Message de solidarité de Balcombe

Voici le communiqué de presse envoyé aujourd’hui par Kathryn de Balcombe

Bonsoir de Balcombe, et bravo les Dindons ! 

PRESS COMMENT, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunday, September 22^nd, 2013

No FiBS (No Fracking in Balcombe Society) 

Shale oil rig occupied for four hours

A drilling rig was occupied for four hours this morning by local protesters in Jouarre, a village as far south of Paris as Balcombe is south of London. At 6.53 this morning, 30 local activists climbed and chained themselves to the rig, and dropped a full-length banner from the top: STOP FORAGES (NO MORE DRILLING!). Although a fracking ban is currently in force in France, the action is timely. A well has been drilled at Jouarre by US company Hess in anticipation of the French fracking ban being overturned in early October by the Constitutional Court, a case brought by US company Schuepbach against the French State – they claim the ban is unconstitutional. The court hearing is this Tuesday, Sept 24th, and the decision is likely to be announced on October 3rd or 4th.

The rig was due to be dismantled today. Its next destination is unknown, but campaigners in Jouarre suspect that it is heading for Fonteney-de-Bossery, south of Champagne, right by the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power station, on the banks of the Seine, 110km from Paris.

A spokesman for the Jouarre protesters said: ‘By this action we want to draw press and public attention to this farce. We want to remind president Hollande of his promise that there would be no exploration in France for unconventional oil and gas. We demand an end to exploratory drilling for coal bed methane, shale gas and oil, the withdrawal or rejection of all permits for oil and gas exploration, that all projects like this one here at Jouarre should be abandoned, and that the Government should commit to a real transition towards green energy.  We are taking this action because the oil and gas lobbies are determined to press ahead with exploration and extraction of ‘extreme’ energy sources in France with no regard whatsoever to public outrage. We are here to defend our water and our air, our health, the beauty of our countryside, the green alternatives, and a vision of a world driven by more important objectives than profit. WE SAY NO TO SHALE OIL AND GAS AND COAL BED METHANE, TODAY, TOMORROW, HERE, EVERYWHERE.

Balcombe residents will join the French national protest against coal bed methane and shale oil and gas in Montélimar on October 19^th.

Contact: No FiBS 01444 811682  0772 005 0772 

Comments

[Sarah]

Is there a petition we can sign in solidarity against fracking in France? Or a government minister you can recommend we write to? Pardon, mon francais n'est pas bon. Merci.