Never mind the earthquakes – fracking puts out more carbon than coal

Following the government’s assent to hydraulic fracturing for shale gas (‘fracking’), there has been a confused outcry of protest. Fear of earthquakes and of tap water that can be ignited have been the most spectacular worries, but the Scottish Greens regard these as minor concerns. They hold that we should be more bothered by the potential for chemical contamination of local water supplies, and by a Cornell University study that shows the carbon impact of shale gas from fracking to be worse than that of coal.

The Greens have lodged a motion at Holyrood calling for a moratorium on all types of unconventional gas extraction until a full independent environmental assessment has been done. Green MSP Alison Johnstone, presenting the motion, pointed out that emissions of fracking gas could play havoc with Scotland’s climate change targets, as well as having unknown effects on the local environment. She said, ‘Rather than a new dash for dirty gas, we must halt all new projects in Scotland now and have a proper debate about the impacts first.’

DECC, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, is commendably cautious about the whole thing. Click here to have a look.

The Cornell article is here. Its conclusion reads: ‘The large GHG footprint of shale gas undercuts the logic of its use as a bridging fuel over coming decades, if the goal is to reduce global warming.’