Tag Archives: fracking

Fracking company defies Wales’s shale gas moratorium Updated for 2026

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IGas has responded to a motion passed at the Welsh Assembly this week stating the Welsh Government’s opposition to shale gas extraction, declaring “they have no power to stop fracking!”

The motion calling for a fracking moratorium was tabled by Plaid Cymru, and passed with the support of Welsh Labour Assembly Members by a large margin: 37 for and 16 against. 

Despite the cross party backing, the Welsh Government has yet to take action. Labour’s economy minister Edwina Hart, who backed the Plaid motion calling for a moratorium, has turned down calls for planning advice on fracking to be updated.

But insiders have indicated that the First Minster, Carwyn Jones, is currently seeking legal advice on what powers the Welsh Government has to effectively place a moratorium on fracking.

The UK Government currently has control over shale gas licensing but the Welsh Government has responsibility, in theory, for any related planning applications. But any appeals against refusals are judged by the London-based Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.

And as IGas helpfully points out, these devolved planning powers render the Welsh Government helpless in protecting Welsh communities against any unwanted developments.

IGas: ‘we’re going ahead anyway’

The original IGas application to carry out test drilling at a site in Borras, near Wrexham was rejected by the democratically elected councillors on the local authority. The company then appealed against the decision, which went to the Westminster-controlled Planning Inspectorate, which overturned the earlier refusal.

An IGas spokesman told the Daily Post: “Nothing has changed in our plans to test drill for underground gas in Wrexham, which we will be continuing with.

“And if we were to put in a planning application in the future, which is rejected by Wrexham council, the appeal would go to the Welsh Secretary, which comes under Westminster, not the Welsh Government.

“The decision by the Welsh Government was not a moratorium. They can refuse applications on planning grounds, but they have no power to stop fracking.”

As Sion Chavez, editor of Daily Wales, points out, “It’s a situation which highlights the absurd consequences of having one country administered by a neighbouring country.”

“Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own completely separate Planning Inspectorates which allow their own governments to oversee any appeals. But in the case of Wales, it’s the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.”

The SNP controlled Scottish Government has recently used its control over planning to announce an immediate moratorium on all fracking applications.

Welsh Government must be firm

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, commented: “As soon as this legal advice is available, it needs to be published so that all the people of Wales can know where we stand on this problem.

“If a moratorium is within the Welsh Government’s powers then it just needs to get on and make it happen. If a ban isn’t possible, two things need to happen straight away. The first is that any powers restricting Wales’ ability to protect its communities should be devolved immediately.

“The second is that until those powers are devolved the Welsh Government must issue a Planning Policy Statement with a presumption against the development of unconventional oil and gas onshore in Wales.

“Anything other than these steps will suggest that the Welsh Government was being duplicitous through voting in favour of doing everything in its power to prevent fracking in Wales, but failing to take the action needed to deliver on its promise.”

Among other clauses, the successful motion calling for a fracking moratorium “Believes that energy should be fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales and that the Welsh Government should have the power to block fracking.”

It further “Calls on the Welsh Government to do everything within its power to prevent fracking from taking place in Wales until it is proven to be safe in both an environmental and public health context.”

 

 

Principal source:  original articles published by Daily Wales.

 

 




389955

Government reneges on ‘no fracking’ promise Updated for 2026

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The Government has reneged on its commitments to ban fracking near drinking water zones by amending the Infrastructure Bill at its final stage in the House of Lords today.

The change is contained in a sneaky loophole that most politicans entirely missed – but was spotted by an alert Friends of the Earth campaigner.

Most of the wording of Labour’s amendments, which prohibited fracking in national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ‘groundwater source protection areas’ and ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’, remain in the current version of the Bill, Section 4A.

But instead of specifying the designations of the areas that fall under protection, the Government is leaving that to be set out in regulations by a Statutory Instrument to be issued by the Secretary of State before July 2015 – well after the general election, due in May.

This gives the Government the opportunity to weaken or fudge the definitions to the point where the protections become a dead letter – and it’s hard to see any other reason for legislating in this convoluted way.

Broken promises

Reacting to the Government’s late amendment, Friends of the Earth‘s Energy Campaigner Donna Hume, who first spotted the loophole, said: “The Government has U-Turned on its commitment to enforce regulatory conditions that would have introduced common sense measures to protect drinking water from controversial fracking.

“The Government seems determined to make fracking happen whatever the cost and people will be staggered that risky fracking will be allowed in areas that provide one third of our drinking water.

“Ministers must follow the lead of Wales, Scotland, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and New York State by putting a stop to fracking and instead focus on renewables and cutting energy waste.” 

In the Commons, the Government accepted the Labour Party amendment that banned fracking within groundwater source protection zones 1-3; the area around aquifers that safeguards drinking water. These collectively cover some 15% of the country – including many areas with potentially oil and gas bearing rock.

There’s only one answer now – defeat the Tories!

The ‘supplementary provisions’ in Section 4B specify that the Secretary of State must, in the statutory instrument, specify the descriptions of areas which are ‘protected groundwater source areas, and ‘other protected areas’ for the purposes of section 4A.

The statutory instrument will have to be laid before both the Commons and the Lords, and approved by a vote in each house. But if the Conservatives are re-elected with an overall majority in the May elections, they could in effect nullify the protections altogether.

Labour’s shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex stated last week that in return for the support of Labour MPs for the Infrastructure Bill as a whole, and for not pressing the demands for a fracking moratorium, demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, the details of its amendment were not up for further negotiation:

“Let me make it absolutely clear that our new clause is all or nothing; it cannot be cherry-picked”, he said. “All the conditions need to be in place before we can be absolutely confident that any shale extraction can happen.”

But as the Bill will not return to the Commons, and the Conservatives enjoy an overall majority in the Lords, there is in fact nothing at all that Greatrex or his Labour colleagues can do about it.

So now we know – if the Tories win the election, we can expect ‘fracking everywhere’ – national parks, groundwater zones, nature sites, whatever. Nowhere will be safe.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




389896

Fracking company defies Wales’s shale gas moratorium Updated for 2026

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IGas has responded to a motion passed at the Welsh Assembly this week stating the Welsh Government’s opposition to shale gas extraction, declaring “they have no power to stop fracking!”

The motion calling for a fracking moratorium was tabled by Plaid Cymru, and passed with the support of Welsh Labour Assembly Members by a large margin: 37 for and 16 against. 

Despite the cross party backing, the Welsh Government has yet to take action. Labour’s economy minister Edwina Hart, who backed the Plaid motion calling for a moratorium, has turned down calls for planning advice on fracking to be updated.

But insiders have indicated that the First Minster, Carwyn Jones, is currently seeking legal advice on what powers the Welsh Government has to effectively place a moratorium on fracking.

The UK Government currently has control over shale gas licensing but the Welsh Government has responsibility, in theory, for any related planning applications. But any appeals against refusals are judged by the London-based Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.

And as IGas helpfully points out, these devolved planning powers render the Welsh Government helpless in protecting Welsh communities against any unwanted developments.

IGas: ‘we’re going ahead anyway’

The original IGas application to carry out test drilling at a site in Borras, near Wrexham was rejected by the democratically elected councillors on the local authority. The company then appealed against the decision, which went to the Westminster-controlled Planning Inspectorate, which overturned the earlier refusal.

An IGas spokesman told the Daily Post: “Nothing has changed in our plans to test drill for underground gas in Wrexham, which we will be continuing with.

“And if we were to put in a planning application in the future, which is rejected by Wrexham council, the appeal would go to the Welsh Secretary, which comes under Westminster, not the Welsh Government.

“The decision by the Welsh Government was not a moratorium. They can refuse applications on planning grounds, but they have no power to stop fracking.”

As Sion Chavez, editor of Daily Wales, points out, “It’s a situation which highlights the absurd consequences of having one country administered by a neighbouring country.”

“Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own completely separate Planning Inspectorates which allow their own governments to oversee any appeals. But in the case of Wales, it’s the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.”

The SNP controlled Scottish Government has recently used its control over planning to announce an immediate moratorium on all fracking applications.

Welsh Government must be firm

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, commented: “As soon as this legal advice is available, it needs to be published so that all the people of Wales can know where we stand on this problem.

“If a moratorium is within the Welsh Government’s powers then it just needs to get on and make it happen. If a ban isn’t possible, two things need to happen straight away. The first is that any powers restricting Wales’ ability to protect its communities should be devolved immediately.

“The second is that until those powers are devolved the Welsh Government must issue a Planning Policy Statement with a presumption against the development of unconventional oil and gas onshore in Wales.

“Anything other than these steps will suggest that the Welsh Government was being duplicitous through voting in favour of doing everything in its power to prevent fracking in Wales, but failing to take the action needed to deliver on its promise.”

Among other clauses, the successful motion calling for a fracking moratorium “Believes that energy should be fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales and that the Welsh Government should have the power to block fracking.”

It further “Calls on the Welsh Government to do everything within its power to prevent fracking from taking place in Wales until it is proven to be safe in both an environmental and public health context.”

 

 

Principal source:  original articles published by Daily Wales.

 

 




389955

Government reneges on ‘no fracking’ promise Updated for 2026

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The Government has reneged on its commitments to ban fracking near drinking water zones by amending the Infrastructure Bill at its final stage in the House of Lords today.

The change is contained in a sneaky loophole that most politicans entirely missed – but was spotted by an alert Friends of the Earth campaigner.

Most of the wording of Labour’s amendments, which prohibited fracking in national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ‘groundwater source protection areas’ and ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’, remain in the current version of the Bill, Section 4A.

But instead of specifying the designations of the areas that fall under protection, the Government is leaving that to be set out in regulations by a Statutory Instrument to be issued by the Secretary of State before July 2015 – well after the general election, due in May.

This gives the Government the opportunity to weaken or fudge the definitions to the point where the protections become a dead letter – and it’s hard to see any other reason for legislating in this convoluted way.

Broken promises

Reacting to the Government’s late amendment, Friends of the Earth‘s Energy Campaigner Donna Hume, who first spotted the loophole, said: “The Government has U-Turned on its commitment to enforce regulatory conditions that would have introduced common sense measures to protect drinking water from controversial fracking.

“The Government seems determined to make fracking happen whatever the cost and people will be staggered that risky fracking will be allowed in areas that provide one third of our drinking water.

“Ministers must follow the lead of Wales, Scotland, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and New York State by putting a stop to fracking and instead focus on renewables and cutting energy waste.” 

In the Commons, the Government accepted the Labour Party amendment that banned fracking within groundwater source protection zones 1-3; the area around aquifers that safeguards drinking water. These collectively cover some 15% of the country – including many areas with potentially oil and gas bearing rock.

There’s only one answer now – defeat the Tories!

The ‘supplementary provisions’ in Section 4B specify that the Secretary of State must, in the statutory instrument, specify the descriptions of areas which are ‘protected groundwater source areas, and ‘other protected areas’ for the purposes of section 4A.

The statutory instrument will have to be laid before both the Commons and the Lords, and approved by a vote in each house. But if the Conservatives are re-elected with an overall majority in the May elections, they could in effect nullify the protections altogether.

Labour’s shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex stated last week that in return for the support of Labour MPs for the Infrastructure Bill as a whole, and for not pressing the demands for a fracking moratorium, demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, the details of its amendment were not up for further negotiation:

“Let me make it absolutely clear that our new clause is all or nothing; it cannot be cherry-picked”, he said. “All the conditions need to be in place before we can be absolutely confident that any shale extraction can happen.”

But as the Bill will not return to the Commons, and the Conservatives enjoy an overall majority in the Lords, there is in fact nothing at all that Greatrex or his Labour colleagues can do about it.

So now we know – if the Tories win the election, we can expect ‘fracking everywhere’ – national parks, groundwater zones, nature sites, whatever. Nowhere will be safe.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




389896

Fracking company defies Wales’s shale gas moratorium Updated for 2026

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IGas has responded to a motion passed at the Welsh Assembly this week stating the Welsh Government’s opposition to shale gas extraction, declaring “they have no power to stop fracking!”

The motion calling for a fracking moratorium was tabled by Plaid Cymru, and passed with the support of Welsh Labour Assembly Members by a large margin: 37 for and 16 against. 

Despite the cross party backing, the Welsh Government has yet to take action. Labour’s economy minister Edwina Hart, who backed the Plaid motion calling for a moratorium, has turned down calls for planning advice on fracking to be updated.

But insiders have indicated that the First Minster, Carwyn Jones, is currently seeking legal advice on what powers the Welsh Government has to effectively place a moratorium on fracking.

The UK Government currently has control over shale gas licensing but the Welsh Government has responsibility, in theory, for any related planning applications. But any appeals against refusals are judged by the London-based Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.

And as IGas helpfully points out, these devolved planning powers render the Welsh Government helpless in protecting Welsh communities against any unwanted developments.

IGas: ‘we’re going ahead anyway’

The original IGas application to carry out test drilling at a site in Borras, near Wrexham was rejected by the democratically elected councillors on the local authority. The company then appealed against the decision, which went to the Westminster-controlled Planning Inspectorate, which overturned the earlier refusal.

An IGas spokesman told the Daily Post: “Nothing has changed in our plans to test drill for underground gas in Wrexham, which we will be continuing with.

“And if we were to put in a planning application in the future, which is rejected by Wrexham council, the appeal would go to the Welsh Secretary, which comes under Westminster, not the Welsh Government.

“The decision by the Welsh Government was not a moratorium. They can refuse applications on planning grounds, but they have no power to stop fracking.”

As Sion Chavez, editor of Daily Wales, points out, “It’s a situation which highlights the absurd consequences of having one country administered by a neighbouring country.”

“Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own completely separate Planning Inspectorates which allow their own governments to oversee any appeals. But in the case of Wales, it’s the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.”

The SNP controlled Scottish Government has recently used its control over planning to announce an immediate moratorium on all fracking applications.

Welsh Government must be firm

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, commented: “As soon as this legal advice is available, it needs to be published so that all the people of Wales can know where we stand on this problem.

“If a moratorium is within the Welsh Government’s powers then it just needs to get on and make it happen. If a ban isn’t possible, two things need to happen straight away. The first is that any powers restricting Wales’ ability to protect its communities should be devolved immediately.

“The second is that until those powers are devolved the Welsh Government must issue a Planning Policy Statement with a presumption against the development of unconventional oil and gas onshore in Wales.

“Anything other than these steps will suggest that the Welsh Government was being duplicitous through voting in favour of doing everything in its power to prevent fracking in Wales, but failing to take the action needed to deliver on its promise.”

Among other clauses, the successful motion calling for a fracking moratorium “Believes that energy should be fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales and that the Welsh Government should have the power to block fracking.”

It further “Calls on the Welsh Government to do everything within its power to prevent fracking from taking place in Wales until it is proven to be safe in both an environmental and public health context.”

 

 

Principal source:  original articles published by Daily Wales.

 

 




389955

Government reneges on ‘no fracking’ promise Updated for 2026

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The Government has reneged on its commitments to ban fracking near drinking water zones by amending the Infrastructure Bill at its final stage in the House of Lords today.

The change is contained in a sneaky loophole that most politicans entirely missed – but was spotted by an alert Friends of the Earth campaigner.

Most of the wording of Labour’s amendments, which prohibited fracking in national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ‘groundwater source protection areas’ and ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’, remain in the current version of the Bill, Section 4A.

But instead of specifying the designations of the areas that fall under protection, the Government is leaving that to be set out in regulations by a Statutory Instrument to be issued by the Secretary of State before July 2015 – well after the general election, due in May.

This gives the Government the opportunity to weaken or fudge the definitions to the point where the protections become a dead letter – and it’s hard to see any other reason for legislating in this convoluted way.

Broken promises

Reacting to the Government’s late amendment, Friends of the Earth‘s Energy Campaigner Donna Hume, who first spotted the loophole, said: “The Government has U-Turned on its commitment to enforce regulatory conditions that would have introduced common sense measures to protect drinking water from controversial fracking.

“The Government seems determined to make fracking happen whatever the cost and people will be staggered that risky fracking will be allowed in areas that provide one third of our drinking water.

“Ministers must follow the lead of Wales, Scotland, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and New York State by putting a stop to fracking and instead focus on renewables and cutting energy waste.” 

In the Commons, the Government accepted the Labour Party amendment that banned fracking within groundwater source protection zones 1-3; the area around aquifers that safeguards drinking water. These collectively cover some 15% of the country – including many areas with potentially oil and gas bearing rock.

There’s only one answer now – defeat the Tories!

The ‘supplementary provisions’ in Section 4B specify that the Secretary of State must, in the statutory instrument, specify the descriptions of areas which are ‘protected groundwater source areas, and ‘other protected areas’ for the purposes of section 4A.

The statutory instrument will have to be laid before both the Commons and the Lords, and approved by a vote in each house. But if the Conservatives are re-elected with an overall majority in the May elections, they could in effect nullify the protections altogether.

Labour’s shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex stated last week that in return for the support of Labour MPs for the Infrastructure Bill as a whole, and for not pressing the demands for a fracking moratorium, demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, the details of its amendment were not up for further negotiation:

“Let me make it absolutely clear that our new clause is all or nothing; it cannot be cherry-picked”, he said. “All the conditions need to be in place before we can be absolutely confident that any shale extraction can happen.”

But as the Bill will not return to the Commons, and the Conservatives enjoy an overall majority in the Lords, there is in fact nothing at all that Greatrex or his Labour colleagues can do about it.

So now we know – if the Tories win the election, we can expect ‘fracking everywhere’ – national parks, groundwater zones, nature sites, whatever. Nowhere will be safe.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




389896

Fracking company defies Wales’s shale gas moratorium Updated for 2026

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IGas has responded to a motion passed at the Welsh Assembly this week stating the Welsh Government’s opposition to shale gas extraction, declaring “they have no power to stop fracking!”

The motion calling for a fracking moratorium was tabled by Plaid Cymru, and passed with the support of Welsh Labour Assembly Members by a large margin: 37 for and 16 against. 

Despite the cross party backing, the Welsh Government has yet to take action. Labour’s economy minister Edwina Hart, who backed the Plaid motion calling for a moratorium, has turned down calls for planning advice on fracking to be updated.

But insiders have indicated that the First Minster, Carwyn Jones, is currently seeking legal advice on what powers the Welsh Government has to effectively place a moratorium on fracking.

The UK Government currently has control over shale gas licensing but the Welsh Government has responsibility, in theory, for any related planning applications. But any appeals against refusals are judged by the London-based Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.

And as IGas helpfully points out, these devolved planning powers render the Welsh Government helpless in protecting Welsh communities against any unwanted developments.

IGas: ‘we’re going ahead anyway’

The original IGas application to carry out test drilling at a site in Borras, near Wrexham was rejected by the democratically elected councillors on the local authority. The company then appealed against the decision, which went to the Westminster-controlled Planning Inspectorate, which overturned the earlier refusal.

An IGas spokesman told the Daily Post: “Nothing has changed in our plans to test drill for underground gas in Wrexham, which we will be continuing with.

“And if we were to put in a planning application in the future, which is rejected by Wrexham council, the appeal would go to the Welsh Secretary, which comes under Westminster, not the Welsh Government.

“The decision by the Welsh Government was not a moratorium. They can refuse applications on planning grounds, but they have no power to stop fracking.”

As Sion Chavez, editor of Daily Wales, points out, “It’s a situation which highlights the absurd consequences of having one country administered by a neighbouring country.”

“Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own completely separate Planning Inspectorates which allow their own governments to oversee any appeals. But in the case of Wales, it’s the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.”

The SNP controlled Scottish Government has recently used its control over planning to announce an immediate moratorium on all fracking applications.

Welsh Government must be firm

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, commented: “As soon as this legal advice is available, it needs to be published so that all the people of Wales can know where we stand on this problem.

“If a moratorium is within the Welsh Government’s powers then it just needs to get on and make it happen. If a ban isn’t possible, two things need to happen straight away. The first is that any powers restricting Wales’ ability to protect its communities should be devolved immediately.

“The second is that until those powers are devolved the Welsh Government must issue a Planning Policy Statement with a presumption against the development of unconventional oil and gas onshore in Wales.

“Anything other than these steps will suggest that the Welsh Government was being duplicitous through voting in favour of doing everything in its power to prevent fracking in Wales, but failing to take the action needed to deliver on its promise.”

Among other clauses, the successful motion calling for a fracking moratorium “Believes that energy should be fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales and that the Welsh Government should have the power to block fracking.”

It further “Calls on the Welsh Government to do everything within its power to prevent fracking from taking place in Wales until it is proven to be safe in both an environmental and public health context.”

 

 

Principal source:  original articles published by Daily Wales.

 

 




389955

Government reneges on ‘no fracking’ promise Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




The Government has reneged on its commitments to ban fracking near drinking water zones by amending the Infrastructure Bill at its final stage in the House of Lords today.

The change is contained in a sneaky loophole that most politicans entirely missed – but was spotted by an alert Friends of the Earth campaigner.

Most of the wording of Labour’s amendments, which prohibited fracking in national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ‘groundwater source protection areas’ and ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’, remain in the current version of the Bill, Section 4A.

But instead of specifying the designations of the areas that fall under protection, the Government is leaving that to be set out in regulations by a Statutory Instrument to be issued by the Secretary of State before July 2015 – well after the general election, due in May.

This gives the Government the opportunity to weaken or fudge the definitions to the point where the protections become a dead letter – and it’s hard to see any other reason for legislating in this convoluted way.

Broken promises

Reacting to the Government’s late amendment, Friends of the Earth‘s Energy Campaigner Donna Hume, who first spotted the loophole, said: “The Government has U-Turned on its commitment to enforce regulatory conditions that would have introduced common sense measures to protect drinking water from controversial fracking.

“The Government seems determined to make fracking happen whatever the cost and people will be staggered that risky fracking will be allowed in areas that provide one third of our drinking water.

“Ministers must follow the lead of Wales, Scotland, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and New York State by putting a stop to fracking and instead focus on renewables and cutting energy waste.” 

In the Commons, the Government accepted the Labour Party amendment that banned fracking within groundwater source protection zones 1-3; the area around aquifers that safeguards drinking water. These collectively cover some 15% of the country – including many areas with potentially oil and gas bearing rock.

There’s only one answer now – defeat the Tories!

The ‘supplementary provisions’ in Section 4B specify that the Secretary of State must, in the statutory instrument, specify the descriptions of areas which are ‘protected groundwater source areas, and ‘other protected areas’ for the purposes of section 4A.

The statutory instrument will have to be laid before both the Commons and the Lords, and approved by a vote in each house. But if the Conservatives are re-elected with an overall majority in the May elections, they could in effect nullify the protections altogether.

Labour’s shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex stated last week that in return for the support of Labour MPs for the Infrastructure Bill as a whole, and for not pressing the demands for a fracking moratorium, demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, the details of its amendment were not up for further negotiation:

“Let me make it absolutely clear that our new clause is all or nothing; it cannot be cherry-picked”, he said. “All the conditions need to be in place before we can be absolutely confident that any shale extraction can happen.”

But as the Bill will not return to the Commons, and the Conservatives enjoy an overall majority in the Lords, there is in fact nothing at all that Greatrex or his Labour colleagues can do about it.

So now we know – if the Tories win the election, we can expect ‘fracking everywhere’ – national parks, groundwater zones, nature sites, whatever. Nowhere will be safe.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




389896

Fracking company defies Wales’s shale gas moratorium Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




IGas has responded to a motion passed at the Welsh Assembly this week stating the Welsh Government’s opposition to shale gas extraction, declaring “they have no power to stop fracking!”

The motion calling for a fracking moratorium was tabled by Plaid Cymru, and passed with the support of Welsh Labour Assembly Members by a large margin: 37 for and 16 against. 

Despite the cross party backing, the Welsh Government has yet to take action. Labour’s economy minister Edwina Hart, who backed the Plaid motion calling for a moratorium, has turned down calls for planning advice on fracking to be updated.

But insiders have indicated that the First Minster, Carwyn Jones, is currently seeking legal advice on what powers the Welsh Government has to effectively place a moratorium on fracking.

The UK Government currently has control over shale gas licensing but the Welsh Government has responsibility, in theory, for any related planning applications. But any appeals against refusals are judged by the London-based Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.

And as IGas helpfully points out, these devolved planning powers render the Welsh Government helpless in protecting Welsh communities against any unwanted developments.

IGas: ‘we’re going ahead anyway’

The original IGas application to carry out test drilling at a site in Borras, near Wrexham was rejected by the democratically elected councillors on the local authority. The company then appealed against the decision, which went to the Westminster-controlled Planning Inspectorate, which overturned the earlier refusal.

An IGas spokesman told the Daily Post: “Nothing has changed in our plans to test drill for underground gas in Wrexham, which we will be continuing with.

“And if we were to put in a planning application in the future, which is rejected by Wrexham council, the appeal would go to the Welsh Secretary, which comes under Westminster, not the Welsh Government.

“The decision by the Welsh Government was not a moratorium. They can refuse applications on planning grounds, but they have no power to stop fracking.”

As Sion Chavez, editor of Daily Wales, points out, “It’s a situation which highlights the absurd consequences of having one country administered by a neighbouring country.”

“Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own completely separate Planning Inspectorates which allow their own governments to oversee any appeals. But in the case of Wales, it’s the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales.”

The SNP controlled Scottish Government has recently used its control over planning to announce an immediate moratorium on all fracking applications.

Welsh Government must be firm

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, commented: “As soon as this legal advice is available, it needs to be published so that all the people of Wales can know where we stand on this problem.

“If a moratorium is within the Welsh Government’s powers then it just needs to get on and make it happen. If a ban isn’t possible, two things need to happen straight away. The first is that any powers restricting Wales’ ability to protect its communities should be devolved immediately.

“The second is that until those powers are devolved the Welsh Government must issue a Planning Policy Statement with a presumption against the development of unconventional oil and gas onshore in Wales.

“Anything other than these steps will suggest that the Welsh Government was being duplicitous through voting in favour of doing everything in its power to prevent fracking in Wales, but failing to take the action needed to deliver on its promise.”

Among other clauses, the successful motion calling for a fracking moratorium “Believes that energy should be fully devolved to the National Assembly for Wales and that the Welsh Government should have the power to block fracking.”

It further “Calls on the Welsh Government to do everything within its power to prevent fracking from taking place in Wales until it is proven to be safe in both an environmental and public health context.”

 

 

Principal source:  original articles published by Daily Wales.

 

 




389955

Government reneges on ‘no fracking’ promise Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




The Government has reneged on its commitments to ban fracking near drinking water zones by amending the Infrastructure Bill at its final stage in the House of Lords today.

The change is contained in a sneaky loophole that most politicans entirely missed – but was spotted by an alert Friends of the Earth campaigner.

Most of the wording of Labour’s amendments, which prohibited fracking in national parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, ‘groundwater source protection areas’ and ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’, remain in the current version of the Bill, Section 4A.

But instead of specifying the designations of the areas that fall under protection, the Government is leaving that to be set out in regulations by a Statutory Instrument to be issued by the Secretary of State before July 2015 – well after the general election, due in May.

This gives the Government the opportunity to weaken or fudge the definitions to the point where the protections become a dead letter – and it’s hard to see any other reason for legislating in this convoluted way.

Broken promises

Reacting to the Government’s late amendment, Friends of the Earth‘s Energy Campaigner Donna Hume, who first spotted the loophole, said: “The Government has U-Turned on its commitment to enforce regulatory conditions that would have introduced common sense measures to protect drinking water from controversial fracking.

“The Government seems determined to make fracking happen whatever the cost and people will be staggered that risky fracking will be allowed in areas that provide one third of our drinking water.

“Ministers must follow the lead of Wales, Scotland, France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and New York State by putting a stop to fracking and instead focus on renewables and cutting energy waste.” 

In the Commons, the Government accepted the Labour Party amendment that banned fracking within groundwater source protection zones 1-3; the area around aquifers that safeguards drinking water. These collectively cover some 15% of the country – including many areas with potentially oil and gas bearing rock.

There’s only one answer now – defeat the Tories!

The ‘supplementary provisions’ in Section 4B specify that the Secretary of State must, in the statutory instrument, specify the descriptions of areas which are ‘protected groundwater source areas, and ‘other protected areas’ for the purposes of section 4A.

The statutory instrument will have to be laid before both the Commons and the Lords, and approved by a vote in each house. But if the Conservatives are re-elected with an overall majority in the May elections, they could in effect nullify the protections altogether.

Labour’s shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex stated last week that in return for the support of Labour MPs for the Infrastructure Bill as a whole, and for not pressing the demands for a fracking moratorium, demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, the details of its amendment were not up for further negotiation:

“Let me make it absolutely clear that our new clause is all or nothing; it cannot be cherry-picked”, he said. “All the conditions need to be in place before we can be absolutely confident that any shale extraction can happen.”

But as the Bill will not return to the Commons, and the Conservatives enjoy an overall majority in the Lords, there is in fact nothing at all that Greatrex or his Labour colleagues can do about it.

So now we know – if the Tories win the election, we can expect ‘fracking everywhere’ – national parks, groundwater zones, nature sites, whatever. Nowhere will be safe.

 

 

Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist.

 




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