YP Letters: Vote to leave EU could strengthen the case for fracking

From: Prof Paul William John Glover, Chair of Petrophysics, University of Leeds.
Demonstrators lobby the North Yorkshire County Council meeting which backed Third Energy's fracking plan for Kirby Misperton.Demonstrators lobby the North Yorkshire County Council meeting which backed Third Energy's fracking plan for Kirby Misperton.
Demonstrators lobby the North Yorkshire County Council meeting which backed Third Energy's fracking plan for Kirby Misperton.

THE four biggest economic drivers for the development of shale gas all have the potential for leaving the country and the average person in the street more financially secure.

These are better energy security, an improved balance of payments resulting from lower gas imports, tax revenue to replace that which used to come from the North Sea and car fuel taxes, and finally economic growth with new jobs, especially in northern areas where they are most needed.

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The economic difficulties that almost all experts from both sides of the debate seem to be predicting if the UK leaves the EU will make it almost impossible for the Government not to fast-track shale gas in order to bolster the economy. Consequently, a vote to leave the EU is a clear vote for shale gas.

Moreover, the UK’s much vaunted excellent environmental regulations are to a large extent the result of sustained EU pressure. Take away that oversight, and any government with its back to the economic wall might reasonably exempt the shale gas industry from some of them for the sake of the country, but not the countryside.

Everything is on hold until the EU referendum day. Only after then will it be clear that Brexit = Fraccess.

From: Dr Simon Sweeney, The York Management School, University of York.

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THE Government’s Climate Change Committee report on UK Shale Gas should have been published in May.

Could our fracking supporting MPs Kevin Hollinrake and Julian Sturdy find out the reasons for the delay?

Could it be that the report states that methane escapes from fracking mean shale gas production makes a higher contribution to global warming than burning coal?

Methane has twice the warming impact of CO2. Perhaps the report recommends renewable energy as the only way for the UK to meet its Paris Conference on Climate Change commitments. Such conclusions would embarrass a government committed to a ‘dash for gas’.

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If Messrs Sturdy and Hollinrake changed their minds g they might win sympathy from constituents worried about climate change and opposed to the industrialisation of North Yorkshire. MPs who admit their mistakes and defend their communities, rather than bend to the will of the Chancellor and corporate interests, deserve respect.