Fracking firm Cuadrilla targeted by protesters

ENERGY company Cuadrilla, which is behind the plans to frack for gas in Lancashire, is bracing itself for more protests after around 20 demonstrators blockaded its headquarters in the Midlands.

In what appeared to be a co-ordinated ‘attack’ the Lichfield protest coincided with a protest at Cuadrilla’s fracking site at Balcombe in West Sussex – during which Green Party MP Caroline Lucas was arrested – and a demonstration at the London office of Bell Pottinger – the PR company used by Cuadrilla – which involved some demonstrators supergluing themselves to a door.

The action came on the first of two days of “mass civil disobedience” which campaigners have pledged to carry out to highlight their stance against fracking.

Cuadrilla has been involved in exploratory work at the Balcombe site but has brought a temporary halt to proceedings while protests are taking place.

Some 20 protesters blockaded the Cuadrilla site in Lichfield while people inside the building hung banners from it saying: “Reclaim the power” and “Power to the people”.

Fracking is a process of recovering natural gas from shale which is well established in the US but in its infancy here.

Supporters – and drilling companies such as Cuadrilla – suggest trillions of cubic feet of shale gas may be recoverable from underneath parts of England.

Opponents say the process – during which a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside – uses huge amounts of water that must be transported to the fracking site, at significant environmental cost.

There are also worries that the fracking process can cause small earth tremors. Two small earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.2 magnitude hit the Blackpool area in 2011 following fracking.