Transcript Why fracking is not the answer to our energy problems (powerpoint 2.2

Why fracking is not the answer to our
energy problems
Tony Bosworth
Energy Campaigner
Friends of the Earth
Some of the claims made by fracking firms
Fracking “uses proven, safe technologies”
“There is no evidence of aquifer contamination from hydraulic fracturing”
Fracking in the UK would provide “decades worth of natural gas”
Fracking in the UK would mean “freedom from … Russia’s political games with
your gas supply”
Advertising Standards Authority verdict: misleading, unsubstantiated and
exaggerated
What I will talk about
• Why many of the claims made by the industry don’t stand up to close scrutiny
• Who should decide?
• There are other energy solutions, and East Yorkshire is well-placed to benefit
Not just Friends of the Earth’s views
The industry’s claims
Fracking for shale gas:
• is needed to tackle our energy crisis
• will be a huge boost for the economy and create lots of jobs
• will be safe
The Government’s energy priorities
Affordable
Secure
Clean
Will shale gas cut energy bills?
David Cameron: “fracking has real
potential to drive energy bills down”
Ed Davey: Fracking in UK will not have
“any effect” on gas prices
Lord Browne: “not going to have a
material impact on price”
Lord Stern: Prime Minister’s claims are
“baseless economics”
Energy security: we need shale gas to keep the
lights on
The industry says:
• UK shale gas means we wouldn’t
have to rely on Russia and the Middle
East
• ‘Our gas’ would give us energy
security
Shale gas: not the best energy security solution
• Our biggest source of gas imports is Norway
• There’s no guarantee that gas extracted from under the UK will be used here
• The best energy security solution is to use less gas so we don’t have to import
so much
• Boosting renewable energy and energy saving could cut our gas imports by 30%
in 15 years
Energy security: the expert’s view
“The best way to reduce the energy
security risks associated with the UK’s
growing gas import dependence is to …
promote renewable power generation,
improve energy efficiency and reduce
overall energy demand”
(Professor Michael Bradshaw, Warwick
Business School)
Will shale gas help tackle climate change?
The industry says:
• Gas is a short-term solution, a bridge
to help us move to really low carbon
energy
• We need more gas to stop using coal
Will shale gas help tackle climate change?
We already have more fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) than we can afford to burn to
avoid worst impacts of climate change – and that was for a 2°C target
A global shale gas boom would put us on course for catastrophic climate change
Is shale gas a bridge or a gangplank – risk of being locked-in to gas
Should we stop smoking or smoke low-tar cigarettes?
In the UK we don’t need to go via gas to stop using coal
Will shale gas help tackle climate change?
“You can be in favour of fixing the climate. Or
you can be in favour of exploiting shale gas.
But you can’t be in favour of both at the
same time”.
(John Ashton, UK’s senior climate change diplomat
2006-12)
Shale gas: economic saviour?
The industry says:
• Shale gas is key to our economic
future
• Up to 74,000 new jobs nationwide
Fracking and job creation
• Cuadrilla exploration sites in Lancashire: 11 jobs at each
• Numbers quoted for possible production phase are short-term peaks
Short-term peaks
Short-term peaks
Fracking and job creation
• Cuadrilla exploration sites in Lancashire: 11 jobs at each
• Numbers quoted for possible production phase are short-term peaks
• More jobs for the same investment from renewables and energy saving
More jobs in energy efficiency and renewables
Jobs created per £1 million
invested
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Gas
Renewables
Energy
efficiency
Fracking and job creation
•
•
•
•
Cuadrilla exploration sites in Lancashire: 11 jobs at each
Numbers quoted for possible production phase are short-term peaks
More jobs for the same investment from renewables and energy saving
What impact on the existing economy?
Possible impacts on existing economic sectors
“Shale gas development may transform a previously pristine and quiet natural
region, bringing increased industrialization. As a result rural community
businesses that rely on clean air, land, water, and/or a tranquil environment may
suffer losses from this change such as agriculture, tourism, organic farming,
hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation.”
(DEFRA draft report ‘Shale Gas – Rural Economy Impacts”)
Rural impacts
"The one thing it's very hard to change
is that this is a big industrial enterprise.
That's one thing you can't avoid. That
is something communities and
governments have to cope with.”
(Ernest Moniz, US Energy Secretary)
Possible impacts on existing economic sectors
Tourism industry in East Yorkshire contributes estimated £435m to the economy,
underpinning 8,000 jobs
Farming still important part of the East Yorkshire economy
Fracking and local jobs
“The idea that [fracking] will give you sustained
local employment for your community is a very
difficult one, so make the decision based on that,
not on the expectation of employment gains at
some point in the future”.
(Professor Calvin Jones, Cardiff University Business School)
Will fracking be safe?
Industry claims:
• environment and health impacts in
the US are exaggerated or unclear
• it won’t be like the US over here as
we have the world’s toughest
regulation
But:
• growing evidence of problems, and
not just in the US
• problems with our regulation
Health evidence
Public Health England said low risk to public health from fracking if operations
are properly run and regulated
But over 50% of academic papers on the health impacts of shale gas published
since the cut-off date for PHE’s report
Johns Hopkins emerging findings
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – analysing data from
Pennsylvania
Living in areas with the most shale gas drilling associated with 40% increase in
risk of premature birth and 30% increase in chance of a high-risk pregnancy
Positive association between unconventional gas activity and aggravating asthma
(measured by hospitalisation, emergency department visits, medication orders)
Correlations – cause-and-effect not established yet
New York State health study
“While a guarantee of absolute safety is not possible, an assessment of the risk to
public health must be supported by adequate scientific information to determine
with confidence that the overall risk is sufficiently low to justify proceeding with
[fracking] in New York. The current scientific information is insufficient.
Until the science provides sufficient information to determine the level of risk to
public health and whether the risks can be adequately managed, [fracking] should
not proceed in New York State”.
(A Public Health Review of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas Development)
Fracking and health
“Would I want my family to live in a
community where fracking was taking
place? The answer is no”.
“The potential risks are too great. In
fact, they are not even fully known”.
Dr Howard Zucker,
Health Commissioner, New York state
BMJ letter
“The arguments against fracking on public health and ecological grounds are
overwhelming. There are clear grounds for adopting the precautionary principle
and prohibiting fracking”
Letter in British Medical Journal signed by 20 high profile doctors and public health specialists
including
• Dr Claire Gerada, former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners
• Dr Sheila Adam, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer
• Helen Gordon, chief executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Problems with regulation
• Deregulatory agenda eg standard permits, changes to trespass law
• Gaps in regulation eg:
• Not using the precautionary approach
• Use of non-binding industry guidelines
• Full assessment of climate impacts
• Growing number of problems:
• No permits needed at Balcombe?
• Planning permission granted on former ordnance site without tests
• Poor enforcement
• Cuts to budgets of regulators
Regulatory capacity
“I’m worried that we don’t currently
have the regulatory capacity to achieve
the environmentally sound shale gas
industry that the Government is
promising us. The Environment Agency
is the body that would have to do the
regulation and it has been very
significantly cut.”
(Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy &
Environmental Policy, University College
London)
Government protection for designated areas?
Infrastructure Act regulations: no fracking in National Parks, best wildlife sites,
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty etc
But:
• ‘In’ and ‘under’
• ‘Doughnutting’ – impacts could still be felt: traffic, noise, light, wildlife
Government protection for designated areas?
“Once the regulations are laid, one of
our top priorities will be to examine
what work is required to ensure that
the safeguarding provisions in this Act
do not inadvertently create fresh
barriers to exploration”
(DEFRA Secretary Liz Truss, DECC Secretary
Amber Rudd & DCLG Secretary Greg Clark)
Designated areas in East Yorkshire
Can we make fracking safe?
“Making fracking safe is simply not
possible, not with the current
technology”
(Louis Allstadt, former executive Vice
President, Mobil Oil)
Safe – or just safer?
“Fracking may result in unavoidable
environmental impacts even if [the gas]
is extracted properly”
(United Nations Environment Program)
Democracy: who should decide?
Democracy: who should decide?
“Local people will not be cut out and
ignored”
(David Cameron)
“Decisions on fracking are taken by
planning authorities; they are not a
matter for the Government”
(Lord Bourne, Energy Minister)
Democracy: who should decide?
“We are minded to bring shale within the
Nationally Significant Infrastructure
Planning (NSIP) regime for commercial
scale projects”
“We need to think carefully about whether
to slow this approach ... to avoid
undermining public support”
(DEFRA Secretary Liz Truss, DECC Secretary Amber
Rudd & DCLG Secretary Greg Clark)
Fracking: land-use planning issues
Planning should:
• should help to “minimise waste and pollution”
• should “contribute to conserving and enhancing the natural environment and
reducing pollution”
• should help ensure that there are no unacceptable “impacts on the flow and
quantity of surface and groundwater and migration of contamination from the
site”
• can consider in assessing new development proposals “potential pollution and
other environmental hazards, which might lead to an adverse impact on human
health”
Fracking: land-use planning issues
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Countryside protection
Ecology
Local economy
Health
Noise and residential amenity
Transport
Waste
• Well failure and groundwater
pollution
• Air quality and public health
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Scale
• Impacts
• Need
National public opinion on shale gas
35
30
25
20
15
support
oppose
Would you support fracking near you?
Support 27%
Oppose 49%
Don't know 24%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Would you support fracking near you, if council
given £1 million for community facilities?
Support 32%
Oppose 44%
Don't know 24%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
A different energy future
Energy saving: cut gas use, save money,
fewer winter deaths
Renewables: the UK has huge potential
Move from 75% electricity from fossil
fuels to 75% from renewables
Gas a back-up, not baseload
Heating: energy saving, move to
electric
East Yorkshire
Is fracking the best solution to our energy
problems?
“Sometimes it’s necessary to do things
in the national interest that people
don’t like locally. Whether fracking
should fall into that category, I’m still
very doubtful because there are other
ways of getting the energy we need,
ways which will fulfil better our energy
policy priorities of decarbonisation,
affordability and security”.
(Professor Paul Ekins)
Bans and moratoriums
Fracking is banned or on hold in:
• France
• Holland
• Germany
• Bulgaria
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• New York state
• parts of Canada
Conclusions
The claims about fracking made by the industry do not stand up to scrutiny
Local councils should have the right to decide
There are better ways to tackle our energy problems
East Yorkshire is ideally placed to benefit from these other energy solutions
Further information
Web
www.foe.co.uk/fracking
Phone
0113 389 9958
Email
[email protected]