YP Letters: Fracking will cut emissions and secure our energy supply

From: Alan Linn, Director, Third Energy.
The debate over fracking has become increasingly heated.The debate over fracking has become increasingly heated.
The debate over fracking has become increasingly heated.

In response to Mike and Susie Holden (The Yorkshire Post, January 15), it‘s important that we deal in facts when considering the implication of introducing a new industry into the UK.

We are all concerned about the future of our country and our county’s environment. Currently 84 per cent of us rely upon gas to heat our 
homes, almost half of the electricity we use is generated by gas, and that will continue to be the case for as far as we can see into the future.

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Consequently, can it be right to transport gas thousands of miles around the world from countries that have much lower environmental standards than our own? We currently import nearly 50 per cent of our gas, and this is forecast to increase to nearly 80 per cent by 2035.

Large parts of Yorkshire sit on top of the Bowland Shale Formation, potentially one of the best sources of gas-bearing shale in Europe. So why are we increasingly importing this vital form of energy when we can produce it here?

The UK has some of the most progressive climate legislation of any country in the world enshrined in the Climate Change Act 2008, placing a requirement on us to reduce annual emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. From 1990 until today, the UK has reduced its emissions by 42 per cent, while global emissions have shot up by 67 per cent. Replacing some of these imports with UK shale gas production can further reduce emissions, and reduce our reliance on imports.

The Committee on Climate Change has stated that “shale gas could make a useful contribution to UK energy supplies, including providing some energy security benefits” and the UK onshore oil and gas industry has publicly stated its commitment to work proactively with regulators and other stakeholders to ensure onshore oil and gas operations are conducted safely.

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By using our own home-grown sources of gas, we can produce benefits for the environment and our security of supply, and provide local communities with some of the inward investment they need, create a new source of UK tax revenue and 64,000 UK jobs.

Every single aspect of our operations has been checked and rechecked by the regulatory authorities, accompanied by planned and unannounced 
site inspections.

Given that it looks likely that Third Energy will be the first company to hydraulically fracture in over five years, the regulators and ourselves are determined to, and will get 
this right.

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