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Fracking decision was undemocratic | Letters
The decision of North Yorkshire county council to allow fracking (Campaigners vow to fight fracking permit, 25 May) was based on limited information. I enquired some weeks ago whether there was or would be a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA), and was told in essence this was too difficult and not required for a planning decision. An SCBA would examine not only the economic viability of a scheme but also the social costs to the community of pollution and damage to the local amenities. One clear social cost will be the damage and repair costs caused by thousands of heavy lorry movements on rural roads. These costs would be borne by the taxpayers of North Yorkshire, as now sanctified by the council, and not the drillers and government so enthusiastic for the fracking.
John Launder
Skipton, North Yorkshire
• I sat through the two-day planning meeting to decide the fracking application at KM8, Kirby Misperton. More than 80 most persuasive and eloquent objections were made by two professors, a former UN climate change adviser, medical professionals, planning consultants, and businesspeople, along with well-informed and passionate members of the community. There were more than 4,000 letters of objection and only 36 in support. Every argument was totally dismissed by the applicant and planning officer as if it were complete nonsense. The end debate, which lasted no more than 20 minutes, made it clear that some but not all members had not been receptive to opposing views and revealed through their comments they had only a basic grasp of the risk associated with fracking. The decision could obviously have been made without any meeting or representations. In all a travesty of democracy and very disrespectful to the people of North Yorkshire.
Michael Tanner
Nawton, North Yorkshire
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Anti-fracking campaigners threaten to set up protest camps
Activists consider ‘more confrontational’ action to prevent energy firms drilling for shale gas in Yorkshire and Lancashire
Anti-fracking campaigners are threatening to set up protest camps in Yorkshire and Lancashire to prevent energy companies drilling for shale gas. Fracking firm Third Energy was given permission on Monday to carry out test drilling at a site in Kirby Misperton in Rydale, North Yorkshire, even after 99% of locals voiced their opposition to the application.
The decision prompted fears around the country that other fracking sites would be given the green light. Those fears are particularly acute in Lancashire, seen as the “next frontier” in the fight against the extreme form of energy extraction. Ian Roberts, the chair of Residents Action on Fylde Fracking, which opposes fracking on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, said his group was ready to start “more confrontational” action.
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Indonesia refuses palm oil permits in anti-haze push
Officials reject applications from 61 companies for new palm oil operations in a crackdown on the industry blamed for fuelling haze-belching forest fires
Indonesia has rejected applications from scores of companies for new palm oil operations, an official said on Wednesday, as it cracks down on an industry whose expansion has been blamed for fuelling haze-belching forest fires.
Almost 1m hectares (2.5m acres) of land were spared from conversion to palm oil plantations due to the decision, said San Afri Awang, a senior official from the environment and forestry ministry.
Continue reading...Do you know your endangered species? – video
The World Wildlife Foundation surveyed 2000 UK adults about their knowledge of endangered species. Roughly a third didn’t know giant pandas and snow leopards are under threat, while a fifth thought cows and grey squirrels are. One in four thought the dodo and brachiosaurus still exist!
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Anti-fracking camps planned in Yorkshire and Lancashire
Campaigners fear more sites will get green light after decision to let Third Energy carry out test drilling in Kirby Misperton
Anti-fracking campaigners are threatening to set up protest camps in Yorkshire and Lancashire to prevent energy companies drilling for shale gas.
The fracking firm Third Energy was given permission on Monday to carry out test drilling at a site in Kirby Misperton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, despite 99% of locals opposing its application.
Continue reading...UN expert calls for tax on meat production
People could be deterred from eating meat by increasing its price further up the supply chain, stemming rise in consumption and environmental damage
Governments should tax meat production in order to stem the global rise in consumption and the environmental damage that goes with it, according to a UN expert.
The world faces serious environmental problems if emerging economies such as China emulate Americans and Europeans in the amount of meat they eat, Prof Maarten Hajer, the lead author of a report into the impact of food production and the environment, told the UN environment assembly in Nairobi.
Continue reading...The hidden risks of climbing Mount Everest – video
Three climbers have died on Mount Everest in the past week, all succumbing to altitude sickness after reaching the summit. The increasing number of deaths on the world’s tallest mountain is raising fresh fears about overcrowding and the ethics of commercial mountaineering on Everest
Global clean energy employment rose 5% in 2015, figures show
More than 8 million people were employed worldwide in the renewable energy sector last year as rapidly falling costs drove growth in the industry
A boom in solar and wind power jobs in the US led the way to a global increase in renewable energy employment to more than 8 million people in 2015, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).
More than 769,000 people were employed in renewable energy in the US in 2015, dwarfing the 187,000 employed in the oil and gas sector and the 68,000 in coal mining. The gap is set to grow further, with jobs in solar and wind growing by more than 20% in 2015, while oil and gas jobs fell by 18% as the fossil fuel industry struggled with low prices.
Continue reading...Universities of Newcastle and Southampton join fossil fuel divestment push
Newcastle University latest to announce it will pursue investment decisions that are compatible with its sustainability values, reports BusinessGreen
As the world’s leading oil and gas majors this week face a series of questions about their ability to respond to escalating climate risks, two of the UK’s leading universities have become the latest institutions to announce new investment strategies designed to curb their exposure to fossil fuel assets.
Newcastle University yesterday followed hot on the heels of the University of Southampton inannouncing plans to modify its investment strategy to better embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations.
Continue reading...Together we can end wildlife crime
Paula Kahumbu: A global alliance to end wildlife crime is within reach. Let’s start talking about how it can be made to work
Today the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is hosting a high level dialogue on wildlife crime at the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) which is taking place in Nairobi. The session will open with the launch of the UN Wild for Life campaign that is calling on citizens, governments and corporations to pledge to act on this issue. Participants at the event are expected to announce initiatives to take forward the implementation of resolutions made by UNEA-1 and the UN General Assembly on illegal trade in wildlife.
These resolutions, and the incorporation of specific targets to end poaching and trafficking of wildlife in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, have helped raise this issue to the top of the international agenda.
Continue reading...Indonesian birds face extinction due to pet trade – study
Indonesia’s national bird, the Javan hawk-eagle, is among 13 species threatened by illegal trade, warns a wildlife watchdog
Thirteen species of Indonesian birds, including the country’s symbolic Javan hawk-eagle, are at serious risk of extinction mainly due to the pet trade, a wildlife watchdog warned Wednesday.
Continue reading...Cars sink into 200-metre-long hole in Florence – video
A hole is seen alongside the Arno river in Florence on Wednesday, with parked cars slipping into the chasm near the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Nearby residences are evacuated as firefighters report a broken underground pipe to be the cause of the hole
Continue reading...Major fishing deal offers protection to Arctic waters
Leading seafood suppliers, including McDonald’s, Tesco and Birds Eye, say suppliers won’t expand cod fisheries into pristine Arctic region
Fishermen and seafood suppliers struck a major deal on Wednesday that will protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod.
Companies including McDonald’s, Tesco, Birds Eye, Europe’s largest frozen fish processor, Espersen, Russian group Karat, and Fiskebåt, which represents the entire Norwegian oceangoing fishing fleet, have said their suppliers will refrain from expanding their cod fisheries further into pristine Arctic waters.
Continue reading...Crayfish and worms may die out together
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95% of British beaches clean enough to swim, EU tests show
Remain supporters point to latest water quality tests as an example of how EU membership has spurred a dramatic clean up of UK beaches
Almost 95% of British beaches have been given a clean bill of health in the latest EU survey of coastal water quality, down slightly on two years ago.
As recently as 1991, around a quarter of British bathing waters were too dirty to swim in but the threat of EU infringement cases and beach closures, has spurred a dramatic change since then.
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