Why fracking supporters should live next to drilling sites as energy crisis intensifies – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Anne Nightingale, Station Road, Helmsley.
Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?
Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?

MANY people will have recently read about the call from Lord Frost, the former Brexit Minister, and 29 MPs for Boris Johnson to resume fracking in the UK to help tackle the cost of living crisis.

Lord Frost has suggested that extracting domestic shale gas would give the UK a competitive and reliable source of energy.

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International Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith said to even replace half of UK imports would require 6,000 fracking wells.

Lord Frost resigned as Brexit Minister last year, citing policy differences with Boris Johnson.Lord Frost resigned as Brexit Minister last year, citing policy differences with Boris Johnson.
Lord Frost resigned as Brexit Minister last year, citing policy differences with Boris Johnson.

It is hard to imagine what our countryside and communities would have to tolerate with all the infrastructure that would bring, including heavy industrial equipment, endless HGV movements delivering toxic chemicals and wastewater to and from sites.

Some make the argument our own produced gas would be cheaper. The fracked gas would have to be sold at international prices; it would have no impact on UK bills.

We are too small a country to have fracking. Communities would be living in close proximity to wells with all the health hazards and disruption that would bring.

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If Lord Goldsmith and the 29 MPs are keen on the resumption of fracking, perhaps they would like to live next to a fracking site, which I doubt very much would happen.

Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?
Should fracking resume in Kirby Misperton and across the North to ease the energy crisis?

From: Dr Simon Sweeney, University of York.

SHELL reported annual profits for 2021 of $19.3bn and BP $12.8bn.

UK households face an average energy cost increase of £693 from April.

Lord Frost argues that ending the moratorium on fracking is the way to cut bills and ensure reliable supplies.

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This is dishonest. Gas is a globally traded commodity with prices fixed by international markets.

Any gas produced by private companies in the UK will be sold at the market price to provide maximum shareholder return.

The five-year campaign against fracking, supported by scientific evidence, persuaded the public that the risks from earth tremors, methane escapes, HGV movements in rural areas, aquifer contamination, and the industrialisation of rural landscapes was unacceptable.

It would be too much to expect Lord Frost to cease backing these destructive behemoths intent on worsening the ruinous impact of climate change, but the public must not be duped by lies about cheap domestic gas freeing us from a cost-of-living crisis.

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