YP Letters: Conflict goes on over facts on fracking

FRACK Free Ryedale, in conjunction with Friends of the Earth, clearly now find themselves in a very difficult position.

FoE produced a leaflet which was distributed nationally with claims that fracking could cause cancer, water contamination, air pollution and higher asthma risk, plummeting house prices and higher insurance costs.

After complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority, FoE spent 14 months trying to substantiate their claims but could not. Finally, they conceded and agreed to withdraw their leaflet and not repeat the claims without sound evidence. These are many of the very issues that Frack Free Ryedale, supported by Friends of the Earth, have used to create fear, stress and anxiety in our local communities.

Now Frack Free Ryedale and FoE are in a dilemma; the basis of their whole campaign against fracking has been exposed as a sham. What can they now use as a weapon against the gas industry and anyone who supports it? They are now trying to scare people into thinking this whole region will become covered in gas well pads, compressor stations, pipelines and processing plants.

From: Michael Farman, Willow Grove, Beverley.

ON December 13 last year, the Environmental Protection Agency, the USA’s Government body for regulating fracking, released its “Final Report on the Impacts from Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water”.

It examined the scientific evidence, and identified “cases of impacts on drinking water at each stage in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle”. It went on to conclude that “it was not possible to fully characterise the severity of the impacts, nor was it possible to calculate or estimate the frequency of impacts”.

This report comes after nearly 60 years of inland fracking in the USA, using evolving technologies.

Here in the UK, the Government and the fracking companies are determined to go ahead with wide-scale fracking at sites occupying a huge area of the country, despite the different nature of UK geology and our reliance on aquifers immediately below many of these sites.

Our Environment Agency has very limited experience to date of high volume hydraulic fracturing, has had its funding cut to the bone, and admits it will rely heavily on signing off on paperwork by the companies.

Considering these circumstances, I ask readers to decide for themselves whether it is safe to go ahead with this new and invasive technology that would spread across and beneath our vulnerable countryside.

Concern over bank branch

From: Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP, Leeds North West.

I AM extremely concerned about the recent announcement by Yorkshire Bank to close their Headingley branch later this year. This branch is an important local service and if the closure goes ahead many customers will seek to find an alternative bank (The Yorkshire Post, January 19).

Yorkshire Bank closing both branches in LS6 and abandoning the Headingley and Hyde Park area, isn’t acceptable. I understand the next nearest branch of Yorkshire Bank is in Leeds city centre, which is wholly inappropriate as it is a significant distance for many older and vulnerable customers, and shows a lack of understanding of the diverse nature of Headingley.

Headingley has a large number of older residents who prefer to visit their local branch, as well as local traders and other residents who prefer to seek financial advice face-to-face. Yorkshire Bank needs to take the concerns of Headingley residents into account and immediately reconsider the closure of this branch.”

Wartime solutions

From: Robert Holman, Water Lane, Farnley.

READING the problems of the overcrowding in the NHS hospitals by bed blockers (human beings), I spent three weeks in a stately home after my appendix operation during the war. The local doctor was on call when needed by the 90 servicemen sent there to convalesce.

During the First World War, Beckett Park, Leeds, was also used, most of the stately homes became billets for our aircrews in Lincolnshire. Priorities? Problems solvable before 2020.

No need to go ape at deaths

From: Professor J.A. Double, Carlinghow Hill, Upper Batley.

WHILST I can see that many would be worried and concerned by the article in Journal of Science Advances stating that many primate species are under the threat of extinction, perhaps by the activities of man, in reality this is just evolution, the survival of the fittest, and nothing will change this process.

That’s why the dinosaurs died out.

Have a parade

From: David Treacher, Nelson Road, Hull.

AS part of Hull’s City of Culture, it might be good if the Lord Mayor’s parade was brought back this year, going though the city from west to east as it used to for a number of years. Floats could showcase business and trade in the city over the years.

Capitol ideas

From: Graham Branston, Emmott Drive, Rawdon.

WASHINTON DC and the Capitol building in particular were on display during the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

What may surprise many is that one of the architects of America’s famous government building was Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who came from Fulneck, Pudsey.