Jacob Rees-Mogg Lifts the Fracking Ban
Jacob Rees-Mogg has scrapped the ban on fracking and said tremors in Britain’s countryside should be tolerated in the “national interest”. Too bloody right. The Telegraph has more.
The Business Secretary said “much has changed” since the Conservatives introduced the moratorium on fracking in 2019, including the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
He said the country needed to “explore all avenues available to us” as he also confirmed plans to issue a wave of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
Mr. Rees-Mogg said: “While the Government will always try to limit disturbance to those living and working near to sites, tolerating a higher degree of risk and disturbance appears to us to be in the national interest given the circumstances described.
“With this in mind, it is important that the policy relating to shale gas extraction reflects this.”
The fracking ban was prompted in part by a 2.9 magnitude tremor at a site in Lancashire, and a subsequent investigation that found it was not possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes.
But Mr. Rees-Mogg said more data could be collected by allowing shale gas drilling and using the wells to better understand the risk of earthquakes.
The decision to allow fracking is likely to be unpopular with many Tory MPs, including those representing constituencies where it took place prior to 2019.
Opponents of fracking have circulated a list of Conservatives who have spoken out against it in the past. It contains seven Cabinet ministers, including Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, who said in March that new fracking sites would take up to a decade to produce gas and would “come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside”.
Ministers hope that the reversal of the ban will spark a boom in production of shale gas that could help power Britain for decades to come. The move means fracking can resume in areas where extraction companies can secure planning and environmental permission.
Mr. Rees-Mogg said: “In light of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and weaponisation of energy, strengthening our energy security is an absolute priority, and – as the Prime Minister said – we are going to ensure the UK is a net energy exporter by 2040.
“To get there, we will need to explore all avenues available to us through solar, wind, oil and gas production – so it’s right that we’ve lifted the pause to realise any potential sources of domestic gas.”
Worth reading in full.
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I note the authorities never like to compare the tremor limits imposed on fracking with the limits deemed acceptable for lovely green geothermal (sarc). Could it be because geothermal is allowed to make tremors several orders of magnitude larger than those recorded at the Lancashire fracking sites for example?
I was born in a coal mining village where significant tremors, particularly when underground blasting, were not the only thing but ground subsidence too.
The terror of seismic activity was just an excuse to impede fracking.
Best news for Britain since the discovery of large-scale shale gas reserves was announced – though local opposition will still need to be overcome. They don’t worry too much about local opposition to the costly white elephant of HS2 do they (unless it’s in the Cotswolds)?
In any case, my understanding is that issues at the Lancashire site arose because the exploration was not conducted and monitored in the correct way.
The snag may be the location of shale gas, in particular, whose constituency it is in: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geology-projects/shale-gas/shale-gas-in-the-uk/
Best news would be building more coal-fired power stations which are the most efficient for providing base load for the grid, with coal prices lower and less volatile than gas.
Plus UK has plenty of coal deposits which modern mining techniques makes extracting them economically and practically viable.
Is common sense about to come back into fashion..?
Only under extreme duress and unwelcomed.
It is bad politics to present this decision as a last resort and that tremors will have to be accepted.
The fact is the effects of fracking are almost undetectable and so there is no suffering to put up with. Fracking is not a last resort but exploitation of national resources for both economic effect, energy security and independence from Russia, etc.
Approval should be at a national level and not left to local communities (which means the “cabinet” of local authorities). And why should they be paid for it?
Good.
There’s always coal.
Might shore up the red wall.
If HS2 ever gets going, you will be able to experience the terrors of a Richter 2.9 “earthquake” by standing on a railway platform every time a train goes past.
Not just (if you are lucky) when one single well is fracked once.
Or you could go to an Ibiza Rave hall and experience these dreadful “earthquake” more or less continually. And pay loads for doing so.
Or you can sit on your bum in most places in the UK and experience a 2.9 terror probably once a year. If you haven’t nodded off.
The people who have promoted this absurd narrative should really be tried for terrorism.
Ah, so it is all Putin’s fault again. Darned clever, the way he manipulated the West to introduce sanctions which weaponised energy to the detriment of the West.
As President Trump did before Resident Biden screwed ii up. MBGA. Make Britain Great Again. Energy Independent, what’s not to love?
Good news. Get fracking, drilling and building modular nuclear reactors. Oh, and reopen some coal mines too.
Why bother with nuke reactors when coal-fired stations are easier, quicker to construct, and cheaper to build and operate?
Good news re: fracking.
Although I need to get past the sour taste phrases such as “…including the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.” bring.
The war in Ukraine did not cause the energy crisis!!
20+ years of shite, unrealistic, nanny-carbon-zero-pandering domestic energy policies caused our current crisis – albeit, not helped by a war in Europe.
All smacks of reactive measures. Won’t be any use this winter…
True – but at least it’s a start. Remember Nick Clegg in 2010 blocking the building of new nuclear power stations because they wouldn’t come on-line until…2021?
I do indeed…
It looks like a rare case of sanity coming from the Government. But they are going to have to stand up to the Eco Loonies – and I doubt they have the bottle.
So a big heartfelt THANK YOU to Vlad.
As for the weaponising of energy – well leaving aside the US and its NATO poodles started that – I rather suspect what has come sharply into focus is that wind power is incapable on its own of meeting demand and needs fossil fuels as constant back-up.
It cannot replace coal, gas and nuke not for the lack of enough wind turbines blotting the landscape, but not enough wind which – surprise, surprise – is a natural element and like the tides obeys the command of no man nor king.