Scottish Government Fracking Ban
Scottish Government Fracking Ban ‘Mired In Dishonesty And An Abandonment Of The National Interest’
GMB Scotland has said the Scottish Government’s decision to ban fracking is ‘mired in dishonesty and represents an abandonment of the national interest’.
In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse MSP confirmed an ‘indefinite moratorium’ on fracking to be backed by a parliamentary vote on Tuesday 24 October 2017.
The ban comes at a time when the Scottish Government’s own figures from the Energy in Scotland 2017 publication shows an increasing dependency on gas, with around 1.9 million households (79 per cent of all homes in Scotland) using gas as their primary heating fuel - a 7 per cent increase over the last decade.
Against a backdrop of dwindling domestic supply from the North Sea and over a quarter of households in Scotland living in fuel poverty (see GMB Scotland report, 'Natural Gas in the Energy Policy of the UK and Scotland'), GMB has accused the Scottish Government of ignoring the realities of the country’s energy needs.
GMB Scotland Gary Smith said: “As we have said time and again, the choice facing Scotland is not one of whether to include gas in our energy mix for the foreseeable future, but where the gas will come from?
The reality is that today’s ban means a future where we will be increasingly dependent on importing fracked shale from the US into Grangemouth - a remarkable hypocrisy - and shipped supplies of LNG from the likes of Qatar and Russia.
The Scottish Government needs to be honest with the people of Scotland about the realities of our energy future against a backdrop of declining North Sea production and supply – they can’t continue to dodge the difficult questions.
What does this ban mean for the millions of households with gas central heating systems, for the quarter of households living in fuel poverty, for industries in our fragile economy powered by gas and for thousands of jobs in our energy related sectors?
Quite frankly today’s decision isn’t just mired in dishonesty, it’s also an abandonment of the national interest.”
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Contact: Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.
Notes to Editors:
For a copy of the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Energy Policy, ‘Natural Gas in the Energy Policy of the UK and Scotland’, commissioned by GMB Scotland, please visit:
