At 830pm this Wednesday (16 Sept) at The Skylark in Portobello Green Screen is showing Our Forth’s film about the local campaign against Underground Coal Gasification featuring Portobello beach, the Wild Ones, Row Porty and many Portobello people.
Many many people in Portobello and local areas share Our Forth’s concerns relating to Unconventional Gas. We now have over 8,000 signatures on our petition (many of them local on paper), approaching 1000 followers on Facebook , 500 in our mailing list. We have an active local membership, are constituted with a steering group and are very active campaigning locally, with huge public support. We have Tommy Sheppard and Colin Beattie’s support us in presenting our petition to Nicola Sturgeon ahead of the SNP conference in October.
The next month is critical in our campaign for Underground Coal Gasification to be included in the moratorium. Organisers of SNP Annual Conference cannot have failed to have noticed pressure building in respect of their “fence-sitting” stance on UG. There is growing support amongst grassroots and Trades Union SNP members, for a permanent Ban on onshore Unconventional Gas and UCG, and impatience with continuing SG prevarication.
A number of local SNP Branches had submitted Resolutions to the Party Conference in Aberdeen in October calling for a permanent Ban on unconventional gas extraction, as well as for UCG to be included in the current moratorium. If the pressure continues, there is a real chance that UCG will be included in the moratorium. This is increasingly evident with recent moves by CLuff natural Resources to postpone their planning applications.
In order to contribute to the rising pressure Our Forth have
1) Plans to hand in our petition to Nicola Sturgeon ahead of SNP conference.
3) Are organising a demo on Forth Road Bridge on October 11th. We are organising coaches to take participants to the protest.
4) Produced 10 000 fliers and posters
How you can help:
Share Our Film
Please watch and share Our Forth’s film.
Sign the Petition
The online petition has over 6700 signatures online and continues to grow. We also had hundreds of signatures on paper.
Flier
Please find attached an electronic version of our most recent flier. This is being distributed to homes in Portobello and across Scotland by other groups and organisations.
News from Australia
News from Australia earlier this month confirmed that the Linc Energy Underground Coal Gasification trial in Chinchilla has caused irreversible environmental damage over an area the size of the central belt of Scotland, risking public health.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-10/linc-energy-secret-report-reveals-toxic-chemical-risk/6681740
This tiny UCG trial has likely caused the biggest environmental disaster in Australia’s history with government inspectors having to be hospitalised after being exposed to toxic gas just by collecting samples from the UCG disaster zone. This news report aired on primetime Australian TV this week. It has not been covered by the UK media.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4290767
Planned Events
26 September – Scotland is Against Fracking protest planned to take place outside Holyrood
11 October – Hands Over Our Forth event will see people link hands across the Forth Road Bridge
