DAFYDD WIGLEY: 'CAUTION REQUIRES A FRACKING MORATORIUM'

The dangers - at both a global and local level - associated with fracking for gas should trigger a precautionary principle and both exploration and exploitation should be “put on hold” until much more is known about the threats such technology poses...

Dafydd Wigley (front, right) with local UK parliamentary candidate Ben Foday (front, second from left) and local Plaid Cymru activists.

This was the theme of a keynote speech by former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley at a public meeting in Penarth. He has pressed in the House of Lords for the National Assembly to be empowered to impose a moratorium on fracking in Wales, as is being granted to Scotland’s Parliament.

“In global terms, we should be moving away from carbon-based sources of energy and put far more effort into renewables, such as the excellent Swansea Bay lagoon scheme,” said Lord Wigley. “In local terms, I am really worried about using fracking technology in areas which have resident populations who could be adversely affected by the dangers of fracking poisoning water supplies.”

Lord Wigley drew attention to the fact that each fracking “job” requires between a million and eight million gallons of water and the use of up to 40,000 gallons of chemicals; that there are 600 different such chemicals which have been used in America, some of which are carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and others toxic.

He quoted one survey of a hundred water wells in Texas which showed that at a distance of two miles from the well, over 30% had arsenic levels in the water which were above the safety limit. A rig “blow-out” in Organ County, Texas last May caused the spillage of 184 barrels of toxic fluid. In Pennsylvania last year, a spill of a quarter of a million gallons of toxic fluid led to local families being evacuated from their homes and to one company being heavily fined.

“It is because this technology has not been proven safe that towns like Denton in Texas voted in a referendum last autumn to ban fracking, as did the State of Vermont in 2012,” he said. “Both Holland and Germany have implemented a moratorium on fracking and France has banned the technology. In these circumstances, we should have the power in the National Assembly for Wales to apply a similar moratorium without delay so that the communities threatened with fracking don’t find this being imposed on them without the dangers being known and so that the companies considering fracking are duly warned that they won’t have any automatic green light to wreak environmental and human havoc in Wales for their own greedy purposes.”

Dafydd Wigley added that the Assembly was closer to the people of Wales than is Whitehall and Westminster and that an indicative resolution in the Assembly last month had shown AMs on a cross-party basis supported a moratorium.

He warned, however, that until new powers are devolved to the Assembly, they won’t have the authority to implement a moratorium and that implementing a new Government of Wale Bill after the General Election will depend on UK parties being forced, by voters in Wales – as is happening in Scotland – to be forced to show a greater commitment to Wales than has been the case up to now.

Dafydd Wigley and Ben Foday with Penarth's 2016 National Assembly candidate, Dafydd Trystan (left)

The meeting was also addressed by Ben Foday, the Party of Wales/Plaid Cymru candidate for the Westminster election, who said that environmental issues were one of his key priorities.

He called for natural resources in Wales to be brought under Welsh control so that decisions could be made in future by the people who live in Wales and who have the interests of Wales at heart.

The meeting also heard from Coun Ian Johnson, the party’s candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan, who has been actively campaigning against fracking in his constituency.

The speeches were followed by a wide-ranging discussion with topics including the challenges of climate change and the need to develop a suitable energy mix.

Plaid Cymru’s Adrian Roper, who chairs its Penarth Branch, welcomed the speakers and members of the audience to the meeting, which was chaired by Dafydd Trystan Davies, the National Chair of the party and its candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth in the Assembly elections next year.