No fracking thanks
Dear sir,
This week MPs have rejected a Labour motion that would guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban fracking. The decision to lift the ban on fracking was first announced by Prime Minister Liz Truss in September as part of a broader package of measures to tackle energy prices.
So what is fracking and why is it controversial?
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock.
It involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer in order to release the gas inside. The injection of fluid at high pressure into the rock can cause earth tremors - small movements in the earth's surface. Seismic events of this scale are considered minor and are rarely felt by people - but are a concern to local residents. In the face of opposition, and concerns from the Oil and Gas Authority, fracking was haltedin the UK in 2019.
Shale gas is of course a fossil fuel, therefore fracking cannot be a long-term answer to the energy crisis, given the threat posed by climate change. Fracking also uses huge amounts of water, which must be transported to the site at significant environmental cost
Conservative MPs were ordered by whips to vote down the anti-fracking motion, with anyone who defied instructions expected to lose the whip. To stem Tory MPs’ fury at being ordered which way to vote on the controversial issue, Jacob Rees-Mogg said the issue of communities being able to approve or reject fracking in their area would be opened up to a public consultation. Dozens of Tory backbenchers and ministers had previously voiced opposition to the resumption of shale gas drilling in England, so were placed in a difficult position when party whips said the motion would be treated as a confidence motion in Liz Truss’s government. Something we now know was wholly pointless, as she resigned the following day!
Chris Skidmore, a former minister and leading voice of green Tories, whom Truss appointed in September to examine the government’s route towards net zero emissions by 2050, voted against the motion. Chris Skidmore said, “As the former energy minister who signed net zero into law, for the sake of our environment and climate I cannot personally vote tonight to support fracking and undermine the pledges I made at the 2019 general election”. Skidmore then tweeted adding: “I am prepared to face the consequences of my decision.” MP for Congleton, Fiona Bruce voted in support of fracking and to support Liz Truss’ government. No statement has been released about these issues.
Congleton Sustainability Group member, Barry Fox, produced a paper reviewing fracking. It states ; “At the time the paper was written some environmentalists thought fracking was acceptable from a climate point of view, but my investigations convinced me that it was not. Now, 6 years on, coal has nearly gone and we need to be getting rid of gas; it is very clear that fracking for gas will only hinder that effort, particularly since fracked gas would probably take 5 years or more to come on stream and continue for 20 years or more.
Hopefully, fracking will not take off, but if it does, Cheshire is a likely location since licences to frack most of Cheshire were issued by the government in 2016 and are still valid, though some are now in different ownership. The paper states: ‘Shale gas is a high carbon fuel whose use is incompatible with the UKs climate change objectives. Its extraction by fracking in and around Cheshire would require thousands of wells on hundreds of sites, each needing access roads and pipelines, using huge amounts of water, and leading to unacceptable industrialisation of a rural landscape. Risk of air and water pollution and earthquakes would be unavoidable. The government supports fracking, but the public quite rightly opposes it.’
The study goes on to say ; ‘The government encourages fracking and insists that it does not compromise the UK’s carbon reduction commitments under the Climate Change Act. But its case is unconvincing, depending as it does on events which are uncertain, such as strict control of methane leakage and early implementation of carbon capture and storage. It will also make more gas available in the U.K. and elsewhere and increase worldwide emissions. For those reasons Congleton Sustainability Group (CSG) is opposed to fracking wherever it occurs. We also oppose it here in Cheshire because of its effects on our local environment.’
Many thanks to Barry Fox for allowing me to quote his study and for his hard work to educate people across Cheshire on the dangers of fracking and climate change.
Many thanks
Lisa Miller
Intensive care nurse
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