09/09/2013 Inside Out South

Tonight we have a special programme. This is the Kimmeridge shale

burning. A little fire made of stone. I'll be investigating claims

that the technology to get the gas out is not safe. This is all about

the government with dollar signs in its eyes and not the welfare of this

community. And I'll be finding out how a protest that started like this

group to this. Sleepy West Sussex today became the front line of

fracking protesters. I'm Jon Cuthill and this is Inside Out for the South

of England. Over the past weeks, protests

against oil exploration in Sussex have hit the headlines. Hundreds of

people marched on the village of Balcombe when news spread of a

controversial new technique fracking, which might be used to

extract shale gas if it was discovered in shale rocks under a

mile —— a mile underground. As they attempted to blockade an exploratory

well run by Cuadrilla, a Brighton MP and her son were joining the

protesters. Officers are trying to break up a sit down protest outside

the gates to Cuadrilla's education site. On the left is the Green

Brighton member for Parliament Caroline Lucas. As she is led away,

protesters applaud her and the world's media rush to get pictures.

But alongside the emotions, what are the facts and how realistic is it

that the rocks beneath our feet, from Dorset to Kent, are rich in oil

and gas that only now new technology can release? Well, our journey

begins not here in West Sussex but on the Dorset coast.

This is Kimmeridge on the Isle of Purbeck, famous for snorkelling,

surfing and fossil hunting. From here, you can just about glimpse me

nodding donkey oil pump at Wytch Farm, the largest onshore oilfield

in Western Europe. It's been operating since the 1950s, proving

there is nothing new about oil wells in the South's countryside. This is

pumping oil from beneath the region's most expensive property

around Poole Harbour. But that's not what brought them to this speech.

I'm here for the shale and Professor Ian Stewart from Plymouth University

has come along to help me understand what it is about a relatively common

rock that has got the oil companies and the government so excited. While

shale may be buried under Bath swathes of land across the South,

here it's handily risen to the surface and I'm about to get a

proper look. Is this the stuff here? Yeah, this is part of it. This

is more of a sandy unit but it's very extensive. You can see it all

the way along. Down underneath the cliff, it continues to the

subsurface, that hidden world. But there's different types of shale,

aren't there? It's all about the right type? There is shale and

there's shale and one of the things you don't know until you get right

down close to it is whether it will have gas in it. It's really hard

just from serving it. You have to test it. But what we do know is this

stuff is packed full of hydrocarbons, of oil and gas, so the

chances are the stuff that is down there will be the same. The thing is

that that gas is tucked away. A nice little fossil there. It's tucked

inside so it's very difficult to get at it and that's the problem — how

do you get it out? It's always been here. And the fossils are clue to

what it is — its organic matter which is compact it and then

cooked? Yes, so you've got a muddy sea bed with life — and you can see

lots of evidence of that — and it gets buried and push down like a

pressure cooker. The rocks push it down and it gets warmer as it pushed

down and that cooks up the organic material, much of it planned debris

that has been washed in and animal debris. As that changes, it's cooked

up into hydrocarbons, something called courage in. The Kerridge is

what we can as oil and gas. Fracking enables us to get at the kerogen.

The aim is to reach tiny cracks in the rock, some less than one

millimetre across. Inside these cracks like molecules of gas, which

is what's left of all that cooked up organic matter. The next stage is to

pumping water and chemical that high—pressure to widen the cracks.

They call the cracks —— proppants are added to the mix, which are tiny

sound like grains. —— sand like. Where is the good stuff? You see the

black layer just underneath? This stuff — this is what it's all about.

This stuff here. So that contains energy? Yes. It seems really odd.

It's a rock, a stone. The thing is, it's because it's trapped inside in

amongst all the particles, just tiny molecules of gas, but millions of

them. That's why it's been so difficult to get at. What we've done

as jollity as for 50 years in the North Sea is, the geology that's

leaked this stuff for millions of years has trapped it in the sand.

The point is, we now realise that the oil and gas is coming from the

shale below. If we can get up the shale, it's packed full of it. So

packed with fuel is the shale at Emirates that it's known as the

burning beach. Back in the 1800s, just up the road, Kimmeridge shale

was being used to keep the street lights burning. Shale was heated up

to produce gas and there was an ambitious plan to use it in Paris to

light up the whole city. Sadly for the company concerned, the Parisi

and is hated the smell. —— the people of Paris hated the smell.

Look at this, we've set it going. You can create a fire. This is the

Kimmeridge shale burning. All these little flakes are rich in kerogen

and you can smell it. It's like a Garrard forecourt. —— garage. You

get the distinctive smell. It's a little fire made of stone. Built in

1830, the famous Clavell Tower would soon overlook a tramway used to

carry shale to a factory in Weymouth. A factory which would

later be closed as a public nuisance because of a pungent odours. Here,

as well, one company made their bid to light up Paris. There are clues

to an industrial past year. Yeah, all around. Look at the Tower. This

is all part of an industrial landscape. 100 years ago this was

being worked in all sorts of ways that people forget about today. The

first drilling for shale gas was in this region 130 years ago. They

drilled down and in order to see what was down there, they lowered a

line and there was an explosion and that was the first inauspicious

start for shale gas. I guess when you come here today and it is so

beautiful and you don't see the industrialisation, you forget it had

that potential and I guess that's the problem — do people wanted to

come back into a place like this? With the arrival of Cuadrilla on

their doorstep, all come started to say no and a peaceful protest by

local residents began. Cuadrilla claims Britain has billions of cubic

metres of shale reserves of ripe for exploitation, raising hopes of a

home—grown energy bonanza and fears of pollution. Residents don't have

the intellect to find out more. —— turned to the internet to find out

more. I don't trust the whole fracking industry. It's worked in

America, great for them. They have vast wide—open plains and maybe it

suits their top Griffey but the south—east is so densely populated

why would they even think of doing it? There are too many risks to

pollution, to the water. Where are they going to get the water from?

We're always having droughts. Where are they going to take the waste

water? That's before you even start looking at the traffic in the

village. Have you seen the high Street that the big tankers will be

going through? There are so many issues, so many risks, and I'm just

really disappointed that the government are pushing it and are

encouraging it to happen in this country.

The village organised an emergency meeting and invited a Polish film

director to show his documentary about how Polish farmers tried to

fight off fracking. If this village, which is a beautiful, picturesque

place... Imagine all the huge lorries coming through here with

sand and chemicals and water going back and forth. I'm not talking

about ten or 15 trucks but hundreds of vehicles. If you just consider

that alone, they should think about these issues because it's the

quality of life that will be affected, not just the environment.

The farmers that I filmed took a stand and I think people admire them

for that. They say, if this group of farmers in the eastern Poland can

fight Chevron and win, maybe we can win also. Shale gas is not a

solution. Somebody to Dave said that they were here and were not leaving

and there was a thing we could do. This kind of thinking is faulty. It

is this kind of thinking that will destroy communities because if they

don't make the decision to fight, later on when they look back and see

what will have happened to the community, they will say, " we had

an opportunity and didn't do anything about it".

Within days, people described as protection of protesters and others

joined from Brighton. They pointed out that Cuadrilla had been forced

to suspend fracking near Blackpool after causing minor earthquakes.

They also had to withdraw a brochure which the Advertising Standards

Authority said exaggerated evidence about the safety of fracking.

Cuadrilla has repeatedly said it has no current plans to frack and bowls

come. It doesn't even know if sufficient oil gas is there. We're

in an exploration phase, that's the whole point in digging these wells.

You know, you need data to do this. This is a scientific driven process.

You need to assess the data and then decide one, does it need to happen,

too, if it did happen would it work? And would it work safely and

sensibly? Until you do exploration runs, you need the data so I don't

answer questions without data. Protesters are unconvinced and point

to the United States where it is claimed fracking bonanza has

polluted underground water and made wells run dry. Since they began

drilling here, I suffer from seizures and through all of this,

right before our water turned purple, I went into renal failure.

The water stinks, that animals won't drink it, I don't drink the water.

Fears like this wary and environmentalists, despite

assurances from the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of engineering

at our safety regulations are sufficient to ensure there would be

problems. The drilling process is toxic, the mud is toxic and the

drilling will be radioactive. This is not a safe process. They have

been dishonest to residents. We can't trust them.

A lot of people have been saying, look, we don't want fracking here,

it is bad for the environment, but what is the alternative? That is

interesting, what is the alternative? South Downs, recently,

of which many of us try to help, they wanted to put three wind

turbines on the South Downs and that was given open discussion. They made

the decision to say no. Three wind turbines which were going to power

quite a number of houses, OK. That is taking you off the grid and makes

a lot of sense, but we would rather have that.

If people are saying not this and not that, a lot of people have

protested against wind farms, we are running out of alternatives and we

need power now. How about reducing, stop using as much as you use now?

How about that? How about we recognise the fact that we are

addicted to fossil fuels and we don't have the ability to ban what

we have in reserve? Where people can get misled is they

think we can supply all of our energy needs from renewables alone.

Remember, energy needs are not just electricity. Electricity is probably

a third. Where is heating going to come from? What will people caught

on? Werewolf you'll come from? They will need gas and they will need

oil. I have no issue with renewables and the growth of renewables, but we

need to be realistic that we will need that for decades. The question

is not should we have renewables or not, frankly we showed, the question

is, whilst we build the share which is currently three or 4% of the

total energy supply, we have another 96% ago. Where do we get our energy

from? What is the solution today if we don't want that tomorrow? The

first thing we need to start with the non—negotiable is. The report

says the economic cost of not dealing with climate change is

vastly greater than the cost of what we are currently doing. Not doing

this is the one thing we know is the absolute priority. Renewables

supergroup where we link resources of the entire region would create a

positive interdependency politically. But not enough.It

absolutely world. Why are we giving five times more taxpayers money to

fossil fuel curb these instead of renewables? Because these companies

have power. Lobbyists have their interests are served and I am still

shaking with frustration. A decent future for our children is being

sold down the river. They have started work and we have no

information. We are being pushed around, bullied and bamboozled.

These questions are rubbish. The only have to look at one of the

creators of hydraulic fracturing and he says it is absolutely

unpredictable. We don't know what they put in there if they actually

go ahead and discover oil or gas. What if that goes into our

reservoir? That is our life source. I hope and pray that Balcombe is not

sacrificial, but they already have the drill bits in there. I hope

people will wake up and smell the methane and this will turn around

the energy policy. Cuadrilla says its baseline studies prove there is

already methane in the water, not caused by its activities, but what

about allegations that the government is unfairly favouring oil

over renewables? Is an irony that the government pushed the

legislation through which gave local authorities the ability to turn down

applications for wind farms without giving much explanation. In the same

breath, or a couple of months later, they are now saying they are

blocking local authorities from stopping any planning applications

for fracking unless there are very strong arguments not to. It is a

very unlevel playing field for wind farms versus fracking. Effectively

the government is saying they will bypass issues of local policy and

planning for fracking, but what is many obstacles in the way as

possible for wind farms. Fracking is probably no worse than

the other issues, but it is no better. It is certainly more

difficult to get to, so there is energy involved in trying to extract

the gas in the first place. At the end of the day, we will run out of

that as well. I have seen many reports say we will have enough gas

to keep us going until 2030, that is not very long. Actually it makes it

sound like it is fine, but we still have a big problem ahead and that is

finding alternative sources of energy. And ideally cleaner sources

of energy. Whether that is wind farms, solar power, these are all

safer, cleaner, initially more expensive, but in the long term all

secure sources. This year, Britain's reliance on

foreign energy hit a 40 year high. Finding alternatives has to be a

priority. This is what we have to do to get democracy. Despite protests,

the Prime Minister has welcomed shale fracking right across the

country. I will give you one figure to let you think about how much we

could be missing out, in the whole EU last year, there were 100 shale

gas wells dug. At the same time in the United States, there were

10,000. The EU has about three quarters as much shale gas as the

US, so we are missing out big time at the moment and I want to make

sure Britain doesn't miss out because I want is to be a success in

the global race. Mr Cameron later made it clear he wanted fracking to

happen everywhere, not just in the North where one Tory peer suggested

fewer people would object. There are large and desolate areas, certainly

up in the north—east, where there is plenty of room for fracking. Well

away from anybody's residence. For many in industry, shale gas could be

there and set of economic economy —— recovery and help drive down energy

bills. There are a number of benefits from the development of

shale oil and gas. Firstly the creation of a new industry which

would create tens of thousands of jobs on the drilling sites and in

the supply chain. Secondly, you replace imported oil and gas which

is a big benefit. Thirdly, there is a lot of tax revenue for the

government and lastly, UK manufacturing is in the competitive

threat from cheaper energy in countries like the US. What shale

gas and shale oil can do is improve energy costs for British

manufacturers. How realistic is it that an oil bonanza lies beneath our

feet in the south of England? I set off to Nottingham where an

extraordinary story of shale rocks could have the answer. This is a big

warehouse where we store a lot of cylinders of rock which have been

pulled out of boreholes and Wells all over the United Kingdom.

Probably hundreds of miles of this here. Amongst this lot somewhere is

the right sort of shale? Yeah. If you look at this one, it is

incredibly dense and there is no way you could see any holes in it.

Amongst this stuff, there are holes which are micro size. Thousands of a

millimetre. Inside there is a mesh of spaces and holes and organic

matter. All of that stuff has been cooked up in this rock. The gas that

has formed is in the tiny spaces we can't see, but if you were to drop

this into a bowl of water, you would have to risk taking it out of the

sub surfaces and it would bubble away for lots of time. It takes a

long time for the gas to come out. With all of those samples, how can

we be sure that southern shale will prove as productive as the shale of

Lancashire? Time for some high—tech gadgetry. Let's start in Kimmeridge

Bay. We know there is shale on the surface. Yes, Kimmeridge shale which

is what occurs on the bay and you can light it and gas comes off it.

There is an newly organic matter. You can still see the outline of the

Kimmeridge Bay area, but he can see the rocks underneath it. If we stop

there, that is the Kimmeridge Clay, mushy black stuff that you get

around the Bay Area. You have three quite big shale layers in that area.

But is it the right sort of shale? We don't think it is because it has

probably not been cooked up enough to make shale gas. It is also

probably not brittle enough or crack a bowl. If you were to try and

fracture it, it probably would not break in the way you wanted it to.

We know there is oil in Dorset. So that is probably this lower

shale, the deepest layer which has been cooked up enough to make oil.

That is probably where most of the oil came from, but we don't think it

has gone far enough to make gas. Let's come back to the surface and

head east where we know they are successfully pumping oil and let's

head to Balcombe where the protests. Again, we don't think the shale is

right for fracking. Not only does it probably not contain the right gas,

it is probably not very brittle. It won't be able to be broken to make

gas come out. Play set we think has perspective is the North of England.

There is shale that is 300 million years old. It sits underneath the

famous call that gave the North of England the Industrial Revolution.

It is not the geography that matters, it is whether the people

want it and think that the landscape will be damaged by it or whether

they think it is not safe. It doesn't matter what we say

geologically or technically, it is possible to extract gas because they

have been doing it in the United States, it is whether people feel

they wanted and it is something we need in this country. A few days ago

there were new protests in Lancashire. With fears that fracking

was about to restart near black hole. Cuadrilla confirmed it is

looking at six sites in the zero, but it is suspending activity at

Balcombe later this month while a new planning application is

considered. Language at Balcombe has changed

since you have been there, West Sussex began as a good prospect,

then we heard that it was unlikely, due to poor transport links. Where

are we at now with Balcombe and the prospects? I don't take that

interpretation. It remains a good prospect. What we said was unlikely

was that the Balcombe site itself would become a production site. That

is a very long way from saying that West Sussex is not a good oil

prospect. It still is. In Balcombe the villages divided. Many long for

the protest is to go home and others would welcome the benefits.

Campaigners remain fearful and determined. When you live in a place

and you love nature, it is unthinkable to have an oil company

arrive and tell you that they are planning to drive tankers up and

down and pour chemicals into the ground. Our response was not to

believe it would ever happen. I have worked in oil exploration all my

working life and define some good Wells, you don't find some good

ones. Some fail for technical reasons, some fail for other reasons

and then you find fantastic ones. You have to wait and see. If you

were a betting man? Despite my Irish accent, I don't wager. We will wait

for the data. How can it be worth the risk? How can you promise that

you will keep us safe? Today, West Sussex county council announced it

will remove people, tents, canopies and caravans from the roadside at

Bolton. The council said if the site is not vacated within 24 hours,

court action will be taken in the interest of road safety. ——

Balcombe. So, what you think? Send me an

e—mail. Coming up next week, we give accident and emergency health check

and Laura finds out whether laughter is the best medicine. Until then,

goodbye. To me, laughter is the best job in

the world. It really gets you going and makes you feel alive.