Gas Storage in Wyre: A Question of Safety

[flamesong]

This is a video I was asked to make for a group campaigning against the proposed storage of methane gas in redundant salt mine caverns under the River Wyre in Lancashire, England.

Copies were sent to local councillors and eventually the scheme was unanimously dismissed only for the government to step in and overturn the decision, partially on the grounds that councillors living within the area affected were not allowed to vote on the issue as they were deemed to be prejudiced; i.e. the people elected to represent an area were not allowed to represent the area if they lived in the area!

There were other issues of corruption which I was not allowed to go near but which were straight out of Bill Clinton's Field Guide to Influencing Policy Decisions Volume 2: Money.

I was gratified to hear that one copy had found its way into the hands of a young schoolgirl who had lent it to her teacher who then showed it to the whole school.

[yeti]

(08-08-2012 11:29 AM)flamesong Wrote:  the scheme was unanimously dismissed only for the government to step in and overturn the decision, partially on the grounds that councillors living within the area affected were not allowed to vote on the issue as they were deemed to be prejudiced; i.e. the people elected to represent an area were not allowed to represent the area if they lived in the area!

The scum in government who made this outrageous decision need to be publicly exposed, ridiculed and fired. A law needs to be passed ensuring that this cannot happen again.

Well done video, BTW...

[flamesong]

Thanks.

I don't live in that area anymore but if I remember correctly, the law was only introduced recently. But the worst of it was the revolving door between a council official who had caused a disastrous £1m+ deficit (the first in the council's history) with some crazy redundancy package which required that five council assets (property and land) be sold off to pay for it. The person then made himself redundant - costing the council even more money and was then employed as a consultant for the company proposing the gas storage scheme.

Unfortunately, the campaign group were a bit politically naive and proceeded far too gently whereas I would have thrown caution to the wind and exposed this by whatever means possible - but I was a bit of an outsider.

It beggars belief that the school I went to 30+ years ago in the same general area has converted its playground into a car park, built a[nother] gymnasium on one playing field and sold half of another playing field for houses to be built on. And we wonder why kids are lethargic agoraphobic Nintendo heads!

(08-08-2012 11:29 AM)flamesong Wrote:  the scheme was unanimously dismissed only for the government to step in and overturn the decision, partially on the grounds that councillors living within the area affected were not allowed to vote on the issue as they were deemed to be prejudiced; i.e. the people elected to represent an area were not allowed to represent the area if they lived in the area!

(08-09-2012 01:14 AM)yeti Wrote:  The scum in government who made this outrageous decision need to be publicly exposed, ridiculed and fired. A law needs to be passed ensuring that this cannot happen again.

Well done video, BTW...