To frack, or not to frack

If you are like me you will have been watching the government’s toing-and-froing on the subject of fracking in environmentally sensitive areas with growing dismay. On the 16th December new regulations were passed by 298 votes to 261. These regulations will allow fracking under national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).

In January 2015 under the Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition there was an outright ban on fracking on designated sites, such as national parks. However, this ban was revoked in July under the new Conservative administration; they stated it would be “impractical” to rule out fracking in designated areas.

Under the guidelines put forward in July and confirmed in December, drilling will be allowed from outside the boundaries of national parks below a depth of 1,200 metres. Many Labour and Lib-Dem MPs have condemned the move by the Conservatives, who passed the new regulations by means of a statutory instrument. This means that the regulations can be brought in to force without a new act of Parliament having to be passed. There are complaints that the issue was not allocated any time for debate in the Commons chamber and the MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw, said that the move showed “contempt for Parliament”.

93 licences for shale oil and gas exploration over 159 blocks of land have been granted so far, mostly in Northern England. Around 75% of these are for shale oil and gas exploration, which typically involves fracking. Many people are concerned about the risk fracking may pose to human health and the climate. There are concerns that the chemicals used in the fracking process could contaminate groundwater, including drinking water supplies. In addition fracking releases methane, a gas which is far more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its warming potential and this could pose a significant problem to the ability of the UK to meet climate change targets.

Coming on the back of the Paris climate talks as these new regulations do, questions certainly need to be asked about our government’s commitment to climate change action.

Sources: The Independent, BBC News, The Telegraph