My Lords, I declare my interests in energy as listed in the register; they include coal, which is of course threatened by shale.
Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, I think that the people whom we should be concerned about are not those looking for oil in Kazakhstan or the Saudi oil companies but the people who are struggling to pay their heating bills this winter. That is what this is all about: trying to get the cost of gas down. We need gas and, whatever happens, we will continue to need gas, as the Minister said on a previous amendment. We need gas for heating and will continue to need it—84% of British homes are heated by gas. Where there is fuel poverty, it is nearly always associated with electric, rather than gas, heating. We need gas as a chemical feedstock for the chemical industry; we need it to make fertiliser to feed the world.
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So we have a golden opportunity. We have found one of the biggest gas resources ever, right under an area with high unemployment—the north-west of England—and not far from a concentration of our chemical industry. Some 10% of the Bowland shale gas could give us 50 years’ full supply of the gas consumption in this country. As we have heard, because of the community benefits funds being offered, it would offer great public benefit. It would lower our carbon dioxide output because it is certainly lower than imported gas, some of which comes in the form of liquefied gas, which has a carbon cost associated with it. It is certainly lower than coal in terms of its carbon emissions.
Much of the opposition to shale gas—some of which we have heard today—is based on myths that are popular among the upper middle class in grand rural areas. The myths are also very popular in Russia and are frequently repeated by Vladimir Putin in press conferences, because he does not like the idea of us getting our own cheap gas. We should listen to the words of the US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, who said a year or two ago,
“I still have not seen any evidence of fracking per se contaminating groundwater”.
He said that after tens of thousands of wells had been drilled and millions of fracking operations had happened in them.
It is clear that the opponents of fracking will do anything to delay and raise the cost to try to kill this industry. In that light, the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Worthington, is unnecessary and
mischievous. It is just trying to put another hurdle in the way of shale gas by insisting that every resident nearby be written to. As has been said, it opens the way to legal challenge on everything. As it is, with all the regulations we have put around shale gas, it still may be touch and go as to whether we have killed the golden goose already. However, it looks as though we have not, yet—there is still an opportunity to have this wonderful, indigenous resource and to lower the cost of gas for people in this country.
We have put in place far greater environmental protection than for other industries. The situation with earthquakes and shale gas is that, if fracking shakes the ground, it has to do so 40,000 times less than the quarrying industry is allowed to do. That is completely mad: they are both earthquakes. I welcome the government amendments in lieu, which would adhere to the principle adopted by the oil and gas industry on environmental practices for many years: that is, the industry since Piper Alpha has always pursued the idea of goal setting rather than box ticking. It has already accepted or adopted many of the practices that are listed in these amendments. Crucially, the amendments also allow flexibility, so that the industry can learn, adapt and evolve as it is going on. That is why it is crucial to leave some flexibility in the Bill with respect to the definition of groundwater areas, protected areas and so on. As we demonstrate the safety of shale gas, we can adjust as we go on.
Finally, on the subject of trespass, I welcome the Green Party’s embrace of an extreme version of private property rights, of the kind normally associated with the libertarian right. However, the party goes too far, because imposing an offence of trespass on something that happens a mile and a half beneath your feet is like imposing an offence of trespass on British Airways for flying over your head. We sorted out that issue in the 1920s and decided that it was not a sensible use of the law of trespass. We should do the same with this.
These are sensible amendments.