Hands Over Our Forth Demonstration

Campaigners will gather Saturday to link hands over the Forth Bridge to take part in the demonstration against Underground Coal Gasification

The group are calling on the Scottish Government to extend its freeze on fracking to include offshore UCG. Among the campaigners will be members of newly-formed grassroots group SNP Members Against Unconventional Gas. The demonstration is designed to highlight the issue in advance of the SNP conference. 

UCG is a controversial process where underground coal seams are flushed with oxygen and then set ablaze, so that gas can be extracted from them and then piped onshore. It is a largely untested process and has never been done underwater. 

Oil and Gas company Cluff Natural Resources has three licenses to explore UCG in the Firth of Forth, covering large areas around Kincardine and Largo Bay. 

Maria Montinaro of Hands Over Our Forth said:

" The Scottish Government did the right thing in putting a freeze on fracking in Scotland, but now is the time to make sure that risky undersea gas extraction is also put on hold"