Chartered rogues and spivs
Jul 30, 2014
Bishop Hill in Energy: gas, Greens

Also published while I was away was a report on fracking by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. James Verdon has done a detailed analysis of the contents and it looks as though it was pretty shocking stuff.

The best place to start is on the very first page, which shows two schematic images of the fracking process. In both cases the scale of images is such that the depth of the well is smaller than the height of the drilling rig, implying that fracking is taking place at a depth of less than 100m, rather than the actual depth, typically 2 - 3km.

Similar images are provided on page 4, and nowhere are images with the correct scales shown. The images are so out of scale that the "impartial, evidence based" claim immediately cannot be taken seriously. The moment you see an image like this, you know what to expect.

Amusingly, James has also discovered that the author of this "impartial, evidence-based" report is a former Green party candidate and a Barton Moss protestor. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know.

It's interesting to note that the charter of CIEH claims that it exists, among other things, to "promote and maintain high standards of practice and professional conduct among its members and others engaged in the field of environmental health". Perhaps they need to add a paragraph about "occasional deception".

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