This composite article reflects a very busy period in the fracking debate.
Updates include the Scottish vote for a moratorium and the Lancashire County Council decision to delay a development decision with the EAC report being published, including ex Tory Environment Ministers supporting a ban, a vote in the commons on the Infrastructure Bill, and a decision awaited on Lancashire County Councils view on whether to allow fracking proposals for two sites.
Lancashire controversial fracking plans ‘should be refused’
LCC Officials recommend that Cuadrilla’s applications to develop two sites to explore for shale gas should not be approved.
Controversial plans for fracking in Lancashire should be refused because the drilling would cause “unacceptable” increases in noise and heavy traffic, according to the county council’s planning officers. A county divided: is Lancashire ready for its fracking revolution?
Their recommendation will be considered by councillors ahead of the deciding votes next week. The application by shale gas company Cuadrilla to drill wells at two sites also faced objections on a series of other issues, including public health, air and water pollution, subsidence and earthquake risk.
But Lancashire county council (LCC) planning officers said these impacts “would be low or could be mitigated” and “concluded that the principle of exploration for shale gas would be acceptable”. LCC’s planning committee will vote on Cuadrilla’s planning applications on 28 and 29 January. If approved, it will be the first full scale shale gas exploration in the UK. If they reject the plans, Cuadrilla can submit modified plans or appeal, with communities secretary Eric Pickles potentially making the final decision.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/cuadrilla-lancashire-fracking-should-be-refused
Environmental Audit committee calls for ban on fracking
26 January 2015 EAC ‘Shale fracking should be put on hold in the UK because it is incompatible with our climate change targets and could pose significant localised environmental risks to public health. That is the conclusion of MPs on the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee who will attempt to amend the Government’s Infrastructure Bill in Parliament today (Monday 26th) see below.
Joan Walley MP, chair of the Committee, said: “Ultimately fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate changing emissions unless full-scale carbon capture and storage technology is rolled out rapidly, which currently looks unlikely. There are also huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on water supplies, air quality and public health.” “We cannot allow Britain’s national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty to be developed into oil and gas fields. Even if a national moratorium on shale drilling in the UK is not accepted there should be an outright ban on fracking in such special sites.”
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news/environmental-risks-of-fracking-report/
MPs vote against a moratorium in the context of the Infrastructure Bill
BBC: MPs have overwhelmingly rejected a bid to suspend fracking for shale gas.
But the government agreed to Labour proposals for 13 new conditions to be met before shale gas extraction can take place.
During a Commons debate, ministers also pledged an “outright ban” on fracking in national parks.
Labour have insisted on fracking developments passing a series of tests. To read more click here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30993915
Ban fracking, says former Tory environment secretary Caroline Spelman Conservative MP calls for fracking moratorium as Labour says fracking should not be allowed unless regulatory loopholes are closed. The former Tory environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, has called for a ban on fracking in the UK ahead of a report by an influential committee of MPs that is expected to conclude fracking could derail efforts to tackle climate change.
The intervention by Spelman, a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, comes as the government’s drive for fracking came under heavy political attack on Thursday.
Anne McIntosh, Tory chair of the separate environment select committee of MPs, also mounted an assault against shale gas exploration while Labour’s shadow ministers said that fracking should not allowed until 13 regulatory “loopholes” are closed.
David Cameron has said the government is “going all out” for shale gas in the UK, claiming it would create jobs and cut the country’s reliance on imports. But opponents argue the high pressure fracturing of rocks to release gas risks health and environmental impacts and drives climate change.
Spelman’s demand for a halt to fracking was made in an amendment to a controversial government bill on which MPs will vote on Monday.
The amendment, which has the backing of half the MPs on the EAC, calls for a “moratorium on the hydraulic fracturing of shale gas deposits in order to reduce the risk of carbon budgets being breached.” This “reflects the conclusions” of an EAC inquiry which will be published on Monday and is expected to conclude that the push for fracking could derail efforts to tackle global warming.
McIntosh, who chairs a committee of MPs on environment, food and rural affairs, also opposes shale gas exploration and put forward amendments, including one to retain the right of people to block fracking under their homes.
“I don’t think fracking is appropriate,” she told the Guardian. “The carbon emissions from fossil fuels cannot be a good thing.” McIntosh, whose constituency contains a proposed fracking site, says shale gas exploration contradicts the Conservative Party’s acknowledgment of climate change and she is also concerned about possible contamination of groundwater by leaked fracking fluid and earthquakes.
Lancashire controversial fracking plans ‘should be refused’
LCC Officials recommend that Cuadrilla’s applications to develop two sites to explore for shale gas should not be approved.
Controversial plans for fracking in Lancashire should be refused because the drilling would cause “unacceptable” increases in noise and heavy traffic, according to the county council’s planning officers. A county divided: is Lancashire ready for its fracking revolution?
Their recommendation will be considered by councillors ahead of the deciding votes next week. The application by shale gas company Cuadrilla to drill wells at two sites also faced objections on a series of other issues, including public health, air and water pollution, subsidence and earthquake risk.
But Lancashire county council (LCC) planning officers said these impacts “would be low or could be mitigated” and “concluded that the principle of exploration for shale gas would be acceptable”. LCC’s planning committee will vote on Cuadrilla’s planning applications on 28 and 29 January. If approved, it will be the first full scale shale gas exploration in the UK. If they reject the plans, Cuadrilla can submit modified plans or appeal, with communities secretary Eric Pickles potentially making the final decision.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/cuadrilla-lancashire-fracking-should-be-refused
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