For immediate release: Thursday 27th July 2017

Four people from Lancaster [1] have this morning blocked the entrance to Cuadrilla’s controversial fracking site on Preston New Road near Blackpool and intend to remain there as long as possible.

The protesters are locked inside cars and their arms are secured within concrete and metal tubes meaning they cant be moved easily as this would result in them being significantly injured.

Maya Watts, one of the people who has closed down the fracking site this morning, said they want to: “Stop the fracking industry before it really gets started, as it will be hazardous to health, awful for agriculture and terrible for tourism. [3] It will be all pain and no gain for us, as research shows us that fracking provides hardly any jobs for local people”. [2]

A statement released by the protesters locked on to the vehicle says: “We have taken action today because Fracking will contaminate our drinking water, pollute the air we breathe and yet provide hardly any jobs for local people because one third of the workforce will come from the U.S.A and most of the rest will be brought in from other parts of the UK”. [3]

Tara Mason, an anti-fracking protester at the site says: “There are moratoriums against fracking in Scotland and Wales and it’s banned in Ireland, France and many other countries. Why not England? The one well that has been drilled and fracked here caused earthquakes which damaged the well so gas and chemicals could leak out. Cuadrilla did not report this to the Health and Safety executive for six months!” [4]

She goes on to say ‘Quite simply, fracking is unsafe, unregulated and unwanted. We don’t want it in our backyard, we don’t want it in anybody’s backyard.’

Today’s action comes as part of the ‘Rolling Resistance’ which is an event organised by local campaigners and national network Reclaim the Power that is disrupting work at Cuadrilla’s fracking site every day in July.

Notes to the editor

For further comment, updates or interviews please phone Sarah who is at the site on 07984 129 110

For Photos contact press@reclaimthepower.org.uk

[1] The protesters are from Lancaster and are one of the 300 independent, autonomous groups campaigning against fracking in the U.K

[2] http://frack-off.org.uk/campaign-materials/science-and-data/

[3] http://frack-off.org.uk/cuadrillas-big-gas-results-the-devil-in-the-details/

[4] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/13/fracking-cuadrilla-halts-operations-lancashire