Classic watermelon

(Green on the outside, red on the inside)

Here he goes:

I got this in my email, thought I'd share it:
The government is trying to change the law so big energy companies can drill for gas under our homes - without asking us. [1]
A licence to drill in Tonbridge and Malling has already been given to a big energy company. [2] So unless these plans are stopped, gas could be sucked from under your home very soon.
But together, we could do just that. Because to change the law the government needs MPs to vote for it in parliament. And the vote's in just a few weeks. [3] Let's make it clear that backing dirty energy companies over constituents would be a toxic move.

Fair enough, a concerned citizen.

Till we get to here:

The plans - simple changes to existing trespass law - could mean your home surrounded by noisy machines, and your local park turned into a gas field. All without your permission. The process - known as fracking - could also poison our water and produce toxic waste. And it’s known to cause earthquakes. [4]

But where does he get this impartial information from?

Those well known beacons of truth.

Greenpeace, Friends of the earth, 38 degrees,the Guardian, and of course, the BBC.

I replied politely with the facts:

I'll give the case for fracking.

Cuadrilla Resources believes there are 200 trillion cubic feet of "shale" gas in the Bowland basin, which could result in a Lancashire gas boom creating 5,600 jobs at peak production.

Shale is a type of onshore gas common in the US, which is extracted by blasting apart rock in a process called fracking.
More testing is needed, but the estimates suggest Britain could have more shale gas than Poland, which has been considered Europe's biggest holder of probable reserves.

Others have calculated that this could make us gas sufficient for the next 30 years.

A bit of an explanation  on what it is.

Unconventional gas is the collective term used to describe tight gas, shale gas and/or coal bed methane (CBM). While conventional gas resources can be developed and produced without any special well completions, most unconventional gas production requires the rock to be fractured (“fracked”) or stimulated to allow gas to escape from the tight rock and flow through the wellbore to the surface. These special well completions made drilling for unconventional gas uneconomical for many years.

Toward the end of the 20th century, the combination of two existing technologies – horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – shifted unconventional gas production into the main stream. The potential of shale gas, tight gas and CBM has been known for centuries, with the first shale gas wells drilled in the 1820s. However, it is only with recent technological improvements that extracting the resources has become an economically viable option.

Currently, natural gas has approximately 60 years of proven reserves at current demand levels, but according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), this rises to more than 250 years if the unconventional gas potential is added. Clearly, unconventional gas may play a large part in ensuring the security of global energy supply for years to come.

If only we could make our Politicians see sense. I’m all for conservation, but how do we do that if we bankrupt ourselves on the Altar of green crap?

I wonder if he’ll reply?