from Sunday Herald, 30 June 2013
The only licences to frack for gas in Scotland are going to be dropped, according to the company that holds them.
Australian-owned Dart Energy is in discussions with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) over ending its fracking permits for two sites near Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway.
That would mean that, in contrast to England, no hydraulic fracturing to extract underground shale gas would be allowed in Scotland. Huge shale reserves were announced across northern England last week, with strong backing from the Westminster government.
But abandoning fracking in Scotland could help pave the way politically for Dart’s controversial plans to exploit coalbed methane using other techniques at Airth, near Falkirk, and at Canonbie, where the company is working with the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate.
Dart said that it had shown that commercially viable levels of coalbed methane could be extracted in Scotland without recourse to fracking technology. The company has been assessing the fracking licences it acquired from another company at Canonbie in 2012.
“We are working with Sepa to alter our permits such that we do not need nor have licences to use fracking for coalbed methane,” a Dart spokesman told the Sunday Herald.
Sepa confirmed that “informal discussions” had taken place with Dart regarding the Canonbie licences, but no formal applications had been received. “The licences cover the discharge of effluent to groundwater, but we understand the operator is considering the removal of such provisions and applying for appropriate licence variations,” said a Sepa spokesman.
Sepa has also disclosed that an investigation into alleged methane leaks at Canonbie has uncovered no evidence of problems. The investigation was prompted by allegations received by the Sunday Herald in April.
Mary Church, campaigns co-ordinator at Friends of the Earth Scotland, welcomed Dart’s plan not to use its fracking licences, but questioned the company’s motives. “It looks like Dart is trying to generate some good PR at Canonbie in an effort to ensure that their coalbed methane plans at Airth go through,” she said.
“Coalbed methane extraction is bad news for the climate and local communities whether or not fracking is used. We are calling on the government to ban all unconventional gas extraction.”
The Scottish government pointed out that there were “no plans or projects which propose the use of fracking techniques in Scotland at this time.” Ministers backed “appropriate and robust regulation,” said a government spokeswoman.
She added: “Proposals for coalbed methane or shale gas production in Scotland will be studied on their merits. Each proposal will be considered through the normal planning process and the appropriate regulatory regimes.”
Comments