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Anti-fracking protesters plan to shut down £1500-a-ticket industry summit

National anti-fracking network ‘Frack Off’ have called for the UK’s first mass action against fracking at a Shale Gas Environmental Summit.

On Wednesday 2nd November at 3pm, protesters will meet outside the Copthorne Tara Hotel with gas masks, “fracked water” and noise makers. They aim to blockade the road outside the hotel, disrupt the conference and hold a people’s assembly assembly to discuss the environmental impacts of fracking.

The £1,500-a-ticket summit is sponsored by a host of companies involved in the oil and gas industry and is described as an opportunity to examine the commercial and environmental issues surrounding Shale Gas extraction [1]. The protesters argue that the event is a blatant piece of ‘Greenwash,’ designed purely to attract investors.

Sophie Choudri, 24, a member of Frack Off, said “This conference is all about spin and greenwash. It is just the fossil fuel industry PR machine trying to tell the people in power that they should let them make lots of money.’

She continued “They obviously don’t want normal people to go to this conference, just look at how much it costs to get in! So we are going to create a free space where we can discuss what’s actually going on but without the industry spin.”

James Barnes, 28, who is planning on attending the protest, said “Fracking is one of many desperate attempts to feed our society’s unsustainable addiction to fossil fuels. We need investors to focus on real alternatives. We hear a lot about energy shortages, and we really need to be investing in researching sustainable energy sources, rather than finding tiny pockets of non-renewable gas and destroying our planet in order to get to them.”

Hydraulic Fracturing, or ‘fracking’ is a controversial method of natural gas extraction, in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected into the ground at high pressure, cracking shale rock and releasing the gas [2]. It has been the subject of much contention due to numerous reports linking the method to water contamination, health problems and earthquakes [3]. The industry is in its infancy in the UK, and there are plans for up to 800 wells in Lancashire alone [4].

Frack Off is a national grassroots anti-fracking network who launched their website by unfurling a banner 500 feet up Blackpool tower earlier this year [5].

See www.frack-off.org for more information.

ENDS

Media Enquires: 07931195505 or Media@frack-off.org

For more information go to: www.frack-off.org

[1] Environmental summit details:

http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=0&ref=3742

[2] short film explaining what fracking is:

https://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-hell/watch-the-film/

[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050025/Earthquakes-Lancashire-coast-WERE-caused-drilling-gas-experts-warn-energy-operation-threatened-closure.html

[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/21/gas-field-blackpool-dallas-sea

[5] press release for the banner drop:

http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/08/483055.html?c=on#c271508