Today, two industry groups signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that their members will minimize the impact of onshore oil and gas development in the UK on the country’s water resources.The memorandum accompanies a report released by Water UK. The report concludes that ”where water is in short supply there may not be enough available from public water supplies or the environment to meet the requirements for hydraulic fracturing.”While the aim of the mutual agreement was to give the public greater confidence and reassurance that everything will be done to minimize the effects on water resources and the environment during fracking, some organizations are speaking out against agreement.
In another unusual weather pattern to hit the UK in recent months, the instant storm saw The Gluyas in Falmouth deluged by an inch of hail stones.
PE teacher Tommy Matthews, 52, took a short video clip of the scene at around 5pm, saying he was walking up the street when ‘suddenly it all went nuts’.
Anti-fracking protestors Reclaim the Power have targeted Cuadrilla at locations across the UK shutting down their HQ in Lichfield, their PR company in London, and Balcombe drill site. Campaigners condemned violent policing at the gates of the drill site, where police charged, shoved and kettled a group that included children, people in wheelchairs, pensioners, MP Caroline Lucas, and journalists.
Protestor Ewa Jasiewicz, who is at the kettle said: “This an outrageously aggressive response to a day of principled civil disobedience. All of our actions have safety, dignity and respect at their core. Cuadrilla and the government were desperate to discredit fracking opponents. We offered them no aggression so they are creating it themselves.”
A heat wave in England is being blamed for hundreds of premature deaths, and a wildfire warning has been issued as the mercury continues to rise. Research conducted for The Times by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated the death toll for the first nine days of the heat wave as between 540 and 760 people in England alone.
"The excess is likely to have been overwhelmingly among the elderly, especially over 75, some of which may have been among people who would have died just a few weeks later if there had been no heat wave," Ben Armstrong, an epidemiological statistician, told Reuters.
An international protest planned for later this month against biotechnology company Monsanto is slated to span six continents and include demonstrations in dozens of countries around the globe.
Amid growing concerns over St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto and the impact the company is having on agriculture, activists have planned rallies for later this month in 36 countries.
A snowdrift buries a country pub in Cheshire County, England following last weekend’s blizzard. Photo by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Daily Mail newspaper.
Portions of southwest Scotland, northwest England and Northern Ireland experienced their heaviest snowfall in 30 years last weekend (March 23-24) followed by bitterly cold weather making this the coldest March since 1962 according to the U.K. Met Office. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Bangkok, Thailand has registered its hottest temperature on record.
Britain is in the clutches of what is expected to be the coldest March in 50 years.
Forecasters said bitter weather showed no signs of letting up for the next fortnight and this month was a stark contrast to last year when temperatures were 20C higher on average.