Anti-fracking activists called the U.K.’s decision to allow fracking on national parks “disappointing,” telling reporters the government should have done more to prevent hydraulic fracking in national parks.
The U.K. relented after two years of resistance and moved to kick-start its shale gas industry last week. It started by handing out 159 new licenses for onshore gas and oil exploration in selected national parks.
“It is really disappointing that the regulations have been approved,” Fiona Howie, chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks, told reporters.
The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) — a pro-national parks group opposed to fracking — in a statement on its website pointed to an inquiry made by the British Geological Survey to express its concerns.
According to the inquiry CNP referenced: There is a lack of information that exists about the impact shale fracturing has on rocks at depths below 200 meters.
“Given this lack of certainty, we believe there should be a complete ban on fracking in protected areas at any depth,” CNP concluded.
The oil and gas industry agreed with the decision, stating in part it believes hydraulic fracturing puts the U.K. on the road to energy independence. Oil industry insiders suggest this could wean citizens off overseas energy. The United Kingdom is heavily dependent on Russia and Norway for its energy needs.
Britain signed new oil and gas contracts with Russian oil producer Gazprom and Norway gas producer Statoil. On average, the new six-year deal Britain’s oil supplier, Centrica (CNA.L), signed with Gazprom “will provide roughly 9 percent of Britain’s gas needs,” according to a report from Reuters.
“At the beginning of this century, we were energy independent, producing enough oil and gas from the North Sea to provide for everyone in the UK,” Ken Cronin, chief executive of United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas, told reporters. “Today we are dependent for nearly 50% of our oil and gas from overseas and that is going to rise to over 75% in the next 15 years without further onshore production.”
CNP has not been swayed by the oil industry’s argument for independence from Russia, among other gas-producing nations.
“We don’t yet know what the longer term effects of this would be on these protected areas, so given this uncertainty the Government should have kept to their word and prevented hydraulic fracturing in protected areas at any depth,” Howie said.
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