Emma Thompson and her sister, Sophie, have defied a court injunction to film a spoof of the Great British Bake Off on land in Lancashire, England which is leased for fracking by oil and gas exploration company Cuadrilla.
The satirical program, which she referred to as “The Frack Free Bake Off,” is a form of protest against any drilling activity of the company on the site. Since 2014, an order from the courts have banned protesters from it.
“I’ve been aware of this issue for a while with my work with Greenpeace, and it came to a head for me when David Cameron went to the Paris climate conference and signed on to the protocol and then on the sly at Christmas, when nobody was looking, gave the nod to 200 fracking sites in Britain,” Thompson said.
Emma and Sophie baked several cakes with an energy theme. They have released a series of videos showing their work under a tent that was provided by Greenpeace. A full episode has been released on April 28.
One local farmer was not amused with what they were doing, particularly since they did not seek permission to be there. He drove by in a tractor with a muck spreader attached behind and sprayed liquid manure on the crew.
But it seems that most of the local population may be behind Thompson. The decision to lease the field to Cuadrilla has been met with protests from nearby residents. The Lancashire council, in June, refused Cuadrilla’s request for permission to drill for shale gas. The company has since appealed the decision.
The final decision, though, may be out of the hands of the local government since UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, has announced that he will be making the final decision.
“The secretary of state hereby directs that he shall determine these appeals instead of an inspector,” a letter from the office of the Minister directed at the city council reads.
The current UK Government has made it clear to prioritize fracking operations and have stated that they will step in if local councils don’t fast track applications for fracking.
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