Labour has a chance to show that, unlike the Tories, it is committed to tackling climate change
Next week Lancashire County Council will decide whether to accept or reject fracking company Cuadrilla’s two applications to frack in the area. Earlier this week the planning officer recommended approval for one of the applications.
Moratoriums have already halted fracking in Scotland and Wales, and fracking proposals have been seen off across the south of England.
No wonder all eyes are on Lancashire. If fracking were to go ahead there, it would be the first fracking in the UK for over four years.
Back in 2011, it was Lancashire that first kicked off the fracking controversy. Cuadrilla fracked a well near Blackpool (still the only well to be fracked in Britain) which, among other issues, caused a minor earthquake, and has since been shut down.
Lancashire residents vs Osborne
The locals remember, and have been tireless in fighting Cuadrilla’s latest fracking plans. There are now more than 35 community action groups that have been set up across Lancashire to oppose fracking, and an opinion poll showed that two-thirds of people in Lancashire want to see fracking stopped.
I’ve spent a fair bit of time with these community activists over the past few months, and one thing that really concerns them is the scant concern from national government at the growing evidence of risks from the process, or the impact on them.
Whether it is the ban on fracking in New York State on public health grounds, or the thorough process underway in Scotland to assess risks to the environment, health and climate change – everyone seems to be taking the risks more seriously than the current government.
The approach of the Conservatives seems to be ‘any way possible, at any cost’. This was clear from a leaked letter in which George Osborne reported a cabinet committee meeting which planned to help Cuadrilla push their fracking plans through, whatever the local community thought.
The Conservatives have done their best to use National Planning Policy to smooth the path for the frackers too, limiting the grounds that councils can turn proposals down, and changing the rules so that councils pay the legal fees of their opponents if they reject the application but then lose at appeal.
Good grounds for refusal
Despite this, in the case of Lancashire, there remain strong planning policy reasons to reject both applications, including impacts on groundwater, carbon emissions, noise, traffic, and the landscape.
Happily, rejecting the plans would also be in line with Labour party policy.
Caroline Flint confirmed again in parliament earlier this month that Labour’s formal position remains to oppose any fracking going ahead until the party’s ’13 conditions’ are in law – something that doesn’t seem likely any time soon with this parliamentary make up.
Labour can stand with people in Lancashire
Perhaps more importantly for Labour though, this decision offers an opportunity for the party – at least at the local level – to stand with the people of Lancashire.
It’s been clear for some time that any potential benefits for residents are so low they are far outweighed by the risks.
Cuadrilla’s own planning application highlights that there would be just 11 jobs created by each site – a figure that includes both ‘indirect’ and ‘induced’ employment, and Cuadrilla have themselves admitted that any impact on bills would be ‘basically insignificant’.
But for Labour, the benefits outweigh the risks. Cat Smith MP, who is asking residents to co-sign her objection letter to the council, and argued passionately against fracking in the run up to election, bucked the national trend and saw off a popular sitting Tory MP in Lancaster and Fleetwood.
Climate change means fossil fuels must stay in the ground
Neither can the moral case be ignored. With everyone from Obama to Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, now agreed that fossil fuels need to stay in the ground, and even the Pope stressing the urgent need for climate action, Labour should take a principled position to oppose fracking altogether on climate change grounds.
With the Paris climate talks looming, setting up a new fossil fuel industry when 80 per cent of the world’s existing reserves need to stay in the ground undermines attempts at climate action.
In Lancashire it is in Labour’s gift to keep fracking out of Britain; to take the side of residents, not the side of Osborne, Cameron, and Cuadrilla; to deliver for the local area; and help send a strong international message that fracking is not the answer.
Donna Hume is a political campaigner for Friends of the Earth. Follow her on Twitter
24 Responses to “Fracking: Labour must stand with the people of Lancashire”
Ali Abbas
Mike, in answer to some of your questions:
1. I don’t know. But I warrant it’s a tiny fraction of the number of lobbyists the oil & gas industry has in Brussels or the amount it spends on lobbying.
2. Even the fracking companies acknowledge that shale gas extraction won’t bring down gas prices in the UK. And it certainly won’t affect the price of petrol & diesel. The best way to deal with energy price rises is to reduce our dependence on gas by insulating our housing stock better and investing in renewables.
3. While it’s true to say that small-scale fracking of oil wells has been happening for decades, large-scale high-pressure fracking of shale deposits is a fairly recent development and there’s plenty of evidence from America that it’s far from perfectly safe.
4. Yes, and the overwhelming majority agree that human activity is contributing to climate change.
If the Labour movement is to move on, I agree we must all face up to the new world in which we now live – one in which the evidence clearly shows that we’re undermining the Earth’s capacity to sustain us, and the only rational response is to acknowledge the problem and stop doing the things, such as extracting more fossil fuels, that make it worse.
Ali Abbas
If you’re worried about energy security, a far more effective solution would be to reduce demand for gas by properly insulating our homes, supporting a shift from gas to electricity for space heating, and rapidly scaling up renewable energy capacity.
Mike Stallard
Are you really that insecure about a perfectly natural and well tried process which is bringing down the price of petrol and freeing you, a Socialist, from the tyranny of Saudi and other God fearing lands in the Middle East?
Mike Stallard
Beenthere. Done that. Still have to go out though in my car – or bus. Both need pretrol/diesel.
JohnGBolin
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