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Fracking Was Ended on a False Pretext and Should Now be Resumed, say Tory MPs

by Toby Young
27 February 2022 12:02 PM

Some of the tremors used to justify the moratorium on shale gas exploration in Britain were “almost imperceptible”, according to the UK regulator. It should be resumed with “the vigour of a national war effort”, Conservative MPs said last night, as an official report cast doubt on evidence cited by ministers to justify the ban. The Telegraph has more.

Days after Boris Johnson warned that Europe was “addicted” to Russian oil and gas, it has emerged that a report commissioned by a UK regulator described some of the tremors used to justify the moratorium on shale gas exploration in Britain as “almost imperceptible”.

The larger tremors cited by ministers when they announced the ban in 2019 affected just tens of buildings with, at the most, “slight non-structural damage“, according to a report commissioned by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) and finalised after the moratorium was put in place.

The disclosure comes after the Prime Minister acknowledged that there was “merit” in the idea of the temporary “use of hydrocarbons in this country” after MPs pressed him to “look again at fracking”. Sources insisted that he had not changed his mind on the issue, having pushed back against a suggestion by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, that the ban should be reversed.

The 2019 moratorium was announced by Andrea Leadsom, then business secretary, in November of that year “on the basis of the disturbance caused to residents living near Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Lancashire” and the “latest scientific analysis” for the OGA.

But several other reports, published months later without fanfare on the OGA’s website, prompted calls last night for the decision to be reversed.

On Saturday night, Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister, said: “There’s a war on which appears to be possible only because Europe is, as the PM said, addicted to Russian gas. While Putin bears responsibility for the ultimate war crime of initiating a war of aggression, everyone who allowed our shale gas to remain in the ground on a false pretence should hang their heads in shame as the Ukrainian people fight and die for their country.

“Boris should immediately stop the concreting in of current shale wells and go for gas with all the vigour of a national war effort, which this very nearly is.

“Our civilisation may depend upon it.”

Worth reading in full.

Tags: FrackingGasRussiaSteve Baker

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118 Comments
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olaffreya
olaffreya
3 years ago

What rubbish. It’s sweltering out there. Blimey, have even thought about getting me swimming gear out and going for a dip. Live by the over-heated seaside. Global cooling, oops, heating is real.

11
-2
Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  olaffreya

Now comes news of further tinkering, with some eastern counties in England being given a heatwave threshold of 28°C.

In most of Australia, 28 is considered a “lovely day”, even by people of British stock. Nothing under 35 really counts as “hot” (except in Tasmania), and in the seriously hot city of Perth (capital of Western Australia), whinging about the heat is considered pathetic unless it’s over 40.

We are, on the other hand, positively pitiful about what is considered a “freezing cold” day. In Perth, people look stricken if anything under 19 is forecast.

Perhaps it’s all relative?

18
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
3 years ago

If you live by the seaside you don’t have to go for a dip. With the fast rising sea levels thing the dip is coming to you.

10
-20
Think Harder
Think Harder
3 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

That’s why we’re the British Isles. We’ll soon be a collection of small land areas. If we’re lucky Nicola Sturgeon will be separated from us by water.

21
0
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Think Harder

She’ll still blame the English you know.

1614642592419-1640785985.4146-202x300.jpg
21
0
chris-ds
chris-ds
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

I find that realistic depiction offensive!!

4
0
joffy69
joffy69
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

I’ve met someone who was at school with her, and thought he might have snogged her.

2
0
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  joffy69

Surely you mean she might have snogged her? Superinjunctions notwithstanding 😉

3
0
Gefion
Gefion
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

You beat me to that response!!!!

0
0
chris-ds
chris-ds
3 years ago
Reply to  Think Harder

It’s obviously all that hot air from Alec Fish causing global warming

0
0
olaffreya
olaffreya
3 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

So fast we have not noticed. So fast that our old pier is still there after over a hundred years. So fast that we have better beaches than we had twenty years ago. So fast that our coastline has hardly changed since the old town was formed. Scary stuff. God help us all.

18
0
Mike Durrans
Mike Durrans
3 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

Ballderdash, time to grow up lad !

3
0
Corky Ringspot
Corky Ringspot
3 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

Are you frightened?

2
0
ChrisDinBristol
ChrisDinBristol
3 years ago
Reply to  Corky Ringspot

I think he may have been joking

5
0
Think Harder
Think Harder
3 years ago

They’ll not give up on warming until we’re in the middle of an Ice-age or depopulated!

24
0
MikeHaseler
MikeHaseler
3 years ago

The temperature in Scotland in the 1690s is estimated to be 2C cooler than today. About a quarter of Scotland’s population died. Then England saw the fastest warming on record until 1730. Most famines can be linked to colder periods. I don’t know of a single bad effect from warmer periods. Ensure the warmth while you can (if you can afford the higher fuel costs caused by the climate nutters and their insane policies)

34
0
James Kreis
James Kreis
3 years ago

There’s a lot of this going on. The WHO changed the definition of a pandemic just before you know what came along. Then they changed the definition of a vaccine just before you know what came along. And now they change the definition of a heatwave. Anyone would think that there’s an underlying agenda.

72
0
Mr Taxpayer
Mr Taxpayer
3 years ago
Reply to  James Kreis

The WHO also changed the definition of herd immunity to exclude immunity acquired by natural infection.

1
0
DanClarke
DanClarke
3 years ago

The hustle that is ‘global climate change’, if there are any concerns, in reality, the UK is the least of them.

9
0
Richard Austin
Richard Austin
3 years ago

What a load of bollocks. Has the entire world outside these pages gone stark staring insane? A woman isn’t a woman, a man is a woman, non-existent temperature rises are going to kill us all, a Pandemic needs the definition to be changed to be a Pandemic. Disney decides that minorities are under-represented (hint to Disney: they are a minority) so childrens films are going to be inundated with Trans and told that being white and having two parents of the opposite sex makes you abnormal.
“Mommy, why are you a girl? I want a Hermaphrodite Mommy like my friend, who is not a friend because that excludes They who have no friends, at my all-inclusive school which we can’t call a school any more because it excludes They who do not go to a not a school”.
Where does this shite end?

69
0
Julian
Julian
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

“Has the entire world outside these pages gone stark staring insane?”

Yes.

51
0
joffy69
joffy69
3 years ago
Reply to  Julian

No, most of the world has not gone mad. It’s just a (very small but influential) part of it.

7
0
Jonathan M
Jonathan M
3 years ago
Reply to  joffy69

Got it in one.

0
0
Emerald Fox
Emerald Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

It’s about time people got punched in the mask.

17
0
Mike Durrans
Mike Durrans
3 years ago
Reply to  Emerald Fox

They can cover their ugly mugs if they want but don’t ask me> total idiots

3
-1
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

If history is any guide, these things tend to be self correcting. 😉

D5rvOq6XsAIgJ0q~2.jpg
15
0
David101
David101
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

I think you’ve inadvertently hit the nail on the head. I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that the main developments that us sceptics have balked at have been those that employ the clever use of language manipulation as illusory justification for new measures. In all the areas of current controversy, i.e. Woke revolution, Climate hysteria and Covid derangement, we have seen ushered in some new definition for a long-understood term of reference.
We’ve seen language-manipulators alter out of all recognition the definition of a woman (and perhaps also a man), there’s been the naming and shaming of a whole new class of dissenters weirdly labelled “climate deniers”, the definition of “herd immunity” has been altered (or at least they did for a while until enough people noticed at which point they changed it back again), a whole new concept of dying “with” a disease rather than “of” it has been forcibly rammed into our common parlance.
Anthropologists have long recognized that language affects the way we think and relate to the world; and the way we think, in turn, moulds our behaviour.
And what is the primary purpose of SPI-B within SAGE throughout all this? To manipulate our BEHAVIOUR. It all fits together!

23
0
twinkytwonk
twinkytwonk
3 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

How bad is it?
The parents seem to be encouraging and empowering both of the girls to follow their lesbian feelings and celebrate being part of the gay community – except that they don’t have any lesbian feelings. Or any heterosexual feelings. They’re two girls aged 7 and 8 who love hanging out with each other and affectionately hug and kiss.

7
-1
Emerald Fox
Emerald Fox
3 years ago

Just Stop Oil, or I’ll zip tie myself to a post!!

“I was hoping that Vlad would turn the supply off just for a couple of weeks long enough to give these idiots a rude awakening and show them there is no unicorn fart alternative.
When they can’t get the avocado for their toast, have rolling blackouts etc they might get the message.”

“Why is it that the most vehement and ignorant protesters seem to be posh, young, white, women? They have an arrogance about them and a condescending manner of speaking. Is it about racism, which they have never experienced, but feel the need to expound upon because the black folks, in their opinion, are just too inarticulate to do it for themselves?”

“It’s the Joanna Lumley or Emma Thompson syndrome.”

“I feel sorry for them.
After all it must have taken ages for this fellow to walk to the ground from his mud hut in the forest where he lives off berries and leaves.
Plus imagine how difficult it must be to organise a protest by carrier pigeon.
Set aside any questions about how he found out there is oil.
Or a football match.
Or money to gain entrance.”

This saddo who held up the football for 8 minutes with his pathetic stunt, was actually funded by the owner of a shitty little football team called Forest Green Rovers. The hippy owner of FGR was approached by a group of unwashed tree huggers who were out to cause chaos for their love of the planet. Hippy gave them £10k to start up their shit stirring and was laughing as he read what they had done on live tv. They all need to be shot.”

“Is that a plastic cable tie around his/her/their neck?
I wonder if he/she/they know what they are made from.”

“I wonder if they considered what would happen if someone like me ran onto the pitch and pulled like Billy-O on the free end of the cable tie.”

stopoil2.jpg
11
0
DanClarke
DanClarke
3 years ago
Reply to  Emerald Fox

Would have been even funnier if they had left him there and carried on with the game

42
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

Comment of the Week Award

10
0
emel
emel
3 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

Some people will do anything to get a seat near the action.

5
0
Richard Austin
Richard Austin
3 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

Shots in anyone? 50,000 from the crowd queue up for a go ….

8
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 years ago
Reply to  Emerald Fox

Thanks for providing a window into the Madstream Media, EF – I don’t look at any other “news” websites these days.

Stopped looking at anything BBC over three years ago. I get angry when I see the logo. The National Horror Service’s logo has the same effect. And HM Gov’s.

Last edited 3 years ago by Marcus Aurelius knew
21
0
sirclive
sirclive
3 years ago

My understanding was they had raised the thresholds,thus potentially limiting new heatwave qualifications?

3
0
Smelly Melly
Smelly Melly
3 years ago

With rising sea levels, you’d of thought the super rich wouldn’t build their houses on sea shores as they’re putting their lives at risk from the storms and flooding that’ll occur. Unless they know something we don’t know.

Also why is the Maldives building several airports when all the islands will be under water soon as they should be under water now from the predictions back in the 00″s.

19
0
PartyTime
PartyTime
3 years ago

The annual mean temperature tells us nothing about heatwaves. Most of the warming has been in the winters, which were much colder in the 19th century, so presenting an annual mean is obfuscatory.

Last edited 3 years ago by PartyTime
5
0
Richard Austin
Richard Austin
3 years ago
Reply to  PartyTime

1947 was one of the coldest winters on record. It’s certainly true the climate has changed but that is why we are alive and able to type on these pages. Do these numpties not realise that climate change happens in cycles and alters every single day and has done for billions of years?

18
0
Richard Austin
Richard Austin
3 years ago

Anyone else remember when 24 hour licencing was brought in by Labour because “by 2010 it will be too hot to go out in the day. We will all be eating al fresco at 10:30 at night”?

6
0
rtj1211
rtj1211
3 years ago

I quite frankly couldn’t care less how many heatwaves are ‘defined’.

What I do care about is idiotic politicians thinking they actually have to DO something based on those ‘definitions’.

My jaundiced view on a lot of things is as follows:

  1. The amount of sunburn is due to idiotic humans exposing themselves to too much sun without suncream or gradual build up through spring allowing a tan to develop steadily.
  2. Problems in hot sun are just as much to do with people drinking too much booze or not drinking proper levels of water as they are due to ‘heatwaves’.
  3. Given the never-ending stream of immigrants from far hotter places than the UK, it is surely less and less necessary to worry about ‘heatwaves’, as the population is increasingly not going to consider conditions to be unusually hot.
12
0
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  rtj1211

I’m sure you understand the nominal concern for heatwaves is not about the effect of sun and heat on the natives. It is another hook on which to pin “extreme” weather events that are normal, which in turn emphasizes our headlong run towards climate Armageddon etc etc.

All manipulation to endorse the narrative.

15
0
Francis64
Francis64
3 years ago

Summer 1976 – peaking 35C or more in some parts of Britain and lasting from mid June to the end of August with 15 consecutive days at 32C or more – many parts of the south went 45 days without any rainfall at all and water was being rationed – I remember my mum and myself queuing at a standpipe for water.

Now that was a heatwave.

29
0
Nymeria
Nymeria
3 years ago
Reply to  Francis64

What a wonderful summer and year that was; some great 70’s music too and my first real ‘big love’.

9
0
Mike Durrans
Mike Durrans
3 years ago
Reply to  Nymeria

😁

2
0
twinkytwonk
twinkytwonk
3 years ago
Reply to  Francis64

What a summer!! I was only 6 and I remember falling off my skateboard and grazing one side of my face. Two weeks later I went out and fell off the thing again and grazed the other side.

7
0
The old bat
The old bat
3 years ago
Reply to  Francis64

And 1975 was pretty good as well. Not as hot but still a sunny dry summer. Happy days.
Actually we could do with some heating up generally, like the medieval warm period (would it be an Elizabethan warm period for us?) It would save on those ever increasing power bills.

11
0
JohnK
JohnK
3 years ago
Reply to  Francis64

I can remember that as well. As you mentioned water supply problems, the other term that could be redefined might be “drought”. Wouldn’t be surprised if some water companies have a pop at changing the official definition. It depends on things like reservoir levels, average rainfall and so on.

0
0
ituex
ituex
3 years ago

In Ireland we had a heat warning last week at 17 ‘C. Really.

13
0
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  ituex

That’s not all you had.

IMG-20220317-222546-776-768x1076.jpg
15
0
TSull
TSull
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

I know. Ridiculous and farcical, isn’t it?

12
0
Vaxtastic
Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  TSull

More sinister than farcical. What on earth were they doing in Ukraine? Is that an African’s first instinct, a cold eastern province near Russia?

It can’t end well.

11
0
Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  TSull

Not a bit of it.

It is double virtue signalling.

They are both black and Ukrainian (sort of) so you get to tick two boxes and polish a double halo at the one time.

(I know how mean that sounds – but it has to be said – I feel sorry for the Ukrainian people who are nothing other than pawns in this game and it is all designed to get people used to refugees flooding into countries – same way as we had to get used to masks and testing to bring in vaxx passports – because this isn’t the last lot of refugees to be created, this is only the start of it. And it is all manipilation.)

2
0
Old Maid
Old Maid
3 years ago

These people can change the definitions of things and the meanings of words all they like. It doesn’t change the actuality.

6
0
Horse
Horse
3 years ago

I’m sure in Australia a heatwave is three days above 35 degrees. It would be pointless having the threshold at 25 as that would make the entire summer a heatwave.

2
0
rwatson1955@gmail.com
rwatson1955@gmail.com
3 years ago

Is this The Daily Mash or The Daily Sceptic? You could nae make this stuff up!

0
0
TheEngineer
TheEngineer
3 years ago

We need rid of these promoters of the climate change myth and their replacement with free thinking real people.

5
0
morganlefey
morganlefey
3 years ago

The conversation about anthropogenic climate change has been degraded by egregious data frauds, of which Mann’s ‘hockey stick’ fraud and the retrofalsification of 1930s warm period and medieval warm period historic temperature data, are perhaps the best known. It’s not possible to have a sensible scientific conversation about anthropogenic climate change when one of the positions is predicated on fraud. For brilliant forensic analysis of historic climate data, please see videos by Tony Heller.

Last edited 3 years ago by morganlefey
0
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