It\’s not just Blackpool you know:
Widespread in the Craven Basin, including the Lancaster, Garstang, Settle, Clitheroe and Harrogate districts, south Cumbria and the Isle of Man; also in North Wales, Staffordshire and the East Midlands.
It is, to use a technical term, friggin\’ huge mate.
I\’ve also found out something interesting (well, at least I find it interesting) about it. The shale is really a \”false coal\”.
Apparently, coal only forms from terrestrial plants. The shales are from sea plants like seaweed: and I assume this means they were formed before terrestrial plants existed (that\’s my assumption though, not knowledge).
However, if that\’s true, then the implication is that there\’s no shortage of this stuff at all. Should be beds of it all over the place even if at ever deeper depths. There were, after all, some hundreds of millions to billions of years for it to form.
No, I don\’t know and would be happy to be corrected, but given the above my working assumption would be that just about everywhere has some of this stuff: just depends on how deep you can drill.
I know this is naive, but do ordinary people ever get a cut from this stuff if it’s in the ground directly beneath their properties?
Tim adds: Oil, gas, coal, gold and silver, all belong to the Crown (ie, government, obviously). All other minerals to the land owner.
No, I don’t think they do, but wouldn’t it be sensible if they did? There would be enthusiasm for the project from those in the area concerned and much less for the Greens to get traction from.
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What’s the reason for that list, Tim? Why not lead, tin, scandium?
Tim adds: I don’t know: although I could give you a list of plausible reasons why. Gold and silver, they’ve traditionally been money metals, minting is a governemt or crown monopoly. Oil gas and coal would I think come from the mania for nationalisation. Certainly it’s not always been true.
It’s entirely right (“economically”) that ultimate ownership rests with the State, so that royalties on Ricardian Rents can be charged.
Marginally on topic: Interesting factoid in Greg Lindsay’s book “Aerotropolis” that there are 4000 Tongans living in one small Dallas neighbourhood. That’s around 4% of the Tongan population. They are mostly airport workers and like the location because it makes travel home relatively easy.
The local high school American football team is full of Tongans and they do a haka before each game (including the ‘white’ players!).
I love that story.
Does the US rugby team include any of these guys?
Oops, that comment should be in the next thread.
Apologies. …..
Thanks, Tim. Its just typical of the ruling classes to strip us serfs of anything of value that lies on the tiny portions of land we’re able to live on.