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[c6em]

I don't normally do the 'sign the petition' thing, but this one I feel is very important not just because its about fracking, but because it is how one man in central government can over-rule democracy of the people of Lancashire. 

Well I take it you will all be voting to come out of the EU then?
One man/committee in Brussels can over rule the democracy of the UK.

[jelv]

It took millions of years for the carbon to be locked in to the ground in the form of gas, oil and coal. We are burning it to make it in to a greenhouse gas in decades. Anyone who doesn't realise that this will have a devastating effect on the global environment is living in cloud cuckoo land. All the money going in to devising ever more devious ways of getting the gas, oil and coal out of the ground should be invested in developing clean energy and for power storage technologies for overcoming the issues due to the variability of solar and wind power.

Too damn right I've signed!

[WesBez7]

Arm chair activism doesn't get anything done. Get people out and stop the fracking from happening. News whores love that stuff. Once it's on tv that should help.

[renluop]

Fracking was proven to be the cause of the earthquakes around here.. which is why they had to stop.
When you start getting several per year, whereas previously you've only experienced one.. then you start to wonder what is going on.
These weren't once in a blue moon event.

That is aside from one of the major points I was trying to make in my post

How is it that one person has the authority to totally over-rule what was a democratic vote by the people. 

Anyhow if you disagree with fracking.. or even the fact that one man can over-rule a democratic vote and the overwhelming opinions of the people of Lancashire, please consider signing.

The locals have voted against it
The local councils have voted against it.
The county council has voted against it.

Yet one man in central government who is known to have an opposing view and lives hundreds of miles away and unaffected can totally over-rule it?  Do you think that is right?
What is the point of putting it to a vote in the first place?

Not the best example, but the first I could think of, come election day the people of Lancashire overwhelmingly voted Labour as their representative.   Then a Tory member down south over-ruled the vote and said nope youre going to have local Tory representatives.

As toulouse said

 

that sounds like a very dangerous situation, if one person can override a decision made by the local people and council.

Kitz!:) Firstly, from what authority did the proof that fracking was the cause come, please?
Quakes , from various things I've read, programmes watched, are difficult to forecast with any accuracy, as per this article , and only the other day BBC Breakfast carried a very interesting piece. Neither are they predictable, nor are those seemingly related, related at all- example , being on the pacific rim makes Japan and Ecuador seemingly related.

Locals...have voted against it. Well that is one of the strengths, and may be weaknesses of democracy; the voters choose those on the various bodies, and in general the bodies' members follow their electorates' wishes.

However, none of them are delegates mandated to vote in accordance with instructions; that weakness i mentioned above, but AFAIC a benign one.
I'm content to let the experts advise and our representaives decide after careful consideration of that advice.

BTW, I'm with 7LM about Greenpiece! Sorry for that diatrible!

[kitz]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21120-how-fracking-caused-earthquakes-in-the-uk/

Initial studies by the British Geological Survey (BGS) suggested that the quakes were linked to Cuadrilla’s fracking activities. The epicentre of the second quake was within 500 metres of the drilling site, at a depth of 2 kilometres. Less information was available on the first quake, but it seems to have been similar.

The link with fracking has now been confirmed by an independent report commissioned by Cuadrilla, Geomechanical Study of Bowland Shale Seismicity, which states: “Most likely, the repeated seismicity was induced by direct injection of fluid into the fault zone.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/8864669/Cuadrilla-admits-drilling-caused-Blackpool-earthquakes.html

[sevenlayermuddle]

I really have no position on whether fracking is linked to tremors.   Whilst I have neither the time nor background education that would enable me to study the evidence and form an opinion, and I'm not going to swayed by journalism, let's say I certainly don't disbelieve that there might be a connection.

As regards locals voting against it, a comparison that springs to mind is HS2.   Lots of local groups have held 'votes' as to whether they should have HS2 at the bottom of their gardens and, unsurprisingly, voted 'No'.   I think a few local councils also held 'votes' and again, surprise surprise, voted against.   None of which mattered, as the decision was not in their hands... HS2 goes ahead anyway, that's just how government works.

I begrudgingly admit that future generations will eventually thank us for HS2.   Will they thank us for fracking?  Maybe not, but I do think they'd thank us even less for shutting down the power stations, with no viable alternative, casting them back to the dark ages.