Nov 3, 2019 08:42 PM
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/co...ng-u-turn/
EXCERPT (Ross Clark): For once, Jeremy Corbyn is right. The government’s announcement of a moratorium in fracking is an election stunt – and attempt to snatch a few leave-voting seats in the North at the expense of damaging Britain’s energy policy for the next couple of decades, as well as causing higher carbon emissions.
Announcing the block on fracking on Radio Four on Saturday morning, business secretary Andrea Leadsom said the government had reached its decision because the Oil and Gas Authority had concluded that it was impossible to predict when ‘earthquakes’ might be caused and what magnitude they might be. This followed a tremor measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale in August.
Let’s pass over Leadsom’s description of fracking-related tremors as ‘earthquakes’. To use that term to describe a tremor of 2.9 on the Richter scale is like calling a ripple on the Serpentine a tsunami. [...] Did Leadsom really think the Oil and Gas Authority would report back that tremors were predictable? ... Today’s decision has been described as a moratorium rather than a permanent ban, which will be lifted, according to Leadsom, “when the science changes”. But the science is unlikely to change much in the near future – seismic activity will remain unpredictable, as will the fact that fracking is only capable of causing minor tremors ... So to take Leadsom at her word, this is tantamount to a permanent ban.
This is something of a shame, not least because fracking could give Britain the opportunity to move towards self-sufficiency in energy once again – something we haven’t been for the past 15 years [...] One day, we may well be able to get by without fossil fuels ... But in the meantime ... Boris Johnson once accepted the argument for a UK shale gas industry, to the point he once said he wanted to “leave no stone unfracked”. But he has now ratted on the industry for narrow electoral gain. (MORE - details)
EXCERPT (Ross Clark): For once, Jeremy Corbyn is right. The government’s announcement of a moratorium in fracking is an election stunt – and attempt to snatch a few leave-voting seats in the North at the expense of damaging Britain’s energy policy for the next couple of decades, as well as causing higher carbon emissions.
Announcing the block on fracking on Radio Four on Saturday morning, business secretary Andrea Leadsom said the government had reached its decision because the Oil and Gas Authority had concluded that it was impossible to predict when ‘earthquakes’ might be caused and what magnitude they might be. This followed a tremor measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale in August.
Let’s pass over Leadsom’s description of fracking-related tremors as ‘earthquakes’. To use that term to describe a tremor of 2.9 on the Richter scale is like calling a ripple on the Serpentine a tsunami. [...] Did Leadsom really think the Oil and Gas Authority would report back that tremors were predictable? ... Today’s decision has been described as a moratorium rather than a permanent ban, which will be lifted, according to Leadsom, “when the science changes”. But the science is unlikely to change much in the near future – seismic activity will remain unpredictable, as will the fact that fracking is only capable of causing minor tremors ... So to take Leadsom at her word, this is tantamount to a permanent ban.
This is something of a shame, not least because fracking could give Britain the opportunity to move towards self-sufficiency in energy once again – something we haven’t been for the past 15 years [...] One day, we may well be able to get by without fossil fuels ... But in the meantime ... Boris Johnson once accepted the argument for a UK shale gas industry, to the point he once said he wanted to “leave no stone unfracked”. But he has now ratted on the industry for narrow electoral gain. (MORE - details)