Scottish ministers have banned the use of a technique to extract methane by burning underground coal beds, after expert advice said it posed too many risks to the climate and environment. Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish environment minister, said he was asking ministers in London to revoke six licences to find test sites for the technique, known as underground coal gasification (UGC), in central and south-west Scotland. He said an expert report from Prof Campbell Gemmell, former chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, had found it was unproven, under-regulated and too risky to be approved.
Guardian 6th Oct 2016 read more »
Sajid Javid has overturned Lancashire council’s rejection of a fracking site, paving the way for shale company Cuadrilla to drill in the county next year and provoking outrage from local groups, environmentalists and politicians. The council cited visual impact and noise when it turned down the company’s two planning applications to frack on the Fylde last year, but a month later Cuadrilla submitted an appeal.
Guardian 6th Oct 2016 read more »
Fracking beneath UK homes is set to take place for the first time next year after the Government overruled local councillors and approved Cuadrilla’s plans to explore for shale gas in Lancashire. In a landmark decision, Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, gave consent to Cuadrilla’s plans to drill and frack four horizontal wells at its Preston New Road site between Blackpool and Preston, in line with planning inspectors’ recommendations. In a major fillip for the industry, he also handed the company a fresh chance to secure approval for four further wells at a second site nearby, Roseacre, despite planning inspectors recommending the plans be rejected.
Telegraph 6th Oct 2016 read more »
Spot the difference. Fracking, which is climate-polluting and unproven in the UK, gets “all-out” government backing, with ministers steamrolling over local opposition. Onshore windfarms, proven to be low-cost and low-carbon, get undermined by the government, with local opposition given power to block applications. The decision by the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, to overturn Lancashire council’s rejection of Cuadrilla’s plan to drill four fracking wells in the county is, therefore, nothing short of hypocrisy. It is a vital win for the nascent UK shale gas industry. But these are merely the opening skirmishes. To really know if fracking can provide significant gas for the UK, hundreds – if not thousands – of wells need to be drilled. Given the hand-to-hand combat that accompanies even single wells at the moment, the frackers still have an uphill struggle.
Guardian 6th Oct 2016 read more »
Britain’s shale gas industry has won a significant victory after the government overturned local council objections to a fracking scheme in Lancashire, clearing the way for the first exploration since an earthquake halted drilling five years ago.
FT 6th Oct 2016 read more »
Though the sitting tenant at 10 Downing Street has changed since the remarks were first uttered by David Cameron, the Conservative Government under Theresa May has demonstrated this week that it is still “going all out for shale”. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has overturned a ban on fracking in Lancashire imposed by councillors after objections to plans to drill the area for shale gas were launched by 18,000 local people. Fracking – particularly against the wishes of the people – is not the answer to the question of how we power our nation. The era of fossil fuel is now behind us. Even if the gas extracted through fracking is cleaner than coal, oil and North Sea gas, it is not a clean energy source. Rather than fighting legal challenges and overturning the thoughtful decisions of councillors, government investment should be channelled into new, green energy projects that neither risk damaging our natural environment nor require a £10,000 bribe, as mooted by the Government to convince the electorate to swallow the its controversial decision with a smile.
Independent 6th Oct 2016 read more »
As revolutions go, it has certainly got off to a slow start. But more than three years since the Government vowed to unleash an energy revolution by exploiting shale gas from the rocks deep beneath the north of England, it now looks as though Britain is finally on the verge of getting fracking.
Telegraph 6th Oct 2016 read more »