THE CARBON WAR

10
The Winning of The Carbon War
century. Chancellor George Osborne has duly unveiled the most generous tax
breaks in the world for fracking. Big energy suppliers are pressing the government
to support gas-fired power and shale exploration, warning that without
growing gas the UK could face a shortfall in generating capacity. The Institute
of Directors speaks of “a new North Sea”.
Prime Minister David Cameron insists fracking will bring jobs and cheap
gas to the UK. He intends to encourage that process. Local communities in
fracking areas will receive lump sum cash handouts and a 1% share of revenues.
He has hired an election strategist, Lynton Crosby, well known for promoting
shale-gas companies as a lobbyist. His government has instructed planners to
ignore protests at fracking sites when considering applications to drill. It even
bans the planners from considering proposals from communities for renewables
projects as alternatives to fracking.
The government minister keenest on shale is Chancellor George Osborne.
His father-in-law, former Conservative government minister Lord Howell, was
a gas lobbyist. Howell elicited gasps of astonishment in the House of Lords in
July by recommending the industry frack in what he calls “the desolate north”
of Britain. There, he reasons, any environmental problems won’t matter so much.
Osborne, it seems, favours fracking north, south, east and west. On August
5 th he went so far as to say that he will fight any backlash against fracking, even
if it is in the Conservative party’s heartland in the south.
I live in that Conservative heartland, in an area of southern England called
The Weald. So it is today that I stand among thousands of people moving at
shuffle pace down a leafy road in Sussex towards the drilling site that the oil
industry hopes will be the first fracked oil well in the south of England. Many
of the people protesting are clearly residents of this rich and rural county: conservatively
dressed, devoid of the rucksacks, banners or other paraphernalia
of the experienced green protestors.
The road, closed to traffic by police roadblocks, is lined with tents where
protestors intent on a long stay are camping. Some tents serve as improvised
market stalls, offering tea and food to the marchers. Much of the food has been
donated, some from as far away as Manchester, in the desolate north.
From one of these tents, a man reclining in a camping chair observes me
from behind the smiling face mask favoured by those who seek anonymity
from the roving police cameramen. Next to me, an elderly couple march with
their labrador on a lead, the lady with a bemused expression on her face. She
has never been on a demonstration before in her life. Ahead of us, a young