New fears for Bath's hot springs as David Cameron backs fracking

“@Bathcycle, normally I would be on your side railing against luddite tabloid hysteria. But there is considerable concern about fracking from scientists and engineers, not just from the tabloids. Of coure controls will be put in place, but this is not a mature, well-understood technology like, say, nuclear.

And let's not forget this decision comes from a right-wing government that regards all scientific evidence as liberal-lefty propaganda if it happens to cast doubt on the wisdom of relentless pursuit of private profit.”

“DaveF
Of course you should believe all politicians. Here is a list of all drops in prices of energy prices:
...
...
...
It is coming - honest!”

“"fed by the hot waters emerging from the Mendips"
Really? The water may have fallen as rain over the Mendips but surely it "emerges" from heated aquifers deep under Bath?

"which he says is the answer to lowering energy prices in the UK"
Yeah, right.”

“Think about it. Fracking means fracturing the earths sub strata by pumping water and god knows what chemicals into it. It will just take one leak into a reservoir to cause poisoning on a vast scale. Only big business will benefit from this disaster and not the environment.”

“At Bathcycle it seems clear you don't know much about Franking either otherwise you would not have made that comment. Franking is already happening in the UK, so maybe you need to read in depth details of the problems this has already caused. I personally don't think anyone who loves Bath and the surrounding areas would be willing to take that kind of risk!”

“What does "strict safeguards " mean?”

“Lot of nonsense being spouted on here. Earthquakes? Nonsense. Slight tremors- but less than the natural tremors that occur all the time - even here. Groundwater contamination? No. And the process will be so heavily regulated that it won't be allowed to happen. Horror stories from the US are stoked by an inaccurate film that went around a while back. Its the usual Luddite scaremongering from people who don't actually read the science and engineering involved in this process but get all their info from the Daily Mail.

But of course that won;t prevent the Luddites stopping it happen. As well as wind turbines. And nuclear power.”

“Full text of the Council statement below:

Strong concerns about the impact of hydro fracturing and its possible damaging impact on Bath's natural hot spring have been reaffirmed by Bath & North East Somerset Council following the Government's decision to lift a moratorium on the technique.

Controls over potentially damaging activities in the vicinity of the hot springs are provided to the Council by the County of Avon Act – anyone who proposes to undertake any form of excavation below certain prescribed depths are obliged to obtain the consent of the Council. But the Act does not cover activities outside specific geographical boundaries.

Councillor Paul Crossley, Leader of Council, said, "We have serious concerns that the process of fracking will leave the water courses leading to the natural hot springs at the mercy of contamination from pollutants resulting from the process. Alternatively, the waters may adopt a different direction of travel in the underlying rocks due to new fractures.

"Unfortunately, the County of Avon Act was not created in 1982 with protecting the hot springs from fracking in mind. Legislators simply could not predict the scenario where such a potentially harmful process to the hot springs would need such a high level of protection from activities outside the immediate geographical area.

"Neighbouring local planning authorities are not duty bound to consider the County of Avon Act when coming to a decision on a planning application. The damage that could be done by fracking cannot be repaired. The hot springs are a major part of the tourist attraction that sustains around 10,000 jobs in the city and brings in £350 million a year to our area. We will stand-up and explain these concerns in the strongest possible terms directly to the Government."

The Council wrote to the Government in September 2011 explaining the situation about the hot springs and limitations of the County of Avon Act. It will now do so again following the Government's recent decision.”

“Ilovespaniels I have read the post from frank off and the concerns for keysham- no one should allow this to go ahead.

David cameron you are vile and all your thinking about is the big money you are going to be making out of this like the US. It is clear he does not give a damn about the people of the UK and the enviroment impacts this will have on the an area.

Does anyone know how people of Bath and surrounding arears can stop this from taking place?”

“The Keynsham planning application: http://tinyurl.com/bwb57gr”