- By James Herron
The U.K. government’s decision to allow shale gas exploration to proceed, despite one company’s operations causing earth tremors in the north of England, sets up a battle for the future of Britain’s energy policy.
Supporters of the nascent U.K. shale gas industry say it could provide the country with a badly needed source of domestic fossil fuels to replacing the depleted North Sea. In fact, a single shale deposit drilled by Cuadrilla Resources could contain more recoverable gas than remains in the whole of the North Sea.
The renewable energy industry, which has benefitted from subsidies to encourage low carbon energy for a decade, fears what has happened in the U.S., where a boom in shale gas has rendered other forms of energy, even coal and nuclear power, far less competitive.
If this were to be repeated in the U.K., green groups say ambitious targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions would be missed.
[Read on over the jump]