Fracking: RSPB objects to Cuadrilla plan for two sites

The RSPB has lodged objections to proposals to drill for shale gas and oil in Lancashire and West Sussex. The bird charity says regulations are inadequate to ensure water, landscapes and wildlife are protected. But Cuadrilla, which is exploring the sites, says its activities will not harm birds or other wildlife. On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron urged the UK to back fracking, which involves shattering shales to release trapped gas. These are the first formal objections to fracking from the RSPB, and they concern a drilling proposal at Singleton in Lancashire, 0.8 miles (1.2km) from an internationally important area for pink-footed geese and whooper swans.
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Fracking fact check

The prime minister says shale gas will reduce energy bills but his own energy department says that will only happen if we can exploit lots of gas. It admits we don't know whether that will happen or not. It's true that fracking will improve energy security, if it's productive. It will potentially generate healthy tax revenues. But some academics say the PM's promise of 70,000 jobs looks exaggerated. Fears of earthquakes are overblown. Fracking shakes the ground but not normally hard enough to notice. It does use copious fresh water, and produce a lot of chemically contaminated waste water. There are risks of water pollution - but experience in the US suggests these can be minimised by tight rules and good practice. There's still uncertainty about how much methane is released into the air by the fracking process. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas so this is controversial. So is the fact that shale gas is a fossil fuel, being sought with government enthusiasm at a time when the UK has legally binding targets to wean the economy off fossil fuels. The chancellor has failed to reassure environmentalists that he intends the UK to stick to its Climate Change Act.

The society is also protesting against drilling at Balcombe in West Sussex on the grounds that no environmental impact assessment has been carried out.

Harry Huyton, from the RSPB, said: Singleton is on the doorstep of an area that is home to thousands of geese and swans, which will arrive from as far away as Siberia to roost and feed next month and stay for the winter. There may not be as many local residents as in Sussex, but this area is protected by European law because it is so valuable for wildlife, and Cuadrilla has done nothing to investigate what damage their activities could do to it." The charity believes there could be 5,000 sites and a total of up to 100,000 wells in the North of England. "The idea that these will have a benign impact on the countryside is very difficult to believe, Mr Huyton added. When asked whether swans were so sensitive as to be disturbed by industrial activity nearly a mile away, an RSPB spokesman said: If Cuadrilla did their assessments and found there wasnt a serious concern, wed accept that. "But no assessments have been done. This is all in too much of a hurry the regulations simply arent in place.

The groups other main objection is that a push for shale will divert funds and attention from the UKs push towards an electricity system almost completely powered by clean energy by 2030. If studies prove that fracking does not leak methane into the atmosphere, then shale gas will indeed be much less polluting than coal.

But the Environment Agencys Chris Smith said an expansion of gas for power generation was only compatible with legally binding climate targets if technologies were fitted to remove the carbon emissions from the exhaust.
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Our activities have not and will not harm birds or other wildlife
Cuadrilla spokesperson

So far, the government has given no commitment to that. Supporters of shale gas accuse environmentalists of inconsistency for objecting to shale gas sites despoiling the countryside whilst tolerating wind farms, which have a far greater visual impact with less energy output. The RSPB says it focuses on the impact on birds. It has joined objections to several wind farm developments recently on the grounds that they might harm birds, but its conservation director, Martin Harper, says a large body of scientific evidence shows "appropriately located windfarms have negligible impacts" on bird populations. A Cuadrilla spokesperson said: "Our activities have not and will not harm birds or other wildlife. "A comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is being prepared by independent consultants to accompany a planning application for Cuadrilla's exploration site at Grange Hill, near Singleton. "The EIA considers a wide range of environmental topics, including the potential effects of the proposed exploration activities on habitats and wildlife."

Blackburn Diocese says fracking 'damag God's creation'

Test drilling for shale gas has taken place in Lancashire

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Shale gas drilling risks damaging "God's creation", the Church of England in Lancashire has said. A document produced by the Blackburn Diocese said fracking could end up sacrificing the environment for profit. The diocese covers areas of Lancashire which have been identified as having potential sites for the process. Britain's first fracking was undertaken by Cuadrilla near Blackpool but was suspended after two minor tremors. The process involves using water and chemicals to break up rocks deep underground to release gas. Natural gas extraction "is increasingly presenting people with a choice between economic gain and a healthy environment", the diocese said. The document "Fracking - opportunity or challenge?" sets out the arguments for parishioners over the controversial practice. It said talk of the money to be made "has lured landowners to sign or contemplate signing leases to drill on their land".

"A relatively new technique to extract natural gas from previously unreachable depths is prompting a rush to drill, despite virtually no history as to its environmental impact," the document added. "Any consideration of the pros and cons of an issue like 'fracking' has to be viewed in the context of global climate change, which itself cannot be ignored by Christians, as it raises questions of justice, fairness, provision, stewardship and love for God, his creation and his creatures, including our global human neighbours."

'Money over environment'

The document went on: "The time we spend thinking, praying and acting now to protect our drinking water, and the rest of God's glorious creation cannot compare with the time succeeding generations could potentially spend trying to make good what will likely happen if we in the church remain uninformed and silent." It added: "On a more localised basis, gas companies claim that drilling brings economic benefits, including increased employment. "This premise is alluring to many landowners, including local farmers who may be struggling to make their land profitable. It has lured landowners to sign or contemplate signing leases to drill on their land.

"This is one way they can retain their land and make money, and money in today's world seems to count for more than environmental stability." Cuadrilla has said there are no proven environmental risks from the process. A government review has said the process is safe if adequately monitored.

HIV patients told by Pentecostal pastors rely on God'

By Alex Strangwayes-BoothBBC News

Some young HIV patients have been pressured to stop taking medication, a survey of doctors revealed Continue reading the main story

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Some young HIV patients are giving up their medicine after being told by Pentecostal Church pastors to rely on faith in God instead, doctors warn. Medical staff told the BBC a minority of pastors in England were endangering young church members by putting them under pressure to stop medication. Healing is central to Pentecostalism, a radical belief in the power of prayer and miracles. But one pastor denied people would ever be told to stop taking their medicine. The Children's HIV Association surveyed 19 doctors and health professionals working with babies and children in England; its members had reported hearing

anecdotal evidence of HIV patients deciding to stop taking their anti-retroviral drugs because their pastors had told them to do so. Among 10 doctors who said they had encountered the problem in the last five years, 29 of their patients had reported being put under pressure to stop taking medicine and at least 11 had done so. The doctors and health professionals reported a variety of cases:

Some said they had dealt with parents who felt under pressure to stop giving their young children their HIV medicine - and some had actually done so Others were breastfeeding mothers with HIV who refused the medicine that would stop the virus being passed onto their babies Some were young people, making the decision for themselves

The healthcare workers also reported that some patients had been told by their pastors they would be healed by prayer or by drinking blessed water.

'Miracle cure'
Sixteen-year-old Oliver (not his real name) said he was told by a pastor to swap his HIV medicine for a plastic bottle containing water that would heal him. He said many others had come under the same pressure. "I've been to other churches where... the pastor stands forth there, and he says 'come take this water... if you drink it for this certain amount of days, you are going to be healed'," he said. Later, after his mother had experienced what he believed was a miracle cure, Oliver stopped taking his medication, and his condition quickly deteriorated. He has since gone back on his medication and said he believed he needed to combine his drugs with his belief in faith healing.
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We need to stay engaged with the families and understand that... their faith is an important part of the support they get in their condition
Steve WelchChildren's HIV Association

Dr Toni Tan, a consultant paediatrician, said some Pentecostal pastors were endangering the lives of sick followers.

"It's my view that it's very wrong for faith leaders to actively encourage their congregations to stop taking their medication... it will lead to their deaths." Pentecostals and other Christians see healing, like speaking in tongues, as a sign of the presence of God. Pentecostal pastor Stevo Atanasio, from the East London Christian Church, said that among his congregation, blind people had recovered sight, deaf people had heard again, and what were considered terminal illnesses had been cured. "We don't say to people 'don't take your medication don't go to the doctor'. I mean we never say that," he said. "But we believe that the first healing comes from inside, it's a spiritual healing. Some people are hurt, they have broken hearts. If you are healed from inside, then you are healed from outside as well."

'Avoid culture clash'

Pentecostalism is booming. The number of Pentecostal churches in London, for example, has doubled since 2005. The overall number of incidents of HIV patients being told to give up medicine is thought to consist of a minority of churches and a small group of people. But the Rev Israel Olofinjana, who is a former Pentecostal pastor and now a Baptist minister, said he had seen it happening. "I've heard languages like that - 'put your trust in God, don't put your trust in medicine'." He said many of these churches served migrants with an exalted view of the authority of pastors. "Within the context of African churches, if you're coming from a culture where the pastor is like your fathers or mothers, like your community keepers, the word of your pastor becomes very important," he explained. "It becomes very significant... there is a minority who say 'because God can heal absolutely... what's the need for medicine?'." Dr Steve Welch, who is chairman of the Children's HIV Association, said it found it difficult to engage with the faith leaders of churches where healing was an integral part of the worship.

"We need to stay engaged with the families and understand that... their faith is an important part of the support they get in their condition, and engage positively with them and not make it a clash of cultures. "I think it's about engaging with the pastors and faith leaders who are giving this advice because that's how we will actually address the root of the problem."