This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Camra rejects anti-fracking motion
The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has voted against a motion to officially oppose fracking, the controversial gas extraction process that critics say can harm water supplies.
Camra said, “It was considered inappropriate… given the lack of clear evidence available, for Camra to campaign against fracking” (Photo: Camra)
Following Monday (April 20) morning’s news that the UK beer lobbying group would be debating the motion at its annual general meeting, it was yesterday voted down by members.
In a statement to db, a spokesperson said, “It was considered inappropriate… given the lack of clear evidence available, for Camra to campaign against fracking.”
Noting the “widespread concerns” about fracking, Camra said that the Government must address these issues before fracking licenses are granted, “to ensure that any risks to the local population and the wider environment are minimised and controlled.”
Fracking, the process by which a mixture of sand, chemicals and water is pumped into the earth to extract natural gas, has been a source of controversy in the UK, sparking protests from campaigners who argue that it can cause earth tremors and pollute water supplies.
However, this has been firmly contested by energy firms, who say there is no evidence to prove that fracking causes a risk to public health and safety.
The motion was proposed by member Roger Steele, who argued that fracking posed a “significant and real risk to breweries and beer quality”.
He said that there is a “threat of pollution of [beer’s] key ingredient, water, caused by fracking for shale gas.”
It was met with support from environmental activists Greenpeace, and the British Beer and Pub Association, which repesents the interests of large breweries, said it welcomed increased awareness of the debate.
Pledging an effort to “monitor any effect fracking has on the British brewing industry”, Camra said the it will “continue to work with other groups representing the brewing industry – such as SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers)… to ensure it does not pose a threat to the production of beer.”
The motion came after the German Brewers Association recently voiced its opposition to fracking. Earlier this month, the group successfully lobbied for a law prohibiting fracking in certain beer-producing regions of the country.
Very sorry to hear this news. There is so much pro-fracking propaganda put out by government and the oil and gas industry, people tend to believe it. SMEs in particular should be very wary of believing everything the governent tells them. Large corporations form a very powerful lobby; and people need to stand up for the jobs that already exist in rural areas. If our water supplies become contaminated, we will have to import even more of our food, and it will affect our exports too. The government turned down legislation that would have protected areas of outstanding natural beauty and areas that supply aquifer water to customers. What message does this send? That the government is a caring organisation that wants to protect the UK?
Fracking is going to start in North Yorkshire and Lancashire any time now according to the Company P.R. machine contrary to residents democratically expressed wishes.
The Environmental damages this will cause are irreversible, to the soil, to the water supplies from deep underground aquifers that supply much of our drinking water.
Health damage from the toxic airborne compounds released during the actual fracking process by the flaring and de-gassing of unwanted by products will be experienced within a several miles radius of each of the thousands of wells fracked! This is the lesson learnt from experiences elsewhere but hidden from our view until recently by the Oil and Gas Industry assisted by the uk government!
Multiple earthquakes linked to fracking have caused the industry to be shut down worldwide, why are the good people of England having it forced upon us against our common sense and democratic wishes.
Please help stop the fracking of our health and our environment before it’s too late?
How will breweries feel when the inevitable happens and All their Beer & Spirits are contaminated by the toxic Flowback of Frackwater from Leaking Fracked Wells and the public have been made ill by lazy CEOs who couldn’t be bothered to research and find out the Truth about Toxic Fracking? Your businesses would go under as You would be inundated with lawsuits.. but not the Fracking Industries..No, they have covered themselves! All Wells Fail – some in the first year of Fracking, others later but they All Fail eventually, as there is no fail-safe mechanism that can be employed to ensure they don’t ! Google Prof. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University. I think its time to wake up to reality and do your own research, instead of relying on The Gas Industry and Government ( who both have vested interests ) in telling you How Safe Unconventional Fracking is! Help us fight this beast from gaining a hold on contaminating our land, food and drinks. The Truth is out there on the web if you Seek it. This is in the interest of everyone who lives in England… Scotland and Wales have voted against Fracking already, why not England?