A REPORT on fracking used by Andy Burnham to justify calls for a ban was produced by a veteran green campaigner opposed to the practice.
Mr Burnham, the frontrunner for the Labour leadership, was accused of relying on “recycled scare stories” to justify his anti-fracking stance after citing a new paper from charity CHEM Trust, which claims that “chemicals from fracking could cause significant pollution and damage to wildlife”.
Promoting a news story about the report, Mr Burnham said: “This explains why I have called for a moratorium on fracking. Far too many potential risks and unanswered questions.”
CHEM Trust’s paper was written by its executive director, Michael Warhurst, who worked at environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth for a decade until last summer. Friends of the Earth is one of the leading opponents of fracking, along with Greenpeace, which CHEM Trust lists among its funders.
Mr Warhurst said his briefing report was based on another, lengthier report – a “detailed examination of the chemical pollution impact of fracking” - which CHEM Trust had commissioned from an environmental journalist. The journalist had been free to come to his own conclusions, Mr Warhurst said, even though CHEM Trust has been calling for a moratorium on fracking for two years now.
The publication of the CHEM Trust research comes ahead of crucial votes by councillors in Lancashire to decide whether fracking will be allowed to proceed for the first time since 2011. Councillors are due to begin planning meetings on the proposals by Cuadrilla today.
Fracking industry group UKOOG said the CHEM Trust report was “at odds with recognised, authoritative experts such as Public Health England” and said it was concerned about “the lack of independence of sponsors of this organisation”.
Peter Lilley, the Conservative MP, said: “Andy Burnham decided opportunistically to oppose fracking and the only ‘evidence’ he can find to back up his position is a rag bag of recycled scare stories from a partisan outfit whose real motive is hostility to use of the hydrocarbons which fuel our prosperity.
“He seems to ignore all the independent scientific evidence from the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering who say fracking can be carried out without risk to wellbeing or environment given the UK’s very firm regulatory system, not to mention Public Health England.”
Mr Warhurst dismissed Mr Lilley’s comments as “rubbish”. He said his background at Friends of the Earth did not influence the report and he had “never been involved in an anti-fracking group”.
Addressing allegations of bias, he said: “We have never claimed we are an independent academic operation – but we have looked at the evidence and our conclusions are very similar to those reached by the European Commission.”
Mr Burnham has previously described the evidence in favour of fracking as “very, very flimsy”. Speaking to The Telegraph prior to the publication of the CHEM Trust report, Francis Egan, Cuadrilla chief executive, said his position was “surprising”, adding: “We had the most eminent scientific bodies asked to study it, which they did at length and concluded it could be done safely.”