SNP announces indefinite fracking ban in Scotland
We’ve done a number of bits of work in Scotland recently and I am fascinated by how a Government which is so much closer to its electorate in population terms can do so much more to involve people in decision making. LEADER is a prime example there are 20 odd programmes in the country and the Scottish Government gets them round one table to plan the programme as a group.
I don’t really know enough about fracking to say whether an indefinite ban is a good or a bad thing, but unlike in England, where the whole debate on big business covering the countryside in windmills and solar panels, involves an uneven struggle between local communities and rich companies, this moratorium seems to be a policy driven in response to popular sentiment. Makes you think – the article tells us:
SNP ministers have announced an indefinite ban on fracking in Scotland as they intensified their general election battle with Labour over which party is promising the greatest restrictions on the controversial practice.
Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Energy Minister, declared a moratorium on granting planning permission for “unconventional” oil and gas projects that blocked all schemes north of the Border under development.
In a statement to MSPs, he said the ban would last however long it took to carry out a full public consultation on the extraction of shale gas and research into its impact on the environment and public health.
But the Tories and Liberal Democrats said Mr Ewing and Labour were indulging in “political posturing” over who could be seen to be most hostile to fracking ahead of the general election, regardless of the damage to the Scottish economy.
An expert group commissioned by Scottish ministers reported last year there were no significant technological barriers to the development of an unconventional hydrocarbon industry and that it could be extracted safely.