FFS Survey

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Transcript of FFS Survey

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    Overview

    Any land based design would begin with a survey - that

    is gathering all of the site i nformation, drawing a base

    map and interviewing users of the land to learn their

    needs and desires. For this non land-based design the

    survey process is just as important. Surveying work

    that I have undertaken has included:

    * Researching What is fracking?

    * Collating data relevant to Somerset* Researching the potential risks if fracking was

    actualised in Somerset

    * Undertaking a campaign design questionnaire

    * Researching resistance to fracking in general to look

    at patterns of effective organising and points of

    leverage

    Gathering Information

    The whole technological process of fracking was new to me understanding the technical language has been a

    challenge and communicating this to others even more so. Fortunately there are many useful

    resources developed by campaign groups and scientists concerned about fracking.

    In order to observe the potential points of intervention, it was necessary to illustrate the process. As is seen in the

    diagrams below which show how fracking itself works. The ow chart titled How the process works illustrates the

    steps to gain permission to frack in a UK context.

    SURVEY

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

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    Overview

    After surveying and researching fracking as a process,

    the second survey task was to explore how fracking

    could affect Somerset. This involved:

    * Looking at the Petroleum Exploration and

    Development Licenses and which areas they cover in

    the county.

    * Contacting the local environment agency and talkingto a local water consultant, who provided the map

    below showing areas of groundwater protection in

    Somerset.

    * Listening to the head of Bath & North East Somerset

    Council deliver a presentation about fracking and the

    risks to Bath. This allowed me to l earn of the local

    economic importance of Bath to the South Wests

    regional economy and the ecological fragiliy of Baths

    hot springs, which themselves are a natural fracture.

    * Researching local geology to understand the fossil

    fuel interests in the county and also to help identify

    which areas may be most likely areas for planning

    applications in the near future.

    On the following page there is a map of the licenses

    covering Somerset. It is worth noting however that the

    next series of PEDL licenses due to be sold by the

    Government cover the whole of Somerset as well as

    Bristol and other parts of the South West.

    * A further research task was to look at the companies

    that wish to prot from these operations in Somerset.

    Geology

    0

    1

    2

    3km

    Making Bath & North East Somerset an even better place to live, work & visit

    These include:

    - UK Methane own PEDL licenses 226, 227 and 228.

    This covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Peasedown

    and Chew Magna. They are partnered with Adamo

    Energy, the UK branch of Eden Energy, an Australian

    multinational.

    - Fairfax Shelfco 320 Ltd own PEDL 225, covering

    Wells, Shepton Mallet and Bruton. This appears to be

    a front company for Reservoir Resources, who were

    bought out by American Energy Development (AED) in

    March.

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

    SURVEY

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    Overview

    For companies to

    be able to frack,

    three things need to

    be in place:

    1. The Government

    needs to sell a

    PEDL license

    (PetroleumExploration and

    Development

    License) to the

    company (s)

    wishing to frack.

    2. The land needs

    to be leased by a

    public or private

    landowner.

    3. The council have

    to award planning

    permission.

    In Somerset four

    PEDL licenses

    have already beengranted, which can

    be seen in the map

    to the right. Towns

    they cover include:

    Keynsham,

    Whitchurch,

    Saltford, Chew

    Magna, Pensford,

    Marksbury, Clutton,

    West Harptree,

    Chewton Mendip,

    Midsomer Norton,

    Radstock,

    Shepton Mallet,

    Wells, Wookey,

    Pilton and

    Evercreech.

    This area also

    includes a large

    number of villages,

    farms and water

    catchments for

    several areas,

    including the city of

    Bristol.

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

    SURVEY

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    Overview

    In land-based designs, a main element at the start of

    the process is the client interview. In order to gain

    information about fracking, I conducted a design

    questionnaire with National Group, Frack Off, who are

    one of the leading groups organising against fracking

    and extreme energy in the UK.

    Please note opinions expressed of an individual

    nature from the interviewee, which may not havegroup consensus are italicised.

    What do you want? What are your goals?

    To raise awareness of shale gas and all forms of

    extreme energy in the UK.

    To prevent the development of unconventional gas &

    all forms of extreme energy in the UK. This includes

    shale gas, coal bed methane (which both require

    fracking) and underground coal gasication.

    To stop these forms of energy from ever starting and to

    not continue testing in the UK.

    To use the imminent threat of unconventional gas

    development as a gateway to raising awareness about

    peak oil & the unsustainable nature of the global

    economic system.

    Who has the power to meet these demands?

    The fracking process needs three things to be in place

    - the Government needs to sell a PEDL license, the

    land needs to be leased by a public or private

    landowner, and thirdly the council have to award

    planning permission.

    Technically the Government has the power to not sell

    licenses, which are managed by the DECC and the

    Coal Authority manage the off shore assets. Howeverthis is extremely unlikely!

    The councils have the ability to reject planning

    permission in response to complaints from their

    constituents & for technical reasons. Examples of this

    being a successful tactic include:

    - Vale of Glamorgan where the local water company

    couldnt guarantee water wouldnt be totally safe (this

    is under appeal).

    - South Lanarkshire - Planning application rejected in

    response to hundreds of letters of complaint (this was

    just from concern of individuals, there was no

    organised letter writing local campaign).

    Companies in themselves have the power to withdraw,this would only happen with concerted pressure from

    regular people. They can be challenged economically

    and psychologically.

    Water companies also have the power to not sell water

    resources to companies, however are torn between

    consumers and customers - fracking is a large

    potential customer, and this is a nancial decision.

    What do they need to hear?

    Companies will need to hear and witness widespread

    local resistance. However this can often mean that

    as an activity, fracking will be re-located to where it is

    tactically advantageous (areas with little resistance or

    local resources).

    Therefore companies will need to either be stopped by

    legislation or be driven out of business/ understand it is

    not a nancially benecial descision to frack.

    Examples of these include:

    Economic pressure

    - Lock the Gate campaign in Austraila, have a large

    grassroots campaigns with regular blockades and the

    company have literally left. They were legally ready to

    go but physically prevented.

    - In Canada, resistance from local groups & indigenous

    peoples, with rolling regular blockades, effectively sent

    Shell packing.

    Economically, investors of companies would needto hear from their own kind that this was not a wise

    economic decision. This is a challenge when there are

    major spokespersons for the industry, for example Lord

    Browne.

    Legal pressure

    - France has outlawed fracking. However they do not

    have similar natural resources as the UK or the US and

    have a larger nuclear program.

    - Bulgaria has outlawed fracking for cultural reasons

    e.g. aesthetics, a different relationship to the land.

    Councils need to hear concern & dissent. They have a

    fear of not being re-elected and therefore at such large

    numbers it would be foolish for them to not listen to

    constituents.

    The Government also fears non re-election and local

    MPs may feel more vulnerable in areas where fracking

    is widely contested.

    Who do they need to hear it from?

    Councils - need to hear from constituents, but they also

    need to witness it kicking off all over the country, to

    understand the effects of local resistance.

    Companies - need to see it all e.g. local campaigns,

    direct actions. The idea of a coordinated, widespread

    and relentless campaign is intimidating.

    Investors also need to witness the picture of

    resistance, ideally in the mainstream media as it shits

    up investors & therefore the company.

    The Government do need to hear what voters think in

    their concern for re-election. They also have little idea

    about what fracking actually involves and therefore

    have to listen to information from contacts they trust

    e.g. boys club, industry leaders and so forth.

    How should we present ourselves to the public and

    powerholders?

    A well networked campaign of genuine grassroots

    resistance alongside a convinced mainstream media &

    activist network.

    We want to be portrayed as - a coming together of

    radical environmentalists & regular people who have

    their landbases threatened. Threatened vulnerable

    local people & powerful privileged people (e.g.

    activists) - we need both.

    Feel it is important to have identication as radical to

    inspire some radical activity.

    What resources do we have?

    Frack Off

    - popular website

    - email accounts

    - Fracking is a hot topic of interest.

    - Good skill bank: web developer, experienced

    organisers, research skills, public speakers, graphic

    design, DA skills, writing

    Financial

    - Capacity to access funding.

    - Now capacity to take donations via website.

    Human resources:

    - 10ish in size. 4ish full timers.

    - Relatively experienced activists

    - US economist available

    - Independent energy consultant available

    - Inhouse web developer

    What resources do we have as a movement?

    * Opportunities for lots of local campaigns due to the

    vast area of land that fracking would cover - a massive

    amount of people who will be local & very near sites.

    * The UK used to have one of europes most visible

    environmental movements e.g. climate camp.

    * Radical organisers in the UK:

    - Have knowledge of effective ways to take action

    - Experience of using media

    - Passion

    - DA skills

    - General organising abilities

    * Local people

    - All groups will have different resources & skills e.g.

    some with masses of campaign experience, others

    with none

    - Will be connected to effected community

    What are our weaknesses that we need to

    strengthen? What are our limiting factors?

    Frack Off

    - Main limiting factors are time & energy which involve:

    - Feeling of time & energy being wasted

    - Lack of space to pause & reect about this

    energy usage

    - Not having fully formed discussions about

    where time & energy goes

    - Group communication & personality clashes

    which may lead to bad decisions about where to put

    energy e.g. teach in event

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

    DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

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    What has been going well?

    - We have been producing high quality research &

    commentary pieces

    - Local groups are launching all over & we are

    supporting them

    - People know we exist

    - We are more in tune with situation on the ground in

    the UK

    - There is lots of energy for taking things forward - Got

    a good infrastructure in place

    - Funding opportunities are in the pipeline

    What has been challenging?

    - Making new resources for each event/things are

    being lost e.g. yers, printing

    - Presentation material isnt stored in accessible place,

    having to re-do work

    - Basic stuff can be hard to nd

    - To sustain intensity of campaigning that we started off

    with

    - Would like to have done more stuff e.g. on the groundactions

    What are your long term goals & visions?

    For this question, Frack Off returned to some original

    strategy documents which were formulated at the

    beginning of the campaign:

    Four overarching general aims:

    - To disrupt and dismantle power structures

    - To empower & equip communities to create a society

    without exploitation

    - To halt the destruction of the natural world

    - Something about consciousness, responsibility &

    changing the system in your head

    They identied ve strategy areas and a short term

    (ST), medium term (MT) and long term (LT) for each

    area.

    1. Building groups: ST = to catalyse the formation of

    local groups. MT = to support & train those groups. LT=

    to provide those groups with the skills to be sustainable

    & autonomous

    2. Awareness raising: ST = just about fracking. MT =

    extreme energy. LT = total system

    What are our weaknesses that we need to

    strengthen? What are our limiting factors? Cont.

    - Doesnt feel like the man hours are available to

    escalate the campaign e.g. not enough people for each

    job in terms of fullling ambitions

    - For example opportunities are presented constantly

    which cannot be fullled due to people based

    limitations e.g. organising events, speaking requests,

    participating in actions

    *Radical organisers- Not enough of them! Many people are already

    embedded in lots of other campaigns. Many are yet to

    be convinced that fracking is a campaign worth

    committing some time to. There have not yet been

    many sexy opportunities to not get stuck in e.g.

    blockades, DAs

    - Many are still not aware of fracking & its potential

    affects

    *Local people

    - May have other commitments e.g. work, family

    - May not have campaigning experience

    - May fear contestation as controversial issues could

    threaten existing relationships within community e.g.

    loosing their own privilege, local reputations, positions

    of power & the need to be neutral and so forth

    - Many are starting from scratch in building local

    networks & groups

    - Group processes e.g. communication, decision

    making

    - Lack of support e.g. from other groups, nancially

    - Majority of people dont know what fracking/extreme

    energy is.

    What is your niche? What role do you play that

    others cannot or will not?

    We exist in peoples minds as a national group with

    all knowledge/information. However in reality we are

    not actually a national group. We are the best known

    anti-fracking group and are currently the only peopletalking about extreme energy in UK.

    What is your role in movement building (the wider

    ecosystem)?

    One of our main aims is to catalyse local group

    formation & support them to the point in which they can

    be sustainable & autonomous. Tangibly this

    commonly means supporting a local to do a public

    meeting & support the setting up of a DIY local group.

    How can we tell if the campaign & our efforts are

    working? How can we evaluate and measure our

    progress?

    Some tangible methods of measurement could include:

    - Volume of autonomous local groups.

    - Column inches/press coverage.

    - People taking action outside of our knowledge of it -

    escalation of independent organising.

    - Number of planning applications stopped.

    - Internally with Frack Off - increase in requests for

    information, opportunities and so forth, number of hitson website. General escalation of workload.

    What are the strategic points of intervention to

    prevent fracking?

    Economic: Aside from the intervention points with

    inuencing the Government and local councils, as

    explored above, economic affects could disable

    companies to frack in the UK. This economic pressure

    could only come from regular people taking action.

    The companies involved in fracking are tiny, they dont

    actually make any money and are using investment

    capital. They are burning out investment cash with the

    aim that would like to be bought out by bigger

    companies (patterns of capitalism).

    This was the same as with Biofuels - they were tiny

    start ups formed solely for purpose for going after

    brand new market. It would be possible to run them

    out of business - costing so much cash that they cant

    continue. Quadrilla are burning money to prove theyve

    got a useable resource.

    Psychological tactics could be used to inuence foreign

    investors.

    What are the resources fracking companies need

    to frack?

    - Drilling rigs - there are not the drilling rigs available

    for this process in the UK (only one company makesdrilling rigs)

    - Other resources needed include: the chemicals in the

    fracking uid, water, sand, trucks, diesel, generators

    - Everything needs to be run from generators on site

    - Pipelines will need to be in place

    - Drilling pads - made by Fox company

    - Pads need to be turned into raised at aggregate

    Logistics

    - All materials need to be trucked in.

    - Nearly all work will be subcontracted (needs further

    research to conrm)

    3. Building resistance: ST = to expose those

    responsible. MT = to disrupt . LT = dismantle

    4. Alternatives: ST = To promote alternatives. MT = try

    alternatives. LT = build alternatives

    5. Fostering communication: ST = research. MT =

    critique. LT = inspire

    It was clear that while these were inspiring aims, they

    are not completely clear, explicit or tangible, so we

    set a 12 month time frame. We aimed to create them

    as SMART targets (Specic, measurable, achievable,

    realistic, timed).

    What are goals & visions for the next 12 months

    (by May 2013)?

    - To have at least 5 active local groups in Scotland.

    - To have over 20 local groups in England & Wales.

    - To have 10 groups in Ireland.

    These group would have established working groups,

    websites, meet regularly and would be self organising.

    - To have had at least two major days of simultaneous

    nationwide action.

    - To have a permanent base in Lancashire by end of

    the Summer.

    - To have a UK focused lm on unconventional gas.

    - To have established a regular funding stream.

    - To have undertaken another nationwide tour.

    - To have led a selection of local group training.

    What are your next achievable steps?

    To have a permanent base in Lancashire by end of the

    Summer:Have a group discussion ASAP. Talk to

    people in Lancashire ASAP. Write grant application

    To have had at least two major days of simultaneous

    nationwide action:Research number of groups needed

    to make day a success. Set a date (ideally before end

    of September).

    Local group training & support:Organise second tour

    Email all local groups to offer support. Assign members

    of Frack Off to each group & dene responsibilities of

    this role. Process information from previous informal

    survey. Liase with Frack free somerset with when you

    are free to do presentation training

    To have a UK focused lm on unconventional gas:

    Establish as a group what is wanted from a lm.

    Complete grant application. Source lmmakers

    Following the design questionnaire, the interview

    then returned to the rst question - what are your

    aims? We then decided to use the Four Action

    learning Questions to help clarify the strategy of

    frack off & its relevance to local anti-fracking

    campaigns.

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

    DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

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    Task or Area Spiral of Erosion/ Energy drainer/ Task Potential points of intervention & other suggestions

    Website *Takes a lot of time

    *Main challenge is updating content e.g blog posts, planning applica-

    tions, calendar of local events, resources

    *Asking local groups to send news items

    *Creating a facility where local groups could update the website themselves

    *Assigning more people, including new people, to take role of web content support

    Email management *Nearly all emails go to one address, large amount of time is spent pro-

    cessing them, generally falling on shoulders of one person!

    Ideal situation:

    *To be able to forward/delegate all emails to different spokes taking responsibility for different areas

    *Send research items to the brain, who ideally would have a support team to help process volume of material

    *media@ address could go to a rotated media responder. Training could be developed for those less condent. A crib sheet could

    also be developed.*Stock replies can be bookmarked & use when needed to reduce repitition/save energy.

    *Separate address for speaker requests & someone responsible for managing this diary & liaison.

    *A local groups address book could allow fast send out of materials e.g. responses to media articles, which local groups could

    then utilise/put on their own website

    *It would be useful for all members of the team to have condence and skills to manage info@ account. A crib sheet could be put

    together.

    *Different members of the core group could be responsible for a local group or region & these emails could then be delegated.

    Local groups *FO feel they are not supporting local groups as effectively as they

    would like to be, generally due to lack of people/ time & energy.

    *Each member of the core group could be responsible for a local group or region to make workload more manageable & effective.

    *A structure needs to be dened so that people are clear of roles & responsibilities.

    *Potential support for local groups could include = Really basic how to guide of how to set up an online presences, pre-arranged

    facilitation training for rst meetings, list of contacts for all existing local groups, list of sympathetic funding bodies, DA training,

    basic photoshop/graphic design training & a how to guide for building a campaign.

    Meetings *There are generally 3 per week.*One general meeting once a week with others focused on specic

    things e.g. funding, planning

    *Meetings go badly normally and some potential reasons for this that

    have surfaced include:

    - lack of professionalism, ack of agenda (an agenda is done for the gen-

    eral meeting), blurry start & end times, minutes not always taken effec-

    tively especially related to action points & who has taken responsibility

    for actions.

    *Every meeting needs to have: a clear start & end time, a commitment to focus & professionalism e.g. no PCs/distractions, anagenda or aims for the meeting (even if extremely short), minutes taken which list SMART action points & who is responsible.

    *A potential chaser role could be introduced whose role is to make sure those who have committed have undertaken actions &

    delegate them to someone else or offer support if not so. They will need to be tactful & liked by the group.

    Research *One of the main group tasks is keeping up to date with planning appli-

    cations & their statuses as well as l icenses & other research data being

    released

    - This is managed with intense human hours as well as a scraper which

    is a computer developed tool to search online

    - Most of this work currently falls on one person who is under a lot of

    pressure

    *Could any of this work be outsourced or shared with others?

    *Could more development time be set to develop tool to monitor application process automatically

    Public speaking/

    Giving presentations

    *Feel like bare minimum of events are being supported due to lack of

    people/travel times/workload

    *Not everybody is condent doing presentations because of technical

    queries & public speaking condence

    *A teach-in is planned to support new people to give presentations.

    *Local groups could be trained & supported to do their own presentations, reducing Frack Offs workload & being more effective

    locally

    Graphic design &

    publications

    *Graphic design for leaets of events is generally on an event by event

    basis, and often re-done each time because original templates cannot

    be found.

    *Time could be dedicated to creating an easily accessible gallery of leaets & designs that can be tweaked simply and usedagain, reducing the workload

    *More work can be delegated to graphic design volunteer

    Events Are one of the healthiest areas of organising. This is attributed to thembeing more interesting, physically interactive and they also have a

    deadline imposed.

    *Deadlines could be applied to other areas of the campaign.

    *Some of the above interventions could be undertaken for an event e.g. local groups training which would motivate those involved

    to do the background work for the event. There would then be more of a yield and the work would be more likely to be followed

    through.

    This part of the design questionnaire focused on spirals erosion in the campaign and potential interventions

    which could be elements transferred & applied to other groups.

    DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

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    REAFTransition Keynsham

    The Vale Says No!

    As part of the survey stage of designing the campaign, I created a local groups

    survey that was emailed to local groups. Three groups answered and their comments are

    below. These helped to shape Frack Free Somerset by helping us to identify

    common patterns in local group organising and what could potentially support us to be

    more effective.

    LOCAL GROUPS SURVEY

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design

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    Group Name Location Website Tools & Resources Approaches & Tactics

    Ribble Estuary AgainstFracking

    West Lancashire http://reaf.org.uk Website. Local support(diverse groups). Meetings

    every 2 weeks.

    Our main aim is to raise awareness andfacilitate access to

    information as well as encouraging people to

    lobby their councillors and MPs. Petitions,

    object to planning application, contact MP, FOI

    request, phone calls, leaets, WOM, mailing list,

    electricity suppliers, donate.

    Vale Says No Vale of Glamorgan,

    South Wales

    http://thevalesaysno.com/ Website. Twitter. Mailing list.

    Donations section.

    Lobbying against planning application (was

    successful, but could be overturned)

    No fracking in East Kent East Kent h ttp:/ /www.facebook.com/

    EastKentAgainstFracking

    Facebook. Facebook. Public meetings / lm showings.

    Frack Free Sussex Sussex Frack-Free-Sussex facebook

    http://gasdrillinginbalcombe.wordpress.com/

    Facebook. Website. Email

    newsletter. Pictures withdetailed stats e.g. 16,000

    gallons of hydrochloric acid

    scheduled for Balcombe

    Write to MPs, objection letters. Flyers to

    spread.

    Lingeld Anti fracking Surrey http://nofrackinginlingeld

    .webs.com/

    Website, facebook Letters of object ion, FOI, direct act ion, pet it ions

    N.E Wales Anti Fracking

    Network

    Wrexham, Wales http://www.facebook.com/

    NEWAFAN

    Facebook. Film showings, letters, Letters of objection

    Fracked Swansea South Wales https://www.facebook.com/

    FrackedSwansea

    Facebook. Meetings. Pet it ions. Let ters.

    No Fracking Ireland Ireland http://www.facebook.com/Tran-

    sitionRegions

    Facebook. Different Irish

    groups.

    Petitions. Letters.

    Residents Action on

    Fylde Fracking

    Lancashire http: //stopfyldefracking.org.uk Website (V. professional).

    Twitter. Mailing list.

    Is a post-fracking campaign (fracking started

    without community knowledge) hence residents

    reports. Actions: write to DECC,

    petition, councilors, MPs, meetings, press work.

    Not for Shale I re land http: //www.notforshale.com Website. Write to council lors & polit icians. Film showings,

    media work.

    Byline We stand to loose more than we could

    ever gain.

    Overview

    Another aspect of the survey process in the campaign design has been to observe other groups and the strategies they employ,

    especially if successful. Below is a table of local groups campaigning against fracking (observed during May 2012) with notes on

    their tools and resources that are visible e.g. websites, email lists as well as notes on their approaches and tactics, in so far as

    the ones they promote on their websites or literature. This has been a particularly inspiring part of the survey process, witnessing

    community resistance across the country.

    LOCAL GROUPS SURVEY

    Frack Free Somerset Campaign Design