I ATTENDED our MP’s Regulators Question Time event on October 12 after reading his Pennsylvania report and was pleased to hear during the opening address that Mr Hollinrake had “an open mind” about fracking. My understanding of that is that he is open to evidence and concerns from all sides?

The attending agencies made interesting presentations, answering some questions and posing others. Among the unanswered questions was the concern of damage to health during pregnancy and subsequent problems with children exposed to that damage. The public health expert could not satisfactorily answer those concerns and clearly needed additional research in to the matter.

Another matter not answered was that of the local economy and how many jobs may be created against the number that may be lost and the net loss/gain to the area in both monetary and human terms.

Ryedale relies on a thriving tourist industry and I wonder how this may be affected with the creation of up to 19 separate drilling sites and the associated traffic, despite our host indicating all these sites could be hidden from public view?

One question to the panel asked which of them would happily reside close to a fracking site. None replied yes, though our MP gave a guarded response with many caveats attached. A case of, "Not in my backyard" methinks?

After the meeting I met with Mr Hollinrake and he repeated that he had an open mind but that he felt we should support the current application and, if anything goes wrong then we should stop. I recall him saying something similar to, it being better to work from the inside and stop if necessary.

On October 14, Mr Hollinrake used his twitter account to say, “Yale+Study+Concludes+Fracking+DOES+NOT+Contaminate+Drinking+Water” together with a link to an article that seems to support this view. I take this to be a view supporting the dash for gas and not in keeping with an open mind? It seems clear that he is toeing a party line rather than representing the views of his constituents?

Steve Pearse, Great Barugh

 

Fracking is driven by selfish reasons

HE present Government policy on fracking, exemplifies the short-sighted, selfish despoliation of global resources that is driving us all towards the potential catastrophe of rapid climate change. The Government knows full well that we need to dramatically reduce our present consumption of fossil fuels and place much greater reliance on renewable energy and energy conservation.

We had such policies in place and were playing a leading role in making that change. But since the General Election the Conservatives have deliberatively dismantled green energy policies and are currently engaged in the cynical destruction of the nascent solar energy industry at the very moment that it is on the verge of market viability and is generating worthwhile employment.

While the rest of the world is at last beginning to act on climate change, the Government goes into reverse gear, encouraging the squandering of natural resources rather than their conservation and increasing the risk of global warming. Shame on them. They are certainly no longer the Conservative party in the true meaning of that term and I suggest they would be better referred to in future as the [selfish] Consumption Party.

Mike Gwilliam, Norton

 

Renewable energy is what we need

KEVIN Hollinrake publishes many recommendations in his report from his visit to the fracking industry in Pennsylvania. Among them is the call for a minimum distance between the wells and settlements. He does not specify what is reasonable. Third Energy is currently applying to frack their well at Kirby Misperton. This well is about half a mile from the village and even closer to a caravan park. Approval of this application would set a precedent that wells can be sited very close to any settlement in the area.

Another conclusion in the report is that there should be long-term, secure investment in subsidies to renewable energy. The present government is doing the exact opposite by cutting renewable subsidies and putting most of its investment into shale gas and expensive nuclear.

The government is signed up to drastically cut climate changing emissions. The present policies will not achieve this. We need a huge investment in energy efficiency and an expansion of renewable energy. This would quickly provide jobs and provide us with secure and sustainable energy.

G Wild, Swinton