Scottish parliament votes in favour of fracking ban

The Scottish parliament has voted in favour of a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the country.

The amendment to the current environment, climate change and land reform bill called on the parliament to recognise that “to meet Scotland’s climate change goals and protect the environment, there must be an outright ban on fracking in Scotland.”

The motion was passed by 32 votes to 29. Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens joined forces to defeat the Tories after the SNP’s members abstained. The motion is not binding on the government.  

Labour environment spokeswoman Claudia Beamish, who tabled the motion, reportedly said afterwards: “The SNP government must now clarify whether or not they will respect the will of parliament and introduce an outright ban on fracking. It would be outrageous for this important vote to be ignored.

“There is no doubt about the science – to meet our climate change goals and protect our environment we need to develop low carbon sources of energy, not another fossil fuel. Labour’s position is clear: no ifs, no buts, no fracking.”

A moratorium on fracking has been in place in Scotland since January last year, whilst a public consultation takes place.

Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse is quoted as saying: “We are deeply sceptical about fracking and, through our moratorium, we have ensured that no fracking can take place in Scotland. Our abstention in this parliamentary vote respects and is in line with that moratorium.”

UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) chief executive Ken Cronin said: “The Scottish government announced a process in January 2015 which included a research phase and then a public consultation phase. This is not due to finish until the summer of 2017. UKOOG and its members have been participating in this process from the beginning and will continue to do so.

“The process is meant to present the facts to the Scottish people and so we are disappointed today to see that some within the Scottish parliament are trying to derail it.”

Last week director of corporate affairs at Ineos Tom Crotty told Scotland on Sunday the company was moving its Scottish fracking operations to England because of the lack of support from Holyrood: “We have effectively redeployed our resources south of the border now and we are putting all our efforts in England.

He continued: “We are still in the moratorium [in Scotland] and we have been fairly clear with the government that the delay isn’t helpful.”

In May North Yorkshire Council’s planning committee voted to approve an application by Third Energy to carry out fracking tests at an existing exploratory well near the village of Kirby Misperton.

“I think the Yorkshire outcome is good,” Crotty told the paper. “What we said to the [Scottish] government is that our focus is very much south of the border now, where we know we can put planning applications in and we can start work. We can’t do that in Scotland. We think that is very bad news for Scotland.”

Speaking to Utility Week last week EUA chief executive Mike Foster said the Third Energy decision was “massive in terms of the future of the shale industry” and would give it the chance to prove itself.