Reconsider decision to allow oil drill expansion
OPEN letter to East Riding councillors.
I am writing to ask you to please reconsider the recent decision to allow Rathlin to expand developments to drill for oil at West Newton without a comprehensive environmental impact assessment.
The risk for environmental damage in the local area
There is a serious risk for damage to health and safety for the people and wildlife in the area around West Newton, if these operations go ahead – and even more, if it is not very carefully monitored by the council.
The site at West Newton A was closed some years ago because of damage to the environment.
There are many parties that potentially can be adversely affected by the operations – the area is home to many species of animals, there is farming of food and livestock nearby, there is groundwater that can become polluted, and there are the people who live in nearby farms and villages.
The big picture: the threat to our climate
It is widely recognised by an almost completely united science, as well as many governments, that we are in a climate emergency.
The UK Government also recognises this fact and is adopting policies to drastically reduce our carbon footprint.
To allow the expansion (or even continuation at all) of the work to extract oil and gas in West Newton is contradictory in this situation.
The main reason for the climate emergency is the ever-increasing emissions of greenhouse gases that work like a blanket and stop heat from escaping from our planet.
This has brought us to the brink of disaster, and a mass extinction is under way, with many species dangerously reduced in number, and more than one million species threatened by extinction. Humankind is also itself at huge risk because of this – and we have a window of only ten years to reverse this very dangerous development.
This means we need to keep as much of the fossil fuels as possible in the ground. Especially the oil produces a lot of greenhouse gases.
So instead of extracting more fossil fuels that do direct damage to our world, we should promote the development of renewable energy sources, such as sun and wind! Especially wind, which there is no shortage of in this area.