Section:GDN 1N PaGe:4 Edition Date:190827 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 26/8/2019 19:35 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Tuesday 27 August 2019
(^4) News
Patel accused of confl ict of
interest over MoD contract
Fracking quake near
Cuadrilla site thought
to be UK’s biggest yet
Dan Sabbagh
Defence and security editor
The home secretary, Priti Patel, has
been urged to withdraw from cabi-
net discussions about a £6bn defence
contract after it emerged that the US
company that paid her £1,000 an hour
Josh Halliday
North of England correspondent
An earthquake that caused houses to
shake has been triggered by the UK’s
only active fracking site. The 2.9-mag-
nitude quake, close to Cuadrilla’s site
near Blackpool yesterday morning, is
believed to be the biggest fracking-
related tremor in Britain.
Operations at the Preston New
Road site had been suspended since
Wednesday night after a series of
gradually increasing “microseismic
events”. The 2.9-magnitude tremor, at
8.30am, is by far the largest, and big-
ger than the 2.3-magnitude quake that
brought fracking to a halt in 2011.
The quake, verifi ed by the British
Geological Survey , easily breaches
the government’s 0.5ML (local mag-
nitude) limit on seismic activity.
Residents in Lytham St Annes,
Blackpool and as far afi eld as Pres-
ton reported feeling the tremor, with
widespread reports of houses shaking.
Stephen Cheatley, a photographer
who lives a few miles from the frack-
ing site, said he “heard a bang, a bit
like a shotgun going off ”. “This was
quickly followed by the house shaking
for about fi ve seconds. In my opinion,
this was a pretty serious tremor.”
He added: “It’s defi nitely the biggest
since a natural one I experienced many
years ago. I’ve been on the fence until
now, but after this morning I think
fracking needs to stop completely.”
A Lytham St Annes resident said
there was a “very loud rumbling” and
the “whole house shook ... a picture
fell off a shelf ”.
Another person posted on social
media: “I heard a loud rumble then
the house literally shook. Scary stuff ”.
Cuadrilla said: “We’re aware of a
seismic event at 8.30am. We can con-
fi rm that no hydraulic fracturing was
being carried out at the time and none
has been carried out over the week-
end. We are investigating alongside
regulators. Updated information will
be posted here as soon as it is known.”
Fracking involves pumping water
and chemicals into rocks at high pres-
sure to extract shale gas. Fracking in
England resumed last year after two
tremors – measuring 2.3 and 1.5 –
prompted a seven-year moratorium
on the process.
Cuadrilla has blamed the 0.5M L
limit on seismic activity for stifl ing
the UK’s nascent shale industry. It has
called for a government review of the
rules, and for extra time to drill after its
fracking licence expires in November.
Ministers hinted last week that
they were considering a review of the
system after lending support to Cuad-
rilla’s campaign.
A spokeswoman for the anti-frack-
ing Preston New Road Action Group
said it was “very frightening when
you hear a loud bang and things in the
house rattle”.
She added: “Given that this quake
was felt across Blackpool, the Fylde
coast and beyond, what is likely to
have happened beneath the ground
to the well at the source? We should
not be being subjected to this level
of stress and fear. Fracking must be
stopped immediately.”
A spokesman for Frack Free Lanca-
shire said: “Enough is enough. People
are cowering in their homes and just
waiting and wondering when the next
quake will be and how much damage
it will cause.
“We call upon our local MPs to come
off the fence and press for an imme-
diate ban on fracking. We are sick of
being treated as human guinea pigs.”
declared it wants to bid on the contract
to supply next -generation military sat-
ellite communication systems, called
Skynet 6, in a bidding process run by
the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that is
expected to start next year.
Jardine called on Patel to clarify
whether she “has had any conversa-
tions about the [M oD] contract with
anyone there” and demanded the
home secretary “recuse herself from
any cabinet or national security coun-
cil discussions concerning the fi rm”.
Patel originally declared on 3 June ,
when she was a backbencher, that
she worked as a “strategic adviser”
to Viasat from 1 May to 31 July , earn-
ing £5,000 a month for “an expected
commitment” of about fi ve hours a
month. That prompted the Lib Dems
to ask her to “immediately confi rm
when her work with Viasat ended” ,
because that appeared to overlap with
Patel’s appointment as home secre-
tary on 24 July.
A subsequent declaration, on 31
July , shortened the time she was under
contract to the company to the end
of June, suggesting that she had not
worked for Viasat during July.
Blackpool M
Preston
New Road
Wesham
Lytham
Blackpool
Pleasure
Beach
A tremor of between
magnitude 2.6 and 2.
has been recorded at
the UK’s only active
fracking site
2 miles
2 km
to advise it plans to bid for the work.
Christine Jardine, the Liberal Demo-
crats’ home aff airs spokes person, said
the fact Patel had worked for Viasat in
the period running up to her appoint-
ment as home secretary created the
risk of a confl ict of interest now she
was in government.
The Californian company has
▲ Priti Patel, the home secretary, was
paid £1,000 an hour by US fi rm Viasat
▲ Operations at Cuadrilla’s Preston
New Road site have been suspended
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