Green Party leader Caroline Lucas visited the fracking site at the vanguard of the UKโs burgeoning shale gas industry, saying she wanted to โthank the courageous people who are here day in, day outโ protesting against theย practice.
A crowd of over one hundred turned out to listen to the speech on Monday, held in front of the gates of the Preston New Road site where activists have been protesting Cuadrillaโs activities since January. Cuadrilla began exploratory drilling at the site last month after breaking the terms of its planning permissions to get the drill on to the site.
In the speech, which was met with cheers and applause from the protesters, Lucas said: โNever ever doubt, my friends, that you were on the right side of history. Never doubt that your courage will make the final difference, and together we will defeat theย frackers.โ
Sandra Bach, a protester from nearby village Staining, said: โIt was just what we needed. It was nice for her to come today, and weโve had a lot of people turnout. Hopefully this will bring more attention to what weโreย doing.โ
Protesters who have been on the site since January were grateful for Lucasโs support. Tina Rothery, one of a group of protesters known as the Lancashire Nanas, said: โCarolineโs speech was very inspirational. Itโs very easy here to feel forgotten about, so itโs nice to know our voice is being heard inย Westminster.โ
Local business owner, John Tootill, who has been hosting protesters on his land since the action began in January, said: โIt was very inspiring, I was very touched. Itโs important that there are people in positions of influence who are able to get our messageย across.โ
Climateย Concerns
Lucas is the latest in a line of high profile politicians visiting the PNR site including Labour Party MPย John McDonnell, former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, and Lucas’ Green Party co-leader Jonathanย Bartley.
Fewer police were in attendance than was usual for the heavily policed actions. Green Party member and long-time protester Anne Power, said: โitโs such a joy for the first time that the police arenโt outnumbering the protesters. Weโre delighted that Caroline is here as well to lend herย support.โ
Lucas told DeSmog UK: โI wanted to come to share my solidarity, and the solidarity of the Green party with people here who I think are absolutely on the front line of the battle against climateย change.โ
She said the protesters knew โfracking is going to be driving the climate breakdown that is coming ourย way.โ
โFor me personally it is the climate concerns that are the highest,โ she said.ย โObviously there a lot of other concerns, the local environmental impacts, the water pollution, the air pollution, the water qualityย issues.
โFracking is basically a whole new fossil fuel industry at exactly the time that scientific evidence is telling us that what we need to be doing with fossil fuels is leave them in the ground, not try to extract more ofย them.โ
Democraticย Deficit
In her speech Lucas also touched on the democratic deficit facing Cuadrilla at the site in Lancashire: โOne of the reasons so many people are willing to come out here and take this peaceful, non-violent, direct action is because they have tried the democratic process and it hasnโtย worked.
โIt is shameful that local people make their voices heard, the local council listens to that, they say no to fracking, yet then the government, a government that it supposed to standing up for localisation, what this government does is to basically run a coach and horse through that democratic decision, and I think that leaves people feeling very, veryย disillusioned.โ
The protesters have tried a variety of tactics to slow work at the site, including locking themselves in tubes on the road, prompting police to block part of the road and leaving some residents delayed and unhappy: โPeople need to understand that those of us who take this peaceful action are not doing it lightly I can promise you that all of the people here would prefer to be doing something else today,โ Lucasย said.
โThis is not because people enjoy doing this, itโs because itโs a necessary defence, both of the right to peaceful protest, but also crucially to a safer future and a safer environment and for us and for our kids, and I think that is something worthย doing.
โIโm sorry for people who feel inconvenienced by that, but ultimately I think the inconvenience of climate change is going to be a hell of a lotย bigger.โ
Lucas and Bartley are the only party leaders to visit since the Protest started in January this year, but Lucas wants to see more politicians getting involved: โIโm glad now that both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have joined us in opposing fracking, I would like to see them being even more high-profile about it, but I think itโs indicative of the fact that public opinion has changed, and political opinion has to catch up with it,โ sheย said.
โWhat we need the government to do now is to listen to all of those voices, to deliver on its promise about localisation, and to be true to the democratic process, people do not want this, it is not necessary โ there are cleaner, greener, cheaper, safer, better ways of generating our energy, and itโs quite extraordinary that theyโre going ahead with it in the face ofย that.โ
Lucas plans to return to visit the site, and wants more MPs to visit as well: โI will continue to do everything Iโve been doing in parliament.ย Iโve been putting down parliamentary questions, Iโve organised debates, Iโve visited ministers.ย I am doing everything that I can inside parliamentย to try to change the governmentโs position, but I think what will really change it is facts on theย ground.
โWhat will change it is when more and more MPs see groups of people like this who are committed come sun or rain, to be out here doing what they believe in, which is to say, they want to protect their communities, their families from climate threat and from the environmental threat that frackingย poses.โ
Main image credit: underclassrising.net via Flickr CC BY–SAย 2.0
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