Going all out for shale threatens our countryside

Guest blog by Harry Huyton,  Head of Climate Change at the RSPB 

Today a Committee of Lords have warned that fracking won’t take off in the UK any time soon unless ministers take urgent action to cut red tape and convince the public to support fracking. The report concludes that most risks to the environment are “unfounded” and that Government should take decisive measures to quicken the pace of development of this new industry, principally by streamlining regulations that are in place to protect the environment.

Earlier this year the RSPB and a range of countryside conservation organisations published a comprehensive review of the risks that fracking poses to wildlife and the countryside and put forward 10 recommendations to address them. Given this is a new industry with new and significant risks to the natural environment we concluded that the focus should be on ensuring that regulation of the industry is fit-for-purpose.

Our principle recommendation was that fracking licenses should not be issued for special places like protected areas and national parks. We have yet to get a serious response to this recommendation and it was not even considered in today’s report. In fact, the Lords’ report does not even consider many of the risks we highlighted, and of our ten recommendations only three are dealt with. One – the idea that all shale gas developments should be required to do an environmental impacts assessment – was not supported, and the other two were only partially backed.

A shale gas industry in the UK would be unlike any existing industry in terms of its infrastructure requirements: many wellpads at regular intervals throughout the countryside where shale gas resources exist. Each of these sites would pose a risk to the environment, and cumulatively this risk could be substantial. That’s why the debate about the future of this industry is as much about the future of our countryside and our climate as it is about energy.

Our report asked whether this country was ‘fit to frack’ given what we know about the risks and how the industry is being regulated. Our conclusion was that we are not, and that big improvements needed to be made. Going all out for shale by streamlining regulations and forcing development through would only reinforce this position.

Take action now and ask Government to protect special places from fracking