UK Shale Industry at 'Dead End': ex-Tsar

The energy minister's so-called fracking tsar Natascha Engel resigned over the weekend, as the government shows no sign of making the traffic-light system for gas production workable. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) told NGW April 29 that it "would decide whether to appoint a new shale gas commissioner in due course."

Seven months after her appointment last October, the government has not eased the restriction on fracking upon detection of a Richter reading of 0.5. Tremors above that level in the UK with no connection to fracking are commonplace. The government came close to a review that could have seen the threshold raised, but it was apparently paralysed by fear of public opposition so nothing happened.

Engel wrote in The Times that over a million wells have been drilled in the US in 20 years with no reliable evidence of systemic health problems or pollution. And she said people were generally ill-informed about the importance of the role of gas in the energy transition: commenting on the Extinction Rebellion/Greta Thunberg phenomena, she said their actions were only causing more problems, by preventing fracking.

She also attacked poor policies, which had boosted diesel as a transport fuel; and led to forests being felled for palm oil for biofuel production, and wood pellet production. The latter are much more carbon emitting than the coal they displaced.

"Getting from 5% to 100% renewable requires a transition strategy," she said. "If environmental groups really cared about reducing carbon emissions, they would be fracking's biggest supporters," she concluded in her column.

Its current supporters say fracking would create jobs, help the state budget and improve the environment and balance of payments by lowering imports, but few companies are interested in it as the rules amount to a de facto ban. Petrochemicals giant and gas consumer Ineos has said the rules are unworkable.

A Beis spokesperson said: “The government supports the development of the shale industry in the UK, because we believe it could have the potential to be a new domestic energy source, and create thousands of well paid, quality jobs. We’ve worked to develop world-leading regulations based on the advice of scientists and in consultation with industry. We are confident these strike the right balance in ensuring the industry can develop, while ensuring any operations are carried out safely and responsibly.”