British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced an end to the United Kingdom’s moratorium on fracking in hopes of alleviating the energy crisis currently gripping the U.K. and the rest of Europe.
The end of the fracking moratorium is part of a larger set of policies the new prime minister announced Thursday, which was put together to manage the crisis and to help households cope with astronomical energy bills.
WITH LITTLE LEFT TO LOSE, EU SWINGS BIG ON RUSSIAN GAS PRICE CAP
“It is vital we take steps to increase our domestic energy supply,” Truss said. “We will end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale that could get gas flowing in as soon as six months where there is local support for it.”
Conservative lawmakers began urging former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to end the fracking ban, which has been in place since 2019, earlier this year after as natural gas prices sailed upward because of conditions created by the war in Ukraine. The moratorium itself was put in place over worries about its contribution to generating earthquakes.
The government directed the British Geological Survey in April to review the latest scientific evidence related to the safety of fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, after pressure from Tory members of Parliament who wanted the ban to be lifted. The report was delivered to the government in July, but its findings have yet to be made public, according to the Guardian.
The conservative ministers of Parliament who support the lifting of the ban argue that fracking gas from shale would allow the U.K. to better insulate itself from the price shocks in the natural gas market, although some Tories have been resistant to the notion, citing local opposition in areas that have shale reserves.
Governments in Europe are doing all they can to manage high energy prices and to source more natural gas from suppliers other than Russia, which historically has been its largest provider but has since cut off gas supplies via its primary pipeline to the continent. The supply cuts have driven gas and electricity prices to record numbers since the invasion began.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Truss also announced Thursday that the government intends to impose a cap on household utility bills of 2,500 pounds per year.
