Shapps’ shale shutdown: Fracking group ‘frustrated and disappointed’ by U-turn on moratorium
A fracking advocacy group has said it is “deeply frustrated and disappointed” by a government U-turn reintroducing the moratorium for the practice.
Grant Shapps confirmed to Parliament this week the UK would “not support shale extraction” unless science can show “categorically that it can be done safely”.
The U-turn on Liz Truss’ decision to lift the moratorium comes as the UK looks to shore up its energy supplies in part due to the Russian war in Ukraine.
Charles McAllister, Director at UK Onshore Oil and Gas said the organisation and its members “are deeply frustrated and disappointed” by the U-turn.
“This, in the middle of an energy crisis, means that the country is further away than ever from achieving any form of energy independence.”
It criticised the UK’s “repeated U-turns” in energy policy claiming it “signifies that the UK is closed for business and that ideology, fiction and political weather outcompetes reason, fact and reality.”
With Sir Keir Starmer also outlining Labour would ban fracking completely, McAllister said neither the Tories or opposition “has a credible gas supply plan out to 2050”.
Accusing the government of an “illogical ‘fingers crossed’ approach” to energy security, he warned the reintroduction of the moratorium would lead to “costlier, more carbon intensive and less secure imports” being favoured “at great economic, environmental and geopolitical cost.”
New Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy secretary Grant Shapps tweeted, that “following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it was sensible to assess UK’s energy security. However, local communities come first & having further considered the science we stand by our 2019 manifesto on a fracking moratorium.”