Fracking: the Tories’ “seismic shift”

A series of earthquakes triggered by fracking shook houses and shocked residents in the Blackpool area over the August bank holiday, said Andy Bounds in the FT. The tremors – which registered 2.9 on the Richter scale – also “snapped the patience” of the local Tory MP. Mark Menzies, whose Fylde constituency is home to the UK’s only active fracking site, operated by Cuadrilla, was prompted finally to bow to local opinion and demand that fracking be banned. “Hydraulic fracturing is not suitable for the Fylde coast,” he wrote to Kwasi Kwarteng, the energy minister. Nine weeks later, the Government has granted his wish. Following the example of Scotland and Wales – which have already withdrawn support for the practice – it announced an indefinite “moratorium” on fracking this week, citing fears of further quakes.

It’s easy to see why fracking – which involves blasting water and chemicals into deep-lying shale rock to release oil and gas – was once seen as the way forward, said Emily Gosden in The Times. It turned the US into an “energy superpower”, cutting prices for consumers, reducing the country’s reliance on imported oil and creating jobs. So in 2013 – with North Sea oil supplies dwindling – the then chancellor George Osborne promised that Britain would lead a “shale gas revolution”. But fracking is now an idea whose “time has passed”, said the FT. Tremors associated with the practice here have been far closer to densely populated areas than in the US; and communities have not been persuaded of its safety. Furthermore, the tone of the climate change debate has changed. Initially viewed as a replacement for carbon-heavy coal power, shale gas seemed to be “a bridge to a low emission future”. But if Britain is to meet Theresa May’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, investment needs to go instead into the widespread use of renewable energy.

Yet this “seismic shift” in energy policy owes as much to “political expediency” as it does to concerns about the environment, said Madeline Grant in The Daily Telegraph. Fracking is increasingly unpopular with the public: only 12% of voters support it, while 40% are opposed. Clamping down on it may help the Tories signal their green credentials to voters at the election – but with renewables “not yet ready”, shale gas “remains the best option to plug the gap until eco-technologies catch up”. Jeremy Corbyn noted that the Government has left the door open to a post-election volte-face, said Ross Clark in The Spectator. “It seems to me like an election stunt,” warned Corbyn – “or what’s called euphemistically a bit of a greenwash”. For once, he and I agree.