Fracking - fame at last for Lancashire

[GEaston]

Mog already lost the coal argument, but alas can't accept it. I know that we have hundreds of years of coal reserves but we are unable to get the stuff out of the ground because the price of coal is too low relative to our cost of extraction. I've said it before, but especially for you Mog I can see I need to repeat that our wonderful mines lost £1.5m a day when you were in them. I'm all for extracting resources, but only if its worth doing. If not we can leave it or our grand kids instead of just leaving debts.

20 things Lancashire is famous for? If your question is recently then the list would be decline, crime, drug taking, dereliction and collective whining on this forum. Im 15 short. Historically Accrington had many things to be proud of but I am a loss to name 20 today.

No water shortages here Marge. The supply arrangement with Malaysia has been in place for decades but only recently did they hike the price such that the government said sod his we'll build our own. The govt here has about $550bn of positive reserves so can build anything they like without wondering where the money is coming from. Those positive reserves equate to about $110,000 per man woman and child.

[DtheP47]

Originally Posted by GEaston

20 things Lancashire is famous for? If your question is recently then the list would be decline, crime, drug taking, dereliction and collective whining on this forum. Im 15 short. Historically Accrington had many things to be proud of but I am a loss to name 20 today.

Keep the dunces hat MrE and write out 100 times:" There is a difference between famous and infamous and I must use the words appropriately in future"

[MargaretR]

In post #7 I said - "One saving grace for us in east Lancs is that the coal bearing shale we have is unlikely to be worth fracking, because the 'vast methane reserves' are in Cheshire and Bowland where a different type of shale rock predominates."

However, it seems that there is a fracking technique to extract gas from coal seams, so east lancs could be fracked.

Fracking the nation: the dash for gas beneath rural Britain | Environment | The Guardian
extract -

"Coalbed methane extraction is a related method, which is actually at a more advanced stage in the UK. It involves the drilling of wells into coal seams followed by the pumping out of water, which results in gas being released by the coal, and being brought to the surface. Lastly, there is the so-called underground coal gasification now proposed for – among other places – an area beneath Swansea Bay in west Wales, which involves the partial burning of subterranean coal deposits"

I am astounded by the lunacy of burning coal seams underground. There is one silver lining to converting UK into one big gas producing land mass wasteland - no immigrant will want to live here, but then, neither will we.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

Keep the dunces hat MrE and write out 100 times:" There is a difference between famous and infamous and I must use the words appropriately in future"

I aint so sure, I am seriously beginning to think the guy is a "Troll" plain n simple.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by GEaston

20 things Lancashire is famous for? If your question is recently then the list would be decline, crime, drug taking, dereliction and collective whining on this forum. Im 15 short. Historically Accrington had many things to be proud of but I am a loss to name 20 today.

Now isn't that a positive vision of Lancashire?
Most northern towns have similar problems to the ones you have pointed out so positively.

Here are a few positives you might like to mull over.

The Howarth Art Gallery.Especially the collection of Tiffany Glass.
The warmness of the people.(we only whine when there is something to whine about, and we can do nothing practical about it)
The proximity of green countryside - notably the Ribble Valley.
Some lovely architecture(though not the council building on Broadway).
Some beautiful public parks(Oakhill, Mercer, Gatty to name but a few).

Maybe there are some others that members could add.
Is that positive enough for you?

[cashman]

The best thing i can think of about Lancashire, is Eastons in Singapore.

[Margaret Pilkington]

See.....I knew someone would have something positive to say on the issue......even though it is a bit of a thread wander.

[DaveinGermany]

Positive about Lancashire ........... it's not Yorkshire! (whose Tykey arses we kicked back in the mists of time)

[Restless]

Originally Posted by GEaston

20 things Lancashire is famous for? If your question is recently then the list would be decline, crime, drug taking, dereliction and collective whining on this forum. Im 15 short. Historically Accrington had many things to be proud of but I am a loss to name 20 today.

Lancashire Hotpot
Black Peas
Chorley Cakes
Eccles Cakes.
FISH AND CHIPS(yes this combo sold in a chippy originated in Lancs)
Lancashire Cheese(OK I DONT LIKE IT BUT GREAT IN CHEESE AND EGG....)
Parkin
Uncle Joe's Mint Balls
Black puddings(OK also DISGUSTING but....)
Bury market(best market in England!)
Toad in the hole
Accrington Stanely( who the hell from any other county can say they have one of those NOBODY)
Pobs( I had to look this up and I am sure nobody actually eats it. But my sisters used to love it)
Blackpool and its attractions(as said earlier the promenade is looking very well now)
Lots of famous wrestlers(debatable upon actually liking wrestling)

Well that's 15... 20 is hard to come up with but here is a bonus

Retlaw (Im sure no other county has one of these relics)

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Restless

Well that's 15... 20 is hard to come up with but here is a bonus

Retlaw (Im sure no other county has one of these relics)

Discounting Accrington's current favourite son, and as I now reside at the other end of the county, I will attempt a few more Lancashire gems.

Morecambe Bay potted shrimps (yuk for me but a lot of people like them hence they sell for a fortune on posh menus)
Morecambe Bay itself (of course)
Forest of Bowland, little visited and possibly best so for the wildlife but not the economy
Lancashire witches
Preston North End, not much glory these days but many famous names have been associated with the club which according to Wikipedia were founding members of the English Football League in 1888 and the first league champions, achieving the English football "Double" in the same season by winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal.

Well Rob that brings your 15 up to 20, will that do? And well done Retlaw for getting a mention.

[Restless]

Yep that will do. And I think the collective whining on this forum is one of the positives too

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Restless

Yep that will do. And I think the collective whining on this forum is one of the positives too

Whining to some, vociferously expressing an opinion to others!

Perspectives you see.

[Restless]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

Whining to some, vociferously expressing an opinion to others!

Perspectives you see.

exactly !

[Mog]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

It's been done to death on other threads Mog.
It's the cost of acquisition that's the kicker for domestic coal.
The coal industry has been in decline since the 1st WW, accelerated after the 2nd and the miners strikes did for it in the end.
There has been an inexorable decline in the demand for coal. Even as late as the 1960s, British railways were run on coal power. But, steam power soon vanished in place of diesel and electric. Households used to burn coal for central heating. But, after the Clean Air Act of the 1950s, this rapidly declined as people switched to more modern forms of heating.

I got to take issue with GEaston though "Fame at last for Lancashire"...as if !
Put on your Dunces hat and don't take it off until you have made a list of 20 things Lancashire is famous for.

D, I'm am not talking about domestic coal and neither is this thread. Modern coal mining which produces small clean coal for industrial use that is converted to coal dust in the mine and burnt at a power station at the pit bottom was an idea that I put forward to British coal years ago. You produce power on site and add it to the national grid. The idea was not to use coal for trains or domestic use but to produce power at a fraction of the cost of importing coal from all over the world. One day my friend. One day. No need to Frack.

[shillelagh]

here you go ..

New report shows rich gas reserves which could lead to widespread 'fracking' in East Lancashire (From Lancashire Telegraph)