Fracking is not the answer to the energy crisis, we can't just swap one dirty fuel for another - Mark Casci

I, as I would imagine many of you, have been watching my energy consumption keenly of late. Prices are through the roof across the board.

Fuel in my car feels like money in the bank. I have more often than not reverted to type when in the supermarket, reacting to inflated prices with an over-exaggerated “how much” response when faced with a significant increase in the cost of basic household items.

But energy is the killer, and it is starting to hurt.

The nation is set against the greatest energy crisis since the Second World War.

Energy bills are causing headaches.Energy bills are causing headaches.
Energy bills are causing headaches.
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Gas market prices have surpassed the record highs to reach a new all-time high, around nine times higher than this time last year.

A global squeeze on energy supplies, last year’s cold winter and poor wind power generation levels in 2021 have all contributed

However, disruption to Russia’s gas exports to western Europe have arguably dealt the harshest blow.

As a nation we are heavily reliant on gas to produce electricity and the rising costs put several energy suppliers, including our own CNG, out of business last year.

Gas prices are soaring.Gas prices are soaring.
Gas prices are soaring.
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Britain is, of course, not alone in this crisis but as an island nation, left vulnerable by the disaster of Brexit, it is a damaging blow to households and businesses.

The latter are reeling from the blow. Most firms are increasing their prices in response to rising costs, threatening a “cost-of-doing-business crisis”.

A survey of 1,000 businesses found that almost three out of four are raising prices, while half are cutting costs and almost one in five are scaling down investment. One in 20 respondents to the British Chambers of Commerce poll said they are considering ceasing to trade.

And with industry experts predicting it will be well into next year before costs begin to fall back, the country is in for a rough ride.

Fracking has been suggested as a saviour.Fracking has been suggested as a saviour.
Fracking has been suggested as a saviour.
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Somewhat predictably, some quarters are calling for a restoration of fracking to the energy agenda.

Yorkshire was targeted by the private sector as a rich seam of potential fracking sites around a decade ago.

While pilots were commissioned no firm has been successful in extracting shale gas energy in the region, owing to strong political and environmental opposition, who fear the impact on air and water pollution.

A new paper published by climate change sceptics at Net Zero Watch landed in my inbox this morning, promising a utopia of cheaper prices if these concerns were dismissed. Its author, economics writer, Tim Worstall, describes fracking as “a benign extractive industry” and claims domestic gas production from fracking would substitute for imports, which are higher priced because they carry the cost of transportation.

Third Energy has abandoned fracking.Third Energy has abandoned fracking.
Third Energy has abandoned fracking.
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“So UK consumers would undoubtedly see a big benefit,” he writes.

“As would the Treasury, which would receive a huge injection of royalty income at a time when it badly needs it.”

Net Zero Watch director, Dr Benny Peiser, further advises: “There are no good reasons not to develop Britain’s enormous shale gas resources. But it’s not just about the cost-of-living crisis.

The Government’s failure to develop our shale gas wealth is incentivising Putin’s energy wars and has become a major disaster for national security.”

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All fine words but Yorkshire and the UK have proven themselves smarter than given credit for over the years to believe this ‘sunlit uplands’ style rhetoric.

Replacing one dirty fuel with another won’t solve the current crisis nor make us more self-sufficient when it comes to energy. Even former fossil fuel firms like Third Energy, once hell-bent on fracking in Yorkshire, have cottoned on to this and are now abandoning shale gas entirely, instead focusing on renewable energy.

The first step to solving a crisis is always acknowledging that one exists. This part we have accomplished.

But doubling down on fossil fuel production, one that is rife with dangerous and environmental pitfalls, is not the right strategy now and frankly smacks of last century’s thinking.