Letter to the Editor, Wrexham Leader
Sir
In response to the article ‘Anti-fracking protesters served with summons’ (Leader 18 November).
The Borras and Holt Community Protection Camp are carrying out important work in preventing the proposed test drilling site at Commonwood.
The fact that these community volunteers are having to camp there is a travesty of democracy, following Wrexham Council’s rejection of iGas Energy’s test drilling proposal. The decision to camp there was not one taken lightly but nothing is more important than protecting our communities, the environment and water for future generations.
Their action serves several purposes:
(1) It raises our awareness of fracking and its damaging effects on our health and the environment
(2) it aims to physically protect the test drilling site from the predatory companies that wish to exploit our natural resources for their own financial gain.
The fracking process includes several different chemicals that are dangerous for humans and animals. Once the high pressure water and its chemical contents has fractured the shale in the ground, it has to go somewhere else. This area contains one of the main aquifers in England and Wales, from where people from north east Wales and north west England source their drinking water.
There is no point in iGas saying that this is merely a test drilling site, suggesting that it’s a temporary process. In the event that they identify a supply of shale gas, full-scale drilling will go ahead on the site and many others adjacent, because there are vast profits to be made at our expense.
Finally let’s bury the myth that we are in desperate need of an energy supply. Wales produces more electricity and energy than she uses. We do not need to commit ourselves to another generation of fossil fuels. We have the resources and the ability to develop energy for our own needs and to sell on the market. The dash for gas is a get-rich-quick scheme for the benefit of a few.
The resistance is a selfless act by camp residents, which we should all support for our own good as well as future generations.
Yours
Mabon ap Gwynfor
Plaid Cymru, Clwyd South
Mabon ap Gwynfor 