YP Letters: Fracking threat to our water

From: Malcolm Hara B.Sc, Cherry Burton, Beverley.
A fracking rig.A fracking rig.
A fracking rig.

FURTHER to the letter (The Yorkshire Post, December 19), on “the five great perils of fracking”, I would also add the threat of 
toxic pollution to our drinking water.

We cannot exist without water. We have existed up to now without fracking and can continue to do so in the future.

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The drilling companies talk about “drilling mud” which is a disguise for a lethal combination of chemicals which should be openly published before any permissions are granted.

From: David F. Chambers, Sladeburn Drive, Northallerton.

A SPLENDID letter from Mr Watson (The Yorkshire Post, December 18) on man-made global warming. Just consider the aircraft jet engine. It works by forcibly emitting large quantities of greenhouse gas at high temperatures, and demands exclusively fossil fuel.

Biomass, wind power, hydraulics are inappropriate, as is carbon capture and storage. At any one moment thousands of these engines are operating worldwide.

This factor is very seldom mentioned – the clamour in this country is for more airports, additional runways, new destinations and faster turn- rounds.

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Keep up the global warming scare, but we can’t afford to do without the attendance of delegates at conferences in Paris, etc, or the annual holiday abroad, or the ability to mount bombing raids. Above all, we must not antagonise the air travel industries. This, to me, sounds like a less than wholehearted approach to saving the planet.

From: Clark Cross, Springfield Road Linlithgow.

SCOTLAND will be forced to import more electricity from England when coal-fired Longannet closes in March
2016.

Longannet produces 21 per cent of Scotland’s energy.

The SNP-dominated government hate fossil fuels and nuclear and have promised to close them down.

They blame the closure of Longannet on Westminster, citing the £40m transmission charges.

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Industry sources confirm that more nuclear, gas and coal power will have to be imported from the rest of the UK. Scotland already imports power from south of the Border on one in every five 
days.

In a show of solidarity SNP and Green politicians, pressure groups Friends of Earth, Stop Climate Chaos Stirling and especially Lang Banks of WWF Scotland should refuse to take “tainted electricity” from Westminster, switch off their lights and heating and cook over wood chips imported from cut-down trees in America and Canada.

Key role of transparency

From: ME Wright, Grove Road, Harrogate.

THANKS to Freedom of Information we learn that, among other claims, we have been required to pay £230 for an upmarket taxi, to take Baroness D’Souza to athe opera (The Yorkshire Post, December 23).

This is at the lower end of her publicly funded profligacy. If, as is claimed, ‘security’ considerations are involved, why not send her to embassies in a tank? As Lords’ Speaker, it is said that she earns £100,000 a year. ‘Earns’?

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This latest demonstration of Westminster’s arrogant disconnection is a potent reminder of why they are plotting to water down the FoI Act. It is an even more potent reason why they must not be permitted to do so.

Dredging part of the answer

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

WHILE accepting that the current situation regarding flooding is perhaps unprecedented, much of the damage could have been avoided had rivers and drains been dredged and ditches and gutters cleared. Sadly, the tree huggers and vole lovers have precedence over the care of humans and their property.

PM must put nation first

From: Ian Smith, Colston Close, Bradford.

SORRY, Tom Richmond (The Yorkshire Post, December 26), but this EU referendum is far more important than Mr Cameron and his party being a laughing stock.

Any leader should always put the country and its people first. Parliament will be the laughing stock if any MP is unable to, or chooses not to, vote according to their – and their constituents’ – consciences and public, not personal duty.

A Yorkshire name for tour

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From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

RE the Tour de Yorkshire. Surely the correct name for the cycling race in the Broad Acres should be the Tour t’Yorkshire?

Why road to hell is paved

From: Nigel Boddy, Solicitor, Fife Road, Darlington.

THE pedestrianisation of some of our smaller town centres has been a disaster. In my town, people expect to be able to step out of their cars and walk straight into shops.

That is why out of town shopping is booming. Those businesses of all kinds which are thriving are in streets where people can still park right outside the shop or office they want to visit.

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On the high streets of Yarm, Barnard Castle and Northallerton people can still park right outside the shops they want to visit. Has, pedestrianisation caused the decline of many of our smaller regional town centres? Were they ever big enough to adapt to the notion in the first place? How about trying a rate-free period of five years to see if we reverse the decline? We must help our town centre businesses blighted by no on street parking or lose them altogether.