After over a century of coal ash and colliery waste dumping, the Tyne and Wear coastline is no stranger to industrial pollution. But soon a horrific new technology - underground coal gasification (UCG) - will endanger human health and the environment, backed by unflinching Government support and generous lashings of taxpayers' money.
… 'Underground coal gasification' hell-fires threaten … seaham-pier-cut.jpg After over a century of coal ash and colliery waste dumping, the Tyne … soon a horrific new technology - underground coal gasification (UCG) - will endanger human …
A company bidding to undertake 'underground coal gasification (UGC) - a notoriously hazardous and polluting process - in the UK has threatened a Scottish clean energy campaigner: shut up or get sued. Paul Mobbs reports ...
… Coal gas company warns - stop campaigning or … A company bidding to undertake 'underground coal gasification (UGC) - a notoriously … attention to the dangers of Underground coal gasification (UGC) - a technology so …
A wholesale corruption of science underlies the UK Government's insistence that gas from fracking offers a 'low carbon', low cost route to energy abundance, writes Paul Mobbs. On the contrary: it's expensive, over-hyped - and just as bad for climate change as coal.
… Fracking 'as bad for climate as coal' - UK's dodgy dossier exposed Paul Mobbs … - and just as bad for climate change as coal. As Charlie Chaplin said, "Wars, … impact on the climate as if you were burning coal. Needless to say, the oil and gas …
The UK government claim that fracking is a 'clean' energy source rests on the conclusions of a single scientific paper, writes Paul Mobbs. And now that paper has been conclusively invalidated: it uses misleading figures that understate the methane emissions from fracking, and subsequent findings have left it totally discredited. Yet the paper is still being quoted to justify fracking, and the fool the public on its climate change impacts.
… shale gas really is worse for climate than coal Paul Mobbs | 24th May 2017 News Fracking … circumstances it could be even worse than coal-fired power generation. The reason why … other available figures for conventional gas, coal-fired power and imported liquefied …
The Environmental Audit Committee today calls for shale fracking in the UK to be 'put on hold', writes Paul Mobbs. But the EAC is missing an even more dangerous technology that the Infrastructure Bill would support - underground coal gasification.
… Bill would support - underground coal gasification. Today will be an … a ban , fuelled by Dart Energy's proposed coalbed methane (CBM) developments around … Cluff Natural Resources plans for underground coal gasification (UCG) at Kincardine in the …
Political support for fracking is not just about energy, writes Paul Mobbs. It reflects the greater ecological and resource crisis at the root of our current economic woes - and only postpones the essential shift to a new kind of economy.
… about 'unconventional gas' - shale gas , coal-bed methane and underground coal gasification , often erroneously … is so bent upon fracking, or setting fire to coal seams underground, it's quite simple …
In a week which has seen the UK Government shift the fracking argument away from price benefits (always an erroneous case) the pro fracking lobby is now scrambling around to find and play up to the public the wider economic benefits shale gas development could bring to Britain. Alex Stevenson reports....
… the way in finding new sources of energy - coal in the 18th and 19th centuries, oil in … UK gas fracking boom 'may be dirtier than coal' As well as local outrage over 'fracking' … gas footprint may be higher than that of coal. Tom Levitt reports from the centre of …
None of the various technofixes on offer alter the fact that humanity has to learn to stop living on the last drops of cheap energy, and to start living within its means
… a wider role in the economy and indigenous coal production declined. By the 1970s, when … and gas production, and with our demand for coal now largely met by imports, energy demand …
Fracking is just another step on the fossil fuel treadmill, according to 'Snake Oil' by Richard Heinberg. High costs, diminishing returns and growing pollution will ultimately nail its future. Paul Mobbs urges readers - give a copy to your MP before it's too late!
… that's been tar sands; in Australia it's coal seam gas; in Russian that's drilling in …
Edelman, the global PR group, has a history of aggressive 'consent engineering' for the fossil fuel industry in North America, writes Paul Mobbs. So what are they doing running 'impartial' UK bodies including a Parliamentary group on unconventional oil and gas, and the 'independent' Task Force on Shale Gas? Are they really US-style 'astroturf' bodies designed to fool us all?
… PR-orchestrated 'spin' to promote shale gas, coalbed methane and underground coal gasification (UCG) as the best thing …
The Government sees fracking as the answer to the UK's energy problems. But as Alex Stevenson reports, support for it is weak among Lib Dem MPs, not to mention their voters. Could fracking soon be finished?
… shale has a lesser carbon output than heavy coal, it's still a very large contributor to … a more Conservative mindset from their coalition partners. Or perhaps it's down to …
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just begun to take oral evidence from a very select group of witnesses, writes Paul Mobbs in this open letter. Sadly its choices betray a systematic bias to industry and establishment figures - while community groups are entirely excluded.
… development in Britain today - shale gas/oil, coalbed methane and underground coal gasification. Two independent Commissions …
Why does the fracking lobby refuse to engage in open, public debate? Because, writes Paul Mobbs, it has already got its way, with the uncritical support of all the 'mainstream' media and political parties. You and I simply do not matter. So what are we going to do about that?
… contamination incidents as a result of 'coal seam gas' operations (what we over here call coalbed methane). Also in Australia, last year … ) abolished within the first year of the coalition Government coming to power. The …
Would UKIP be riding so high if voters knew of the party's links with powerful right-wing US corporate interests promoting fossil fuels, denying climate change, opposing gun control, and supporting big tobacco, teaching creationism in schools, healthcare privatisation and the lifting of nuclear power regulation? An Ecologist investigation exposes the real UKIP.
… based on "proven technologies" including coal and gas. In his speech to the party's …
With 20 months to go until the next general election, Britain's energy policy debate is already heating up, reports Alex Stevenson.....
… to try and address huge frustrations with the coalition's current approach? The answer is … unconventional gas - including fracking and coal bed methane extraction - has to offer the …
Ministers are determined to get fracking under way in the UK as fast as possible, so it's a 'fait accompli' in time for the election, writes Alex Stevenson. With a firm pro-fracking concensus in Parliament, only one thing can frustrate their plans - strong local campaigns to turn around MPs desperate for re-election in 2015. It even has a name: democracy.
… in power after 2015 might reverse the current coalition's efforts to make widespread … may surface with renewed ferocity. The coalition's junior partners are unlikely to … of fracked gas is comparable to that of coal. Add in the impact of shipping from US …
Cuts to feed-in tariffs and hostility to large-scale farms have undermined the UK's solar energy sector. But changes are under way in the heart of government. Could 2014 be the UK's 'year of the sun'?
… meanwhile the house next door is drawing down coal-fired electricity at 15p per unit. "The … better than it has done so far under the coalition government. Noble says he is …