To think the govt is mad for revoking the fracking ban?

[ShangPie]

That’s just it really - I can’t believe that the government has revoked the fracking ban.

It’s all kinds of wrong for loads of reasons:

Seriously damages the environment locally
Contributes to global climate change
Makes us more dependent on fossil fuels
Not-insignificant risk of manmade earthquakes near fracking sites!

To name just a few that come to mind…

Can we get this govt petition up to the 10,000 needed to reconsider it?

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614611

If we frack, it will just go on the open market so won’t be a U.K. only supply, it won’t be cheap energy for the U.K. it will just be gas for sale to the highest bidder.

An energy reduction campaign and insulation for domestic housing would save far more than 5% of our annual gas usage, reduce carbon output & save folk money.

Iþs fantastic and tracking can start in Somerset on the land where Mogg lives then move on to the areas where those who support him live. If the head of the tracking company says it's not worth it then why would it go ahead

Typos....fracking

I saw that too.

The geology of the UK makes it difficult and costly to extract, and hopefully the companies will find the game's not worth the candle.

hopefully the companies will find the game's not worth the candle

Not before their expensive exploratory surveys have been completed. Something tells me that takes about two years…

Funny how the north comes in handy sometimes for a bit of environmental destruction and the folk who will actually be affected directly by fracking are discredited as nimbys 🤔
Plonk a fracking venture in Surrey or Berkshire and I'm pretty sure the reaction would be the same...

And won't produce much gas anyway or certainly not at an economic price.

Will be interesting to see how well it would be received in Cheshire and the South Coast

You are correct the savings from insulation would be in excess of 5%.

To insulate every uninsulated home in the UK for free would cost the UK taxpayer between £13 and £17 billion which considering Liz is about to spaff £150 billion is relatively bugger all and provides benefits for much longer than 2 years.

It’s a terrible idea

I'm afraid you are just another Tory lacky, whatever policy they came up with, you'd defend it, they can do no wrong for you.

Bollocks. I don't view things in black and white (or blue and red). Life is in shades of grey (or even technicolour).

For example I have despaired at the incompetence of the way that Chris Grayling cancelled railway electrification, and the way that under a generation of transport secretaries since the 1990s culminating in Grant Shapps, the railways have turned into a bureaucratic quagmire. I oppose Heathrow expansion (frankly I'd close it and turn the site into a housing development, we don't need to fly anything like that much). I'm in favour of building HS2 in full (originally a Labour idea) and against most roadbuilding. I am in favour of joining EFTA and would even support joining Schengen, but I am opposed to the Customs Union and the CAP.

No one political party perfectly fits my views. In fact, I don't think that I've voted for any party more than once in general elections.

I said above that my view on fracking is that this is too little, too late for this crisis. I don't however believe that it marks the end of civilisation.

20% of our housing stock was built before 1919. Insulating older houses without causing damp issues is not easy. Even if the government said "we'll pay for everything to be insulated tomorrow", do you really think that we have the materials and skilled labour available to do it? It's no more use in the short term than fracking.

@1dayatatime funny you say that. The Fylde coast area which was the centre of the Cuadrilla operation still returned a Tory MP. However he was also opposed to it, in fact spoke in parliament this week denouncing the change in tack. It would be interesting to see what would happen electorally if local dissent was ignored and the companies ploughed on....

Quite! I wish the government had friends who owned insulation companies. That would they could actually do some good whilst lining their pockets.

I also can't understand why the government are so keen on fracking with its associated environmental costs to residents but the thought of an onshore wind turbine along the side of a motorway or on a hill in the middle of nowhere is absolutely abhorrent to them. And woe betide any farmer who might like to fill some fields with solar panels (which you can apparently do and grow crops in the same field).🙄😬

Some loft insulation and decent windows would be a good start and wouldn't cause damp issues.

This is correct. Fracking is being allowed PURELY to make money for the businesses involved, which I can only assume are offering significant sweeteners to the Tories.

We should also be looking at ways of using energy more efficiently.

It seems to be all about getting more energy sources - whilst not focusing on how we use the energy we do have and how we can waste less.

You could have fooled me... probably not that difficult! but i ve yet to see you disagree with a Tory policy, no matter how daft.

Perhaps you shouldn't have quoted parrot fashion Rees Moggs Russian rubbish? no evidence for it, compared to Brexit, where Putin publicly supported leaving the EU & where the TOries wont publish the report....

Fracking doesn't have to be the end of civilisation but to spend time on a policy that most experts say is pointless and where the science hasn't changed since 2019 is not a good use of time.

Insulation & energy efficiency makes a real difference right now, yes it would take time but loft, windows/doors and new gas boilers or heat pumps where suitable, can start immediately.
Why no focus on business either? our continental cousins are full on for saving gas.

What is going to raise more tax/work? Cuadrilla or insulation of UK homes? bear in mind, its the poorest households with the worst heat efficiency.

The debate today on it

hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-09-22/debates/E23FDAEF-6FCD-4C89-8671-EB8521256A59/ShaleGasExtraction

Agree!

Although your first paragraph answers your second.... but you know that :)

Tories are pushing it because they will have shares in it. Rees mog made millions personally from Brexit which he supported so he will make more from fracking. It's a environmental disaster and will take years to get up and running. We can ask him whether hed be happy with fracking in his garden see how he feels.
The energy disaster had been on the cards for years and theyve done nothing about it.need to start building nuclear I think

but i ve yet to see you disagree with a Tory policy, no matter how daft.
I just listed a couple. I'm also against the self-ID policy of Theresa May's government, though it's one that is enthusiastically embraced by the rest.

Perhaps you shouldn't have quoted parrot fashion Rees Moggs Russian rubbish?

I never quoted Rees-Mogg. I quoted the 2014 words of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, then the Secretary General of NATO and twice Prime Minister of Denmark. A man who has warned against relying on Russian energy for years. JRM was a wet-behind-the-ears backbencher in 2014.
www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/19/russia-secretly-working-with-environmentalists-to-oppose-fracking

I remember there being Russian interference in the 2019 General Election. Leaking documents that would embarrass the government and help the opposition. You haven't mentioned that, I notice.

Me thinks there are a few pockets being lined amongst the old boy network.

Ed Miliband was majestic by the way today in Parliament....if only he'd never eaten that sandwich.

I don't understand why they have thrown their weight behind electric cars, of which the green credentials are still on dodgy ground, plus they are out of price range for most people, yet have refused to invest in valid renewable energy schemes. One of the most reliable green energy sources would be tidal power...we're surrounded by water and the tides are always reliable unlike wind and solar power. And what investment is there in it? Nada.

Why don't they just build more wind farms and use more solar panels?