PROPOSED CHANGES TO TRESPASS LAW

[oldclaypaws]

Please read my continuation of the 'energy crisis' thread which contains some very alarming new information about proposed legislation in the Queens speech which aims to allow fracking under your land and theft of your resources without your consent !!

http://www.swog.org.uk/forum//viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1810&p=11995#p11995

[outeredge]

This is ludicrous, why is it illegal to drill diagonally from another property into yours but now they want to allow horizontal without permission.

What is the government playing at, surely a pipeline, even if horizontal, would infringe on my mineral rights as it would make vertical drilling impossible!

If only the queen could intervene in such land based issues!!

[oldclaypaws]

Not only does it suggest allowing companies with a license to drill into your ground from the side without your consent, but bare in mind horizontal fracking involves not only nicking gas from your rocks but injecting a cocktail of chemicals into the same rock which might pollute your ground water and cause minor earthquakes ! It also adds to greenhouse gasses at a time we should be looking at a mix of carbon free solutions such as energy efficiency, tidal, solar, wind, ground pumps, nuclear, etc. Unbelievable. I increasingly like the idea of the masked guy in 'V for vendetta', who (ironically) went horizontally underneath The Houses of Parliament without permission, on a train loaded with explosives.

[Meadowcopse]

As an aside:
I've been involved in north-sea oil & gas for the last 14 years, directional drilling is quite common - but mainly in a direction away from the piles that a production platform legs sit on. The reason is to avoid a depletion cavity that could induce subsidence to a structure fixed to the sea-bed.
(My normal place of work has 115 metre legs in 100 metres of water and a production platform of 11,000 tonnes sat on top. The wells are a further 80 metres away on their own bridge linked 2500 tonne platform and directionally drilled to a few thousand metres.
'Christmas Trees' refer to the valve arrangement at the top of the well and not to anything forestry (unless you count the 'carboniferous period).

An example... http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/shearwater/
Some detail... http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-59/issue-8/departments/technology-focus/15000-psi-shearwater-imposes-re-think-on-chokes-completions.html

[outeredge]

I suppose that proves the point about drilling risking subsidence above if a platform can't be situated directly over.

[smojo]

What is the government playing at,

Like everything else they do it's all about £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ and how much they can squeeze out of us and the environment. Fracking - there is an expression about "getting blood out of a stone" isn't there. If they could they would but they wouldn't make much money from that and they need to find some way of paying off the multi billion pound debt the country has hanging over it. My wood-to-be has coal under it which is unlikely to be mined again but now I'm worried that it might be an area where fracking might occur in the future. Just when you thought you were safe!!!

I have one word to describe politicians and it's not polite.

[Terry]

This is ludicrous, why is it illegal to drill diagonally from another property into yours but now they want to allow horizontal without permission.

What is the government playing at, surely a pipeline, even if horizontal, would infringe on my mineral rights as it would make vertical drilling impossible!

If only the queen could intervene in such land based issues!!

To determine what the government is playing at, perhaps we need a quick historical perspective.
While a lot of people these days bang on about the UK parliament being the mother of all parliaments, the cradle of democracy etc etc, they conveniently forget the origins of said parliament which was as an exclusive club for the rich and powerful with the sole purpose of retaining power and control.
Nothing has changed in this, except for the fact that instead of the rich and powerful actually doing the dirty work and sitting in parliament themselves they send their lackies's in to do the job.

So, in answer to the question "what is the government playing at", they are carrying out their mandate of keeping the rich and powerful ........um rich and powerful.
Thats democracy for you.

oh dear - only just put away the soap box and its out again already