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Environmental Audit Committee calls for halt to fracking

Posted at January 28, 2015 | By : | Categories : News,Renewables | Comments Off on Environmental Audit Committee calls for halt to fracking

Shale fracking should be put on hold in the UK because it is incompatible with our climate change targets and could pose significant localised environmental risks to public health.

That is the conclusion of MPs on the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee who will attempt to amend the Government’s Infrastructure Bill in Parliament today.

In a new report, the committee warns that only a very small fraction of our shale reserves can be safely burned if we are to keep global temperatures below two degrees. And that considerable uncertainties remain about the hazards fracking poses to groundwater quality, air quality, health and biodiversity.

It also points out that continually tightening carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act will have significantly curtailed the scope for fossil fuel energy by the time shale gas is likely to be commercially viable on a large scale.

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