Somerset MPs back fracking
With 7 blocks of Somerset land licensed for fracking, we took some interest in last night’s vote on the issue. Of the 7 licensed blocks, 3 are in the immediate vicinity of Hinkley C nuclear power station.
Labour put forward a motion in the House of Commons calling for a ban on fracking.
Ignoring the chaos within the Government that dominated the day’s headlines the vote was not, after all, a vote of confidence. It had been mooted as such and then denied several times before the vote took place. Clearly some of the scenes were unedifying. However what counts at the end of the day is the way MPs voted. And there was no suggestion that any of our local MPs had to be forced through any particular lobby against their will.
In the vote that followed 32 Conservative MPs abstained or at least had “no vote recorded”. David Warburton, MP for Somerton & Frome is not currently able to vote. However the other four MPs respresenting the bit of Somerset covered by the Leveller did.
Rebecca Pow (Taunton), Ian Liddel Grainger (Bridgwater & West Somerset) , Marcus Fysh (Yeovil) and James Heappey (Wells) all voted against a ban on fracking.
Are they mad? Is it not enough to have a nuclear power station in Somerset plus hectares given over to solar panels, and anaerobic digesters and their crops? What happens if the fracking causes damage to the nuclear plant and who will bear the cost of any damage?
The way the Conservative Party is imploding, I doubt they will be in power in the time it will take to setup a fracking operation in Somerset. If the opposition parties continue their opposition to fracking, it will be stopped before anything is done.
Disgraceful! Surely they don’t think fracking near a nuclear power station is OK? They were presumably scared of the party whips!!
There won’t be any fracking near to a nuclear power station. Don’t be daft.
The issue we all have to understand here is fuel security and the need to have a wide range of domestic energy sources that include sources not reliant on prevailing weather conditions.
The Nordstream pipeline has been sabotaged – in an unstable world all energy supplier and transport are effective targets for sabotage. In that environment fuel costs rise when energy supply is prevented or delayed, having our own energy supply from a wide range of sources, including fracking where it is safe to undertake it, will allow us to heat and light our homes, services and businesses – it also enables us to transition away from fossil fuels in an affordable way.
Thankfully fracking is now off the agenda – for the time being. As for fracking near a nuclear power station, we live in Somerset where anything goes and common sense does not come into it. SSDC in particular seem to love concreting over Grade 1 and other high quality agricultural land which we need to maintain for food security which is even more important than energy!