Johnstone: ‘I’d urge communities to oppose such developments’
Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian and a member of Holyrood’s economy and energy committee, is urging communities around the Forth to oppose plans for underground coal gasification.
Drilling firm Cluff, one of a number of firms with licences to extract gas from coal seams around the Scottish coast, says it intends to apply for planning permission to develop drilling operations under the Firth of Forth.
Gasification involves drilling into coal seams, igniting them and capturing the resulting gas from a borehole.
Even with as-yet unproven carbon capture and storage technology, coal gasification would still emit more greenhouse gases than renewables.
Alison Johnstone MSP said: “Just a week after the IPCC warned that we need to urgently phase out fossil fuels, we have a company preparing to drill for yet more. In recent months I’ve been hearing from local people rightly alarmed at the prospect of unconventional gas drilling in their area, and I’d urge communities to oppose such developments.
“The local authorities and the environmental regulator Sepa must take into account the climate impact from this proposal. It also poses an economic risk by extracting fossil fuel we simply can’t afford to burn, and diverting attention away from the renewables sector that is steadily growing the long-term, well-paid jobs we all want to see.”
Mark Lazarowicz MP has urged the UK Government to devolve the responsibility for licencing fracking in Scotland to the Scottish Government. He was speaking at Energy and Climate Change questions in the House of Commons.
The North & Leith MP said: “This is an issue that many people feel strongly about, and I do not see any reasons why the power to grant licences should not be transferred from the Department of Energy and Climate Change to the Scottish Government.”
“Labour has already called for much tighter safeguards for licencing: companies must be forced to disclose the chemicals used in fracking and tests must take place for 12 months before the final go-ahead to find any trace of water contamination.
“Many issues relating to fracking are already devolved, including planning and environmental regulation, consent for electricity generation and transmission are all devolved. It makes sense for all aspects of the control of fracking to be devolved.”
Currently, companies must first apply for a licence from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to explore for shale gas and another to then actually drill and extract it.
The company also needs a licence from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), who regulate the way that the development will affect the local environment, in particular discharges of fracking fluid to local water sources.
Companies must also apply to the local authority for planning permission to deal with matters covered by planning law and the Scottish Parliament already has full authority over that, so Mr Lazarowicz argues that it makes sense for overall control of licencing to be devolved too.
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