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The Middle East has its Arab Spring; the UK has its Autumn Statement. The Arab Spring bombed. So far the Autumn Statement is going over like a fart in church, at least with the environmentally inclined.
What the Autumn Report Does
The new UK energy strategy focuses on increased production of gas, largely through investing in the historically unconventional practice of fracking, which is currently being used successfully in the US. Simply put, fracking drives fluids under very high pressure into underground shale beds, forcing the gas out. It’s kind of like eating corned beer and cabbage. Implementing that method will require building more than 30 gas-fired power stations to replace aging coal and nuclear driven stations.
Energy Minister Ed Davey said that “Gas will provide a cleaner source of energy than coal, and will ensure we can keep the lights on as increasing amounts of wind and nuclear come online through the 2020’s.” Osborne said, “We don’t want British families and businesses to be left behind as gas prices tumble on the other side of the Atlantic.”
The government will have to attract investment in the new type of infrastructure and it hopes to do that through seven basic incentives:-
1) establishing capacity auctions from 2014 on to ensure that the energy supply is adequate to meet peak demands
2) simplifying the planning process
3) intervening as necessary to improve liquidity and market competition
4) encouraging new gas storage capacity
5) creating an Office for “Unconventional Gas” and Oil
6) providing tax incentives for shale gas exploration
7) supporting the development and commercialization of carbon capture and storage technologies.
Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, a company ready to start fracking testing next year, said, “We welcome any initiative that streamlines decision making processes while ensuring that all shale gas extraction conforms to the highest environmental and health and safety standards.” Not everyone agrees.
The Fly in the Fracking Fluid
You’ve heard of the Ripple Effect – you throw a stone in the water and it creates ripples all around the spot where the stone hit. Today the Chancellor discovered the Gaseous Effect?
No matter what the argument against fracking is, and regardless of who opposes it, the verbiage will almost always contain a form of the word “environment.”
Greenpeace (Why do they call it “_____peace?” They never shut up!) director Joss Garman said, “The Chancellor is misleading people . . . (he) is undermining crucial green growth.” Nick Molho, energy policy chief at WWF-UK said that “The UK’s reliance on gas is environmentally and economically risky.” A representative of the Central Lancashire Friends of the Earth boldly stated that “We will fight any plans that could turn a beautiful part of the Lancashire countryside into a wasteland.” Well, CLFE, you had better have more than five stones in your sling, because Goliath is coming. Good luck.
You Can’t Have It Both Ways
If we can get the environmentalists to shut up for a minute, there are some things that reasonable people need to consider.
- The average British household spends £70 per year. That may not sound like a big deal, but multiplied by, let’s say, 24 million households, that is a total expenditure of £1.68 billion dollars annually spent by the UK on foreign oil.
- Fracking operations do not turn “countryside into wasteland.”
- As far as carbon footprint issues go, with all due respect, the sun does set on the British Empire these days. Therefore, any adverse effective relative to that is negligible.
- It is not the Chancellor who is misleading people, it is UN Agenda 21 that is deceiving environmental activists. It is the foundational rallying point for environmental bleeding hearts. They are buying into a lie that will eventually take down the UK government and others in the name of global warming, carbon footprints, and saving the environment.
So, environmentalists, please go back to your Swiss Family Robinson lifestyle and relax. If the Chancellor’s plan doesn’t work, it will create a stink all by itself. And we all will know it is coming from his pew.
