ground has been too costly, but with peak oil gone, it capitalises on a market that feels the pressure of energy scarcity.

The report justifies this venture by favourably comparing the environmental cost of gas to coal, but makes no mention of the possibility of an immediate transition to nuclear or renewables, citing the economic benefits of the extraction of shale gas.

Another recent report suggests there is little or no environmental benefit from using shale as a so-called “transition fuel” — all the benefits of shale are shared by the alternatives like wind, solar and nuclear. But there is no intrinsic mechanism within capitalist production that enables destructive profiteering from the environment to be placed above the environmental concerns.

Unsurprisingly, six members of the committee have been linked to pro-fracking organisations, and one denies of climate change.

A recent call for a change in the law to allow private companies to drill for gas on private land without permission is being strongly opposed by the public and several prominent charities.

For socialists however, this is a troubling line of defence; we should be opposed to fracking on the basis that our fragile environment is the foundation of all life on earth, owned by no individual or company, not because the sanctity of private property might be breached in the process.

Upsurges in the environmental movement have seen encampments at sites at Balcombe and more recently Barton Moss where activists have suffered heavy repression by the police. In the last few weeks a string of activists — including Green Party MP Caroline Lucas — have been cleared in the courts of any wrongdoing in their efforts to halt the exploratory drilling.

In the past, innovative ways of galvanizing the environmental movement around socialist concerns have been found through actions such as the workers’ occupation of the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight.

While there is a popular consciousness around the environment in the air, and a government agenda to act in the opposite direction, we should be ready to involve ourselves in whatever opportunities arise.

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