The UK's fracking commissioner, Natascha Engel, resigned last week, claiming that government rules created a 'de facto ban' on the industry. But in an interview on Radio 4's Broadcasting House on Sunday, she made it clear she just didn't understand either the consequences of a fracking industry or the concerns of its opponents – such as the many campaign groups fiercely opposing fracking here in Sussex.
Fracking is a threat in Sussex
The government has sold exploration licences across Sussex to oil and gas companies. Cuadrilla has licences covering over 270 square miles in the eastern half of Sussex. Celtique Energie/Magellan Petroleum owns licence blocks right across West Sussex.
These companies are determined to drill. And it will affect us all if they go ahead. Extraction is only profitable for the oil and gas companies if they drill large numbers of wells close together over a large area.
In West Sussex, Celtique Energy is promising its shareholders vast profits – the volume of oil and gas they promise would require over 6000 shale gas wells and 800 shale oil wells.
(Find out more at Frack Off's website. The map above is from Frack Off.)
Engel was always a terrible choice as Commissioner
The Commissioner for Shale Gas’s role is to act as a contact point for local residents. You might hope, at the very least, that she would be impartial. You might also hope that she would be well informed.
Natascha Engel failed on both fronts, spectacularly. Before her appointment she had been hired by fossil fuel company Ineos to write an information booklet promoting the benefits of shale gas exploration – so it was clear which side of the fence she sat on when the government appointed her.
No surprises there: this government has pushed shale exploration on the UK relentlessly, despite huge public opposition, and at the same time has created a hostile environment for renewables.
Engel’s grasp of facts seems to have been a little shaky too. She seemed to think that fracking would enable the UK to reduce its imports of gas. The UK already exports more gas than it imports – but she didn’t mention this. Her obsession was with the UK’s imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
In the interview, Engel claimed that the UK could reduce its carbon footprint by reducing the amount of LNG it imported, because LNG requires considerable amounts of energy to liquefy and transport.
However, the UK’s imports of LNG have been falling in recent years: LNG imports fell by a third between 2016 and 2017.
In addition, the UK exports more natural gas than it imports LNG. The ONS figures for 2018 show that the UK imported less than 100TWh of LNG but exported more than 120TWh of natural gas. So the UK can end its need for energy-hungry LNG by using its own natural gas.
Fracking isn’t the answer to the UK’s energy needs
The product of fracking is a fossil fuel: creating and using it will generate more CO2, and add considerably to global warming.
The Conservative government and the oil lobbies are desperate to frack. They still do not see that we need to turn to alterative, renewable technologies.
Nor do they care about the views of local people whose lives and environments will be shattered by fracking.
The Green Party is the only party that has a carbon neutral vision for the future
The Green Party has opposed fracking from the start, often on the front line, standing with people in villages and towns across the UK as the exploration rigs arrive.
Locally and nationally, Greens know that fracking isn't the future. It maintains our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and takes investment away from the renewable energy sources that can provide us with energy security for centuries to come.
Patricia Patterson-Vanegas, Green Party candidate for Wealden District Councillor for Forest Row, says "I welcome the resignation of the Fracking Tsar. Across the country, Greens have been making the case for increased use of renewables and an end to dependence on fossil fuels. We've consistently supported efforts to keep Sussex frack-free."
And Tony Lewin, Green Party member and Forest Row parish councillor, says "Here in Forest Row we have a thriving Energy Co-op, which is successfully moving people away from fossil fuel consumption, and is ensuring that dirty industries such as fracking have no future in the UK."
BBC Report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48081314
ONS Figures are from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), published 26th July, 2018.
Derbyshire Times article: https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/decision-by-former-mp-to-link-up-with-fracking-firm-criticised-1-8895362
Appointment of Engel as Commissioner: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/natascha-engel-appointed-as-commissioner-for-shale-gas
