What is it with this government and fracking? They seem to be obsessed with drilling; the proven safe and truly renewable wind and solar energies are not for them. They want the earth penetrated by drilling and the injection of high pressure water, laced with a cocktail of nasty chemicals and sand, to frack the hell out of the rocks beneath our beautiful countryside.
All of that is to release fossil fuel, in the form of natural gas (methane). It is true that natural gas, when burned, releases half the CO2 per unit of energy compared with coal. However, if you take leakages of the gas during drilling and transportation into account that advantage largely disappears. This is because methane is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
In any case the latest report from the US-based think tank Oil Change International (OCI) concludes that “the world’s working coal mines and oil and gas fields contain enough carbon to push the world beyond the threshold for catastrophic climate change”. No more fossil fuel should be dug up. Meanwhile, the British government in the shape of Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, has overturned Lancashire county council’s rejection of a license to frack thus giving the green light for the shale company Cuadrilla to drill in the county next year.
So much for local democracy and listening to the people; this government only listens if it agrees with…