Fracking should be banned, say MPs

Fracking for shale gas should be banned, according to the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC).

In a report launched this morning by the EAC, they are calling for the Infrastructure Bill, set to be debated in parliament today, to “explicitly bar the fracking of shale gas”.

The committee said that the use of fracked shale gas will not comply with the UK’s obligations under the Climate Change Act because it is not “low carbon”.

The report states that it will take up to 15 years for any large scale extraction of shale gas to take place in the UK, and that by that time the need for it to be a bridge fuel – replacing coal as an energy source – will no longer need needed as coal-fired power stations will have closed due to EU emissions directives.

The MPs added that tightening carbon budgets over the same period means that “only a very small fraction of the possible shale gas deposits will be burnable”.

The EAC also says that if fracking is to take place, there need to be protection in place in water protection zones. Currently there are plans for restriction in water source protection zones 1 (the 50 day travel time from any point below the water table to the source), but the MPs want fracking to be prohibited in all groundwater protection zones.

They also call for a minimum vertical separation distance between shales fracked and a groundwater aquifer that is “defined and mandated”.

EAC chair Joan Walley said: “Ultimately fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate changing emissions unless full-scale carbon capture and storage technology is rolled out rapidly, which currently looks unlikely.

“There are also huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on water supplies, air quality and public health.”

She added: “The government is trying to rush through changes to the trespass laws that would allow companies to frack under people’s homes without permission. This is profoundly undemocratic and Parliament should protect the rights of citizens by throwing these changes out when they are debated later today.”

The UK Onshore Oil and Gas association (UKOOG) claim the report “ignores why gas is so important” and says that gas plays a “vital role” in other aras outside of electricity generation.

UKOOG chief executive Ken Cronin said: “This rushed report ignores the fact that gas is not just a source of electricity but has a major impact on everyday life with respect to products we use, to heat our homes, the cooking we do and the jobs it sustains in industry.

“The report also ignores most of the evidence of a properly regulated and safe industry in the UK and that gas and renewables work together.”

He added that by banning fracking for shale gas, will only increase the volume of the UK’s gas imports “with significant economic consequences”, and that the robust regulatory regime will help to protect the environment from pollution.

The government said it “disagrees with the conclusions of this report” and adds that the UK has one of the “most robust regularity regimes”

A spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said: “UK shale development is compatible with our goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions and does not detract from our support for renewables, in fact it could support development of intermittent renewables.

“To meet our challenging climate targets we will need significant quantities of renewables, nuclear and gas in our energy mix.

“Shale gas has huge potential to create jobs and make us less reliant on imports.”