Fears that “dangerous” fracking could be allowed in Wirral have been raised in parliament, with a Wirral MP saying she is “extremely concerned”.
The government paused fracking implementation in November 2019 due to concerns about managing “seismic activity”. The pause followed numerous protests from environmental groups over several years, with worries about potential risks such as earth tremors raised.
But Margaret Greenwood, MP for Wirral West, fears fracking may be back on the table as the UK looks to move away from importing Russian energy.
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Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, the Labour MP said: “Many Wirral West residents are extremely concerned that petroleum exploration and development licence [number] 184 covers Wirral West. The Government’s failure to ban fracking leaves my constituency at risk of this dangerous technology that would extract fossil fuels at the very time that we should be moving to renewables.
“I led a successful campaign against underground coal gasification (UGC) in the Dee estuary in 2013 and last month the Government told me that they no longer support the development of UCG. Can the minister reconfirm whether that position is still the case, or whether it has changed, and will he ban both fracking and UCG?"
In response, Greg Hands, Conservative MP and minister for energy, clean growth and climate change, said: “I have laid out clearly that our policy on fracking is unchanged. The [honourable] member illustrates well the need to keep community support. When it comes to renewables, this Government’s record is one of the best in the world in delivering on renewables.
“We have the world’s largest installed offshore wind capacity, a new dedicated pot for tidal, and a lot of progress on solar and on onshore wind. All these things are helping the UK to produce a very diversified set of energy sources, which is a key part of our response to the current crisis.”
The debate opened with a question from Lee Anderson, Tory MP for Ashfield, asking Mr Hands to confirm what the Government’s current stance is on shale gas production in the UK. On this question, Mr Hands said shale gas and new approaches “could be part of our future energy mix”.
In full, Mr Hands said: “In response to Putin’s barbaric acts in Ukraine and against the Ukrainian people, we need to keep all our energy options open. We have always been clear that the development of shale gas in the UK must be safe and cause minimal disruption and damage to those living and working in nearby sites.
“This is not a new position. Shale gas and new approaches could be part of our future energy mix, but we need to be led by the science and have the support of local communities. That was in our general manifesto, on which my [honourable] friend and I stood at the last election.
“The pause on fracking implemented in November 2019 on the basis of the difficulty in predicting and managing seismic activity caused by fracking remains in place, and we will continue to be led by the science in our approach. We are clear that shale gas is not the solution to near-term issues.”
Mr Hands added: “It would take years of exploration and development before commercial quantities of shale gas could be produced. Additionally, fracking relies on a continued series of new wells, each of which produces gas for a relatively short time.
“Even if the pause were lifted, there are unlikely to be sufficient quantities of gas available to address the high prices affecting all of western Europe and it would certainly have no effect on prices in the near term.
“As the Business Secretary has said, we will continue to back our vital North Sea oil and gas sector to maximise domestic production while transitioning to cheaper, cleaner home-grown power at the same time. We will shortly set out an energy supply strategy that will supercharge our renewable energy and nuclear capacity, as well as supporting our North Sea oil and gas industry.”
