UK: Environmental Impact Sought for all Shale Gas Project Permissions

A corporate campaigner against fossil fuel energy has called for Environmental Impact Assessments for all shale gas extraction projects in the UK.

Chris Shearlock, environment manager with The Co-operative, said today that he has found no evidence of any IEA requirements for any such projects.

Mr Shearlock told the Shale Gas Environmental Summit in London that his calls for a moratorium on shale extraction have fallen on deaf ears.

The Co-operative, a supermarkets-to-funeral services conglomerate which is owned by its members, has invested heavily in renewable energy such as wind power.

Mr Shearlock said his concern is for the effect of carbon emissions on climate change. “Initially, I thought shale was a good idea,” he told the conference. “It looked like it would displace coal, and that would be a good thing.”

But, he said, reports that the adoption of shale gas in the US had led to increased emissions in other countries showed that the problem did not go away.

“All that matters is cumulative emissions over a period of time. If you make a saving in one country, and it [emission] is popping up elsewhere, then it isn’t worth it.”

He conceded that the adoption of shale gas is slowing the rate of coal growth, but did not feel this was a significant advantage.

Jenny Banks of the World Wildlife Fund was another speaker to criticize shale gas as being part of the fossil-fuel group. However she said the opposition was not ideological.

“The WWF is not ideologically opposed to gas or any other fossil fuel, but that our concerns are driven by their impact on climate change,” she said.

Speaking of the effect of a warming planet on habitats and animals, she said : “You can’t protect the environment without looking at at the effect of climate change.” Ms Banks also supported Mr Shearlock’s call for mandatory EIAs before permissions were granted to shale extraction.