Walney report: Government is seeking to ban groups it disagrees with, says Good Law Project

 

Responding to Lord Walney’s review of protests, Good Law Project executive director Jo Maugham said: 

We are firmly into the territory of our government banning organisations whose politics it disagrees with. This is a sinister and shameful development, which moves us closer to the plastic democracies of Turkey and Hungary and further from our peers.

Clamping down on dissent does not make issues like global conflict and the climate crisis go away. A competent government that values freedom of speech would be trying to solve the big issues, not criminalise the messengers.

The man responsible for this report, Lord Walney, has links to an arms manufacturer supplying weapons to Israel which has been targeted by Palestine Action and he has close links to the oil and gas industry whose ecocide Just Stop Oil targets. LINK

What really motivates this report - the public interest or money?

Brent Cabinet approves 2 year 'Purchase in Advance' energy deal

 

The first meeting of the new Brent Cabinet this morning approved a new Purchase in Advance energy supply contract for energy and gas across the Brent Council estate  including some schools. The contract is for a two year period 2022-24 rather than 4 years and for 22-23 represents a doubling in price compared with 21-22, reflecting the current energy crisis.

 

Cllr Paul Lorber addressed the Cabinet and this is the official record of the decision:

 

Cabinet noted the comments made by Councillor Lorber who had requested to speak at the meeting in respect of the item.  In addressing Cabinet, Councillor Lorber referred to section 3.2 of the report and sought further details on the basis of the decision taken in 2020 to provide for a two rather than four year energy supply period under the procurement framework along with an outline of any associated financial implications given the current and unprecedented increase in wholesale energy costs.

 

In responding to the comments raised, Councillor Mili Patel (as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform) drew attention to the independent assessment of the Council’s energy procurement policy which had confirmed the proposed re-procurement arrangements remained fit for purpose and achieved prices better than market average as well as offering a range of additional services of value to the Council.  The proposed re-procurement and purchasing approach had also been designed to mitigate against overall market risk whilst also seeking to support the Council’s environmental objectives in considering how best to move towards procuring greener and zero carbon energy.

 

In terms of the overall financial impact (as detailed within section 8 of the report), members were advised of the difficulty in securing fixed term wholesale energy supply costs with the arrangements and approach outlined within the report designed to secure an optimal price for required energy usage and associated services whilst also seeking to mitigate against the risk and minimise significant exposure to further wholesale energy market volatility in the short to medium term.  Members noted the approach outlined also included the potential to avoid significant additional costs on energy contract prices in 2022-23 (on the basis detailed within the exempt appendix to the report).

 

Having considered the comments made and recognised the difficulties in predicting future market volatility at the time the decision was made to agree a two rather than four year energy supply period Cabinet RESOLVED:

 

(1)      To approve the award of a contract for the supply of electricity to NPower Limited for two years from 1^st October 2022 via a call-off from LASER Framework Y18003, and

 

(2)      To approve the award of a contract for the supply of gas to Total Gas and Power for two years from 1^st October 2022 via a call-off from the LASER Framework Y18002, and 

 

(3)      that alternatively to (1) and (2) above, to approve the award of contracts for gas and electricity to the next ranked Suppliers on Lot 1 of each of the Frameworks referred to in section 5 of the report, if NPower Limited or Total Gas and Power cannot, or do not accept the offer of a Council contract. Such award shall be in accordance with the offer and award process described in Section 7 of the report.

 

(4)      To approve the Council’s entry into an amended Access Agreement with Kent County Council referred to in sections 7.11 and 7.12 in the report, to enable its participation and purchase of gas  ...  view the full decision text for item 7.

 

The full Cabinet paper can be found HERE

Turkey & Cyprus - New Threats & Old Wars Monday July 8th Brent Trades Hall

Brent Council reiterates opposition to fracking as company plans to drill for gas in Harlesden

--> Brent Council has reiterated its opposition to fracking in the borough following my recent story LINK about the PR offensive by London Local Energy seeking support for its plans to drill for gas in Artesian Close, Harlesden.
London Local Energy LINK claim to concentrate on the 'product not the process' and so do not mention the word 'fracking' anywhere in their publicity. It is unlikely to be so easy to avoid controversy.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Lead Member for Environment, said today that the council is absolutely opposed to fracking:

We made our position clear in 2013 and this remains unchanged. Any approach by would-be-frackers is not welcome.

In November 2013 Brent Council announced it was seeking to make Brent a 'no-fracking' zone LINK and Cllr Butt, leader of the council, said:

While there may be advantages to fracking in some parts of the country it would be dangerous and reckless for companies to start drilling in Brent. I will do everything legally within my power to address the concerns of residents and keep Brent a frack-free zone.
Councils have significant and widespread powers which allow us to stand up for the rights of residents. I am determined to use these powers to help reassure people that fracking in Brent will always be a non-starter.

While fracking may not be planned for Brent yet, the rapid pace and scale of fracking technology means that we need to act now if we are to ensure we have the necessary examination of the powers we have to potentially prevent it from happening in the future.

Brent Friends of the Earth have made the following statement:

Friends of the Earth has called for fracking to be banned in the UK. In the US and in Australia fracking has contaminated drinking water.  New York State, France and a number of other countries and American States have banned it. Scotland and Wales have also stopped all fracking while they further examine the risks We know that any process which involves extracting and burning more fossil fuels will make climate change worse. That is a huge danger. So let’s not do it. The plans suggested may be better than importing gas as we are currently doing but not better than renewables. We should be concentrating on developing renewable energy. 

PR blitz to enable drilling for gas in Harlesden

Eschewing the use of the word 'fracking' London Local Energy LINK have launched a public relations blitz to persuade people that it will be fine to look for oil and gas in the Harlesden NW10 area. They claim to focus on the product, not the process, thereby ignoring issues around fracking or other extraction methods.

They state, without giving any evidence for the claim:

We start by correcting two key errors: Gas development is not surface intensive, and nor is local natural gas best left in the ground to fight carbon emissions and climate change.

We don’t want public acceptance or acquiescence. We want to create public enthusiasm. We ask for the media and the public to abandon outdated concepts and join us in an informed debate involving the many, not the few.

They outline their plan:

The White Heather Laundry at  what is now Artesian Close London NW10 8RW (see map),  was an extremely successful commercial laundry business that drilled a well for water in 1910.

According to contemporary records in the public and private domain, the White Heather Laundry found over 250 feet of oil shows below 1500 feet. That is a very significant amount, and there are many discoveries which produce from 50 feet thick shows -or less.  Equally, there are wells which tried to prove up oil fields from far thinner strata and were unsuccessful. LLE may fail too. But why should we not look?

From the laundry’s perspective, it wasn’t the water they needed, or at least it was too salty, bubbly and oily to be of any us to a laundry. 

The Willesden well didn’t find oil, but it did show indications of gas. LLE’s geological analysis is the intellectual property of London Local Energy Limited and we will not release this publicly at this time.

Returning to today,  London Local Energy wants to drill and analyse the cores from the NW10 area to a greater depth, with an eye on using today’s non-intrusive yet potentially highly productive methods. We can drill under the old wells from any number of locations from up to five miles away, although a gas fired power station* sounds a reasonable enough location and the owners of the power station are aware of our efforts.

*The power station behind the Leopold Primary School Annex in Brentfield Road (Previously the Brent Teachers' Centre)

LLE  conclude: 

We don’t see LLE’s resources as being game changers. We’re the wildcatters of Willesden, but we don’t look good in cowboy hats. This may not be an especially productive  gas field on a global scale, but it will be one that could make a significant contribution to both London’s energy security and carbon footprint. Let’s look!

After any license approval, we anticipate a two to three year process of exploration and analysis to assess if the geology supports a movement toward the next phase. That would be the appropriate time to have a debate over production.
 

London Local Energy’s 3 Step Plan:

1.     Oil and Gas Authority to open 15^th Onshore Licensing Round as soon as possible

2.     On license award,  revisit proven hydrocarbon discoveries in London NW10

3.     If resources allow produce local onshore natural gas with minimal surface impact  and maximum CO2 reductions.