Oil test drill starts in English countryside as fracking protests carry on

 
Protest: an anti fracking demo outside the village of Balcombe
Kiran Randhawa2 August 2013

Energy company Cuadrilla has started exploratory oil drilling in the English countryside as anti-fracking protests at the site entered a ninth day.

The project has been subject to days of delays because of high-profile protests designed to halt delivery of trucks and equipment to the plant.

Today a Cuadrilla spokesman said: “We started test drilling at 11.15am, and we will do a 3,000ft vertical well. We will be there for two to three months.”

Campaigners fear the project at Lower Stumble, near Balcombe, West Sussex, could lead Cuadrilla to go on to conduct hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The controversial method of fracking involves high pressure liquid being pumped deep underground to split shale rock and release gas supplies.

Opponents of fracking have highlighted concerns about potential water contamination and environmental damage, as well as small-scale earthquakes.

Police have had to throw up a daily security operation around the test site’s entrance as dozens of anti-fracking protesters have turned out to halt deliveries.

More than 30 people have been arrested since last Friday, mainly on suspicion of obstructing deliveries, including Natalie Hynde, 30, the daughter of the Kinks’ Ray Davies and the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.

Natalie Hynde’s boyfriend, veteran eco campaigner Simon “Sitting Bull” Medhurst, 55, was also held after the pair superglued their hands together around the gate for around two hours.

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