As ministers announced today the launch of the 14th onshore licensing round, Greenpeace’s Energydesk published a series of tables and maps highlighting the potential environmental and political impacts of this development (click here for the political analysis, and here for the analysis of national parks and water).
A large area comprising over half of Britain and home to millions of people has been offered up for oil and gas exploration, making it possible for fracking companies to bid for drilling permits.
The British Geological Survey has so far identified only three blocks - in the north and south of England, and in Scotland - as prospective areas for shale gas and oil, but with the latest licensing round ministers are opening up a much larger swathe of Britain.
The Energydesk analysis shows this area includes:
- 24 of the 31 constituencies represented by MPs who attend Cabinet (77%);
- 31 of the 40 marginal seats targeted by the Conservatives in their 2015 election strategy (77%);
- 92% of Labour-held seats;
- 506 constituencies in total;
- 10 of the UK’s 13 national parks;
- 47% of our principal aquifers;
- All 10 of the UK’s largest cities.
With just ten months to go before the next general election and public support for fracking in steady decline, today’s announcement is likely to stoke disquiet among many Tory MPs whose constituencies are being licensed for exploratory drilling. [1]
Senior Tory figures whose constituencies have been licenced for fracking include George Osborne, Theresa May, Michael Fallon, Ian Duncan Smith, and the newly appointed environment secretary Liz Truss. Notable exceptions include the Prime Minister’s Whitney constituency and Eric Pickle’s Essex seat.
Some Tory party figures have already broken ranks to express concerns about the party’s all-out backing for shale gas. George Osborne’s father-in-law, Lord Howell, warned that ‘every time Ministers open their mouths to claim that fracking must start everywhere around Britain, and not just in carefully selected and remote (derelict) areas, they lose thousands of Tory votes.’ [2]
Tory council chiefs in Osborne’s own constituency indicated they would oppose fracking in their area [3], and last week ex-minister and Tory MP Nick Herbert warned that “rural West Sussex cannot become a carelessly industrialised landscape.” [4]
But the mass give-away of drilling rights could cause some headaches for Labour too. The party, which has so far given a cautious backing to fracking, has the highest proportion of seats affected by the licensing round, 90%, against 70% for the Conservatives. They include those held by the opposition leader, Ed Miliband, and other senior figures of the shadow cabinet such as Ed Balls and Harriet Harman.
Most of the UK’s national parks fall within the area opened up for drilling licences today, with five of them entirely covered by licence blocks. The entirety of the Peak District, the UK’s first national park and the world’s second most visited, has been licensed.
Ministers have also announced tougher guidance to protect national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, but stopped short of making conservation areas off limits to shale drilling.
Earlier this year, the National Trust said that fracking in national parks should be banned to protect rare wildlife and fragile habitats, adding that fracking regulations are “inadequate.”
The Energydesk analysis also shows fracking licenses extend over many water source protection zones, and drinking water safeguard zones.
The most significant environmental hazard associated with the fracking process is water contamination from the chemicals in fracking fluid and the methane released in the fracking process.
Studies in the US, where 100,000 wells have been fracked, have how methane concentrations in drinking water increasing with proximity to frack pads, and accidental spills of fracking fluid have caused environmental havoc in local waterways. [6]
Commenting on today’s announcement, Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Simon Clydesdale said:
"Sneaking out the 14th licensing round after MPs have gone off on their summer holidays shows just how politically toxic fracking has become. Just a few months ago ministers were falling over each other to make big announcements about shale gas. Now, with MPs in Tory heartlands feeling the heat and all but seven cabinet ministers threatened by drilling in their constituencies, there could be a high political price to pay for this shale steamroller at next year’s general election."
ENDS
Contact
Stefano Gelmini, Greenpeace UK press officer, m 07506 512442, stefano.gelmini@greenpeace.org
Notes for editors
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/19/fracking-uk-shale-gas
[2] Lord Howell’s comments are extracted from his article ‘Lord Howell: British fracking policy – a change of direction needed’ from the Journal of Energy Security - http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=547:lord-howell-british-fracking-policy--a-change-of-direction-needed&catid=143:issue-content&Itemid=435
[6] In 2011, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reviewed 43 incidents in the US of environment pollution related to natural gas operations and found that almost half were related to contamination of groundwater, caused either by inadequate casing or by spillage and flowback water.
Occurrences of chemicals infiltrating the water reserve due to nearby shale activities are widely reported and studied in the US. Examples include:
1) A 2013 peer-reviewed study on the Barnett Shale in Texas that was published by the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology found in local waters elevated levels of contaminant chemicals such as arsenic.
2) An Associated Press investigation found there were 398 complaints of water pollution near drilling sites in Pennsylvania in 2013, and even more the year before.
3) An explosion at a fracking rig led to the poisoning of a tributary of the Ohio River.
4) Study showing methane contamination rising with proximity to fracking sites -
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/06/19/1221635110
The BGS itself outlined the risks of shale extraction and water contamination in a 2012 report.
