Clare - Event Notice
Saturday November 09 2013
08:30 PM
United Farmers Association Public Information Meeting On Dangers of Fracking.
clare |
environment |
event notice
Sunday October 27, 2013 13:02
by anti-fracking
Farming not Fracking is the future. -Meeting in Kilmihil, Kilmihil Hall, Co. Clare
Important notice to all residents of south & west Clare.
The future survival and well-being of all residents of west and south County Clare is about to be decided on how the two single most important issues of our time are decided. (1) The internal divisions of the Cap Reform Payments in Ireland as a result of the 2013 CAP reform recently agreed in Brussels .Failure to achieve a fair and equitable division of these subsidies will result in the disappearance of at least 30% of the existing farming community and the elimination of many business in the rural towns and villages of Co.Clare.The UFA National Officers will present at this public information meeting the options for a fair and equitable distributions of the new payments facts and figures. Be aware the future of family farming as we know it is at stake here.
Target areas for fracking are: County Clare, County Limerick and North of Co. Kerry
Fracking for shale gas deposits poses possibly one of the most lethal challenges to the health and welfare of human and animal health in living memory in Co. Clare. Just a small sample list of the facts about this industry that you should and must become aware of:
(1) Fracking is largely unregulated either by National or EU law.
(2) 2 to 8 million gallons of water and 10,000to 40,000 gallons of chemicals are required to bore one well.
(3) 88 different chemicals of which 80 are harmful to varying degrees ranging from toxic to irritant-contaminant [Federal German Scientific report].
(4) Unmesureable but substantial methane gas emissions from the fracking wells. Methane gas is a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.[EU scientific investigation].
(5) 20 to 35% of this fracking fluid remains in the ground; nobody knows what’s going to happen to it long term and nobody knows the location and depth of our artificers which supply our ground water.
(6) Of that which is brought back to the surface the only method of disposal of this lethal mixture is by spreading or dumping it on the surface or in storage ponds.
(7) Food Companies –Milk Cooperatives etc. in certain parts of the world where fracking is taking place are now refusing to purchase food products-milk etc. from areas where fracking fluid is spread on the land or stored.
(8) More information on the night.
Every citizen has a duty of care to make sure that they are fully informed on the above issues, as they will have life changing consequences for many.
Meeting details:
When: Saturday 9th November 2013 At 8:30pm
Where: Kilmihil Hall.
Editors Update:
Fracking is causing widespread problems everywhere. See for example: Shocking Admission About Fracking | What Cows Can Tell Us About The Dangers Of Fracking Hydraulic Fracturing [“Fracking”] Worldwide by Robin Mathews | Fracked cattle were quarantined, now give birth to dead calves | Livestock Falling Ill in Fracking Regions, Raising Concerns About Food | Fracking’s impacts on Alberta farming families: Lost hair, dead cows
Farmers should note that the EPA is unlikely to protect them and when the damage is done they will find there will be nobody around to clean up the mess and to sue for the damages. The establishment is behind fracking so you will be left to your own devices.
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5Earlier this year in June, farmers from both sides of the border turned out for a Tractor Run from Manorhamilton to the Ballroom of Romance in Glenfarne to coincide with the G8 that tool place then a short distance away in Fermanagh.
More photos and summary can be found at: http://www.loveleitrim.org/love-leitrim-home-page/photo...otos/
John Sheridan of the Ulster Farmers Union and Pat Gilhooley of the Leitrim IFA. Pat expressed the serious concerns of the IFA in relation to Fracking.
Please Get Informed - Just Take a Few Minutes to Read and Share - Thank you.
People all over the world are fighting fracking you just won't hear that much about it in Irish media. This week after violent attacks from the police a few weeks ago, First Nations tribes people of New Brunswick, Canada, continue their battl...e to protect their children's health, water and land against fracking. http:/.../lastrealindians.com/for-immediate-release-sacred-fire-blockade-to-begin-at-noon-on-nov-4/
"This is an issue of human rights and access to clean drinking water, and it's fundamentally about sovereignty and self-determination. Support for the Elsipogtog and their actions to reclaim lands in their territory is something that is powerful and united from coast to coast and around the world." - Clayton Thomas-Muller, Idle No More. - http://www.commondream
s.org/headline/2013/11/05-5
While these people stand up to the worlds most powerful industry, the people of their neighbouring provinces, Quebec and in the last few days Newfoundland, can breathe a sigh of relief for now, as both province's federal governments have placed moratoria on fracking.
"Holding one of the revoked licenses (in Quebec), Lone Pine Resources, an oil and gas company, is now launching a $250 million lawsuit against the Canadian government over Quebec’s fracking moratorium under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although Lone Pine maintains all its operations in Canada, it’s registered in Delaware which allows it to make claims under NAFTA." - http://commonsensecanadian.ca/quebec-fracking-nafta-cha...ofit/
"The proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada would grant energy companies far-reaching rights to challenge bans and regulations of environmentally damaging shale gas development (fracking), a new briefing by Corporate Europe Observatory, The Council of Canadians and the Transnational Institute shows." - http://corporateeurope.org/pressreleases/2013/eu-canada...-bans
"This is the system to which we will be subject if the transatlantic treaty goes ahead. The US and the European Commission, both of which have been captured by the corporations they are supposed to regulate, are pressing for investor-state dispute resolution to be included in the agreement. The Commission justifies this policy by claiming that domestic courts don’t offer corporations sufficient protection because they “might be biased or lack independence.”(12) Which courts is it talking about? Those of the US? Its own member states? It doesn’t say. In fact it fails to produce a single concrete example demonstrating the need for a new, extra-judicial system. It is precisely because our courts are generally not biased or lacking independence that the corporations want to bypass them. The EC seeks to replace open, accountable, sovereign courts with a closed, corrupt system riddled with conflicts of interest and arbitrary powers. Investor-state rules could be used to smash any attempt to save the NHS from corporate control, to re-regulate the banks, to curb the greed of the energy companies, to renationalise the railways, to leave fossil fuels in the ground. These rules shut down democratic alternatives." - http://www.monbiot.com/2013/11/04/a-global-ban-on-left-...tics/
Intensive secret lobbying by U.S. law firms on behalf of major oil and gas companies is presently taking place in Brussels. "Gathered at the Brussels office of Covington & Burling, a prominent Washington-based firm, were some of its lawyers and lobbyists, along with executives from some of the world’s largest oil companies, including Chevron and Statoil. Their aim was to help shape the European Union’s policies on the gas and oil drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. They were meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe, then a top environmental official for Europe and a prime player in the debate over fracking, which is even more contentious in Europe than in the United States." - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/world/europe/lobbying...&_r=0
The current EU Commissioner for Climate Action is Connie Hedegaard. Today she made herself available to answer questions via twitter. There were very few contributors to this online Q & A. No Fracking Ireland asked the commissioner "if communities continue to resist fracking will you ignore this and allow industry to over-ride wishes of communities?". This question was put to the commissioner several times, each time ignored. another contributor asked about fracking, their question was also ignored.
The major battle of course is in getting the facts and information out there to the general public. The bans and moratoria against fracking to date, have happened because of intense public protest and pressure on governments. Trying to give people the full picture and extent of the destructive nature of the fracking industry is not easy, especially in a country like Ireland where we have a very pro-industry, media culture. This has been well proven by the treatment given by state TV and national newspapers to the Shell to Sea campaign.
With fracking there are so many aspects to cover, use and contamination of water, the contribution to climate change, ponzi economics, industrialisation/contamination of land, contamination of air, serious human health risks, stalling of renewables, threat to wildlife, ecosystems, earthquakes, damage to sustainable industries, risk to food production etc etc... Because 'fracking' for shale gas and oil is only over a decade old, and has moved closer to areas where people live, many of these areas of concern are only now being discussed and documented. It will be years before we understand the full affects.
For every academic report or piece of evidence we have against fracking, industry fights back ten fold. They've got the money to have reports written when needed, on demand, plus this industry fund many of the major universities around the world. When it comes to the oil and gas industry science is a commodity. People are shocked when they hear that even the U.S. EPA have turned their back on communities and the environment in support of the frackers. Leaked U.S. EPA documents showed that the industry and the EPA were aware of water contamination but chose to keep that information from the public. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZx8kWdWUxk
In Ireland the government and industry want to keep this issue from being properly debated, they want the majority of the public to believe this to be a NIMBY campaign. It is being portrayed in the media as a "Leitrim" or "Clare" issue and in the north as a Fermanagh issue. The fact is that there are shale formations throughout the country. When the 'options licenses' were handed out in the ROI vast areas of 11 counties were included. The demand for future water supply on this island will come from the Shannon Basin Region, the very same region the companies want to frack. It is vital for the future of this whole island that this region is protected from this industry. To date, because of the lack of national media coverage, people are still largely uninformed. An uninformed public means the government can quietly push ahead, while informed TD's say little because there are, as they see it, "no votes in this issue". It's up to us to change that.
The fight against fracking is happening right now in communities all over the world and because of that global unity, this fight is very winnable. These communities are fighting on our behalf. The people at the fore-front of this battle in South America, the U.S., Poland, U.K., Romania etc need our support. To show our solidarity we intend to highlight what is going on in these countries. If the attitude of the vast majority in Stormont and the Dail, towards this industry, is to be heeded then the frackers are not far from our door. Public pressure has worked to secure moratoria and bans in other countries. Thankfully, we are not in the situation, for example that the U.K are in, where the companies are on the ground, drilling has commenced and people are having to fight stronger to stop the industry from pushing forward. Here we have the luxury of some time, but we need to use that time, act now and make it clear to investors, industry and government that we are awake, informed and we are saying no. We hope you will help in whatever way you can.
Our symbol is the black shamrock.
In the words of the Lock the Gate campaign Australia, "Our resistance is non-violent but non-negotiable".
For info on local groups, events and how you can help please join and SHARE our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/146055765467930/?fref=ts
Find out further info/news etc on our website - http://frackingfreeireland.org/
On twitter @notofracking
More articles here - http://indymedia.ie/article/101995?search_text=fracking
Sign our petition here - http://nofrackingireland.wordpress.com/ find petitions for NI etc on website.
How they can even think about doing this considering Ireland is running out of safe drinking water.
A report on ThinkProgress titled: Texas Homeowner Battles $3 Million Defamation Lawsuit For Exposing Fracking Company’s Pollution
explains how a local Fracking company is suing him after he exposed that they had contaminated his water supply with methane and benzene.
The opening paragraphs of the report are:
Steve Lipsky, a Texas homeowner, has found himself at the center of a $3 million lawsuit for defamation from an oil and gas company, after he exposed the company for contaminating his water supply with methane and benzene.
Despite his attempts to avert the expensive legal entanglement, Julie Dermansky reports at DeSmogBlog that last month the Fort Worth Court of Appeals allowed the defamation case to move forward.
Lipsky sued Range Resources originally in 2011, prompted by an Environmental Protection Agency order that Range Resources endangered Texas residents’ health. His case was dismissed, because the presiding judge claimed there was no jurisdiction, but Range Resources took the unusual step of countersuing Lipsky for libel. It alleged that Lipsky and others conspired to get “the EPA and the media to wrongly label and prosecute Range as a polluter of the environment.”...
The interesting issue here not really pointed out in the story is that his initial efforts to sue Range Resources was dismissed by the judge, yet it is funny how when it is the other way around they allow the case to go forward against Mr. Lipsky.
The lesson to learn here for people in Ireland, particularly farmers, is that the state will side with the Fracking companies in the courts and you will find it incredibly difficult to get any justice and compensation once they have poisoned your land and the water beneath you. So the best policy is probably to make sure they never sign a lease with you or any of your neighbours.
This is taken from the Fracking Matters Newsletter available at the link below.
I attended the meeting in Kilmihil on Sat, most of which was about
fracking. The United Farmers are totally opposed and that was the
general response from the floor.
One issue was raised about some retail
groups who are refusing to buy food from regions where fracking is going
on.
Reflecting on this I raised the question on twitter on Sunday and my
message was immediately retweeted by two large non national anti
fracking organisations. They are screaming for facts.
It seems to me that if the information is true, then it will be the key
to getting all Irish farmers and politicians on
side- even the IFA cannot ignore such a threat to Ireland.
I gave out copies of my brochure which were very well received.
Clare Brochure: full of info contact: info@irishcitizensparty.com
Read letters and reply under letter- correspondence below
The Letters section referred to above is reproduced here:
Guaranteed Fracking Free Food in Irish Supermarkets??
The Irish Citizens Party info@irishcitizensparty.com wrote this question to various
Supermarkets.
Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Supervalue, Superquinn,
Dunnes, Musgrave,Tesco and Marks and Spencers.
Below some responses
Has Musgrave policies relating to purchasing meat/milk or fruit/vegetables
produced in rural regions where the fracking industry is active?
Reply from LIDL
Reply from Tesco
++++++++++++++++++
IRISH CITIZENS PARTY
Thank you David for your prompt response.
Lidl is an international organisation and I must presume that not all food sold in your
Irish stores originates in this country. Some may come from regions where fracking is
underway.
Ireland is proud of its green image and is a huge exporter of high quality food.
However, Loop Head where I live is listed on the London Stock Exchange as an asset of
Enegi Oil Plc who hold a license to frack the 'Clare Basin'.
All the information available to us worldwide confirms our fears of massive and
irreversible environmental/ health hazards associated with this industry.
Lidl's no 'comment response' offers no comfort to me,