MPs and onshore gas industry calls for immediate end to fracking ban - Horsham readers have their say

MPs and the onshore gas industry met on Tuesday to call an end to the fracking moratorium that has hit domestic energy security as the UK’s gas import dependency skyrockets.

The meeting threw into the spotlight the 50 year supply of natural gas, valued at £6.6 trillion at current prices.

With the potential to pour millions of pounds and tens of thousands of jobs into communities across northern and central England, and security from the supply and price squeezes of the European gas market as Russia severs international ties, MPs and the onshore gas industry asked the Government to lift the ban on fracking for shale gas immediately.

Steve Baker, the Conservative MP for Wycombe, said: “As preparations are made for cement trucks to fill in the UK’s last functioning shale gas wells, it is obscene that Russia's war crimes are being funded by Europe's addiction to their gas.

“It's already too late to solve this winter's crisis but Boris won't be forgiven for allowing energy insecurity and high prices to carry on year after year. We cannot allow our pensioners and the most vulnerable in our society to suffer from energy crises every year. We cannot allow industrial collapse under the weight of intolerable energy prices.

“Under the Government's plans, we will need vast quantities of gas even as renewables are ramped up. Ministers who are resistant must realise that Putin has created a new reality compared to 2019. This new reality must spur us into immediate action. Morally, it is the right thing to do."

Charles McAllister, policy manager at UK Onshore Oil and Gas, added: “A failure to develop UK shale gas could readily see the UK send £1 trillion overseas to exporters of natural gas over the next 28 years, a hard pill to swallow for the UK's communities as we jump from the Covid-19 crisis straight into one rooted in the cost of living.

“The environmental arguments don’t stand up, and neither do the claims around emissions: UK shale gas is forecast to have a carbon intensity one quarter of that of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) the UK is increasingly shipping in from Russia, Qatar and the USA. Economically, the LNG imports from these three countries meant the UK forking over an eye-watering £64bn from 2010-2021, the equivalent of £15 per household per month.

“The industry stands ready to get to work again creating a reliable domestic supply of much-needed natural gas. We don’t want or need subsidy; we merely need Government to open their eyes to the strong case for UK shale gas development and drop this illogical moratorium.”

A statement from environmental conservation organisation Frack Free Sussex said: “We are shocked that conversations are taking place to remove the fracking moratorium but much money has exchanged hands between the fossil fuel industry and our governments.

“When this moratorium was put in place, it did not mean the fracking companies stopped lobbying our government.

“We think it atrocious that the industry and climate change deniers will use the current situation as a way to try and kickstart this dangerous method of trying to extract oil and gas.

“Our government must stick with the current moratorium. Fracking is unsafe and it will never be proved otherwise.

“To consider expanding the oil and gas industry at a time of irrevocable climate and ecological disaster would be, as UN leader Antonio Gueterres said, a criminal abdication of leadership. Fracking was banned because it poisons the air and water and produces dangerous greenhouse gasses.

“The war in Ukraine highlights the urgent need for a renewable energy revolution in Britain and throughout Europe so that we are no longer reliant on Russian oil and gas.

“The science is very clear that fossil fuel extraction is causing the death of our only life support system and if we don’t rapidly move away from fossil fuels millions more will die, as well as the mass extinction of species and the death of entire ecosystems.”

Exploratory drilling near Wisborough Green and Fernhurst, near Haslemere, was refused in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Exploratory drilling, not fracking, began near Billingshurst in 2017, but work is on hold while the data at the site in Horse Hill, near Horley, is assessed. Work remains ongoing at the Horse Hill site dubbed the 'Gatwick gusher'.

Further testing for oil at Balcombe was blocked on March 2 but Angus Energy, an independent onshore oil and gas development company focused on advancing its portfolio of licensed UK assets, are appealing the decision.

We asked West Sussex County Times readers on our Facebook page what they thought of calls to end the fracking ban. Here’s how they responded:

Matt Mitchell: Anyone who thinks Fracking is a good idea is either making money from it or doesn't understand the damage it causes, also being as we export more gas than we use why not just use our own North sea gas, we are being lied to and the people that think Fracking is good are swallowing those lies.

Lavina Bennett: How will it help? We do not have nationalised oil & gas companies - they are privatised companies that are predicting huge profits for their owners & shareholders - instead of looking to frack should governments be looking to renationalise oil & gas resources? Or at the very least implement windfall taxes on the companies profiting from UK oil & gas to subsidise the cost of utilities.”

Mark Eaton: It's clear that alternative sources of oil and gas are required in the near to mid term, with global demand pushing up prices. Not sure that fracking is the answer - won't it take years to bring online? Would like to see conservation measures brought in first (55 mph speed limit, TV public information re savings on motoring, heating and cooking, home insulation, etc). One thing I am sure about though is that more nuclear is not any sort of answer - wouldn't be available for 20 years (Jeeeeez! - think how many renewables could be installed in that time) and will be sitting targets for any attack - just look at the evidence in front of our eyes in Ukraine.

Christian Mark Bode: We'd be better insulating homes and providing more solar panels. Fracking is pure vandalism of the natural environment. Wonder how many people supporting this here are against the Eton homes development??

Richard Smallridge: I got an email from EON today saying my gas electric bill will go up to 3k a year. So yes we need to do anything we can and now.

Debbie Blaber: If it stops us relying on other countries and brings down the cost of heating our homes then bring it on

Mikey Mook Turner: We banned fracking because of the potential harm to our countryside and utilities. Funny how MPs are willing to trade our safety and verdant hills for a bit of gas. All it takes is a conflict for people to start bandying about terrible ideas. If you want to preserve our landscape and safety, fracking is not the best place to start.

Geoff Oborne: Get on with fracking and drilling our own oil

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