Almost as quickly as UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was ousted from office, so too was her (now-temporary) order to resume gas shale fracking – a plan which included offering UK households £1,000 each for allowing the practice in their neighborhoods.
According to the Financial Times, her successor – the WEF-sponsored (of “great reset, eat bugs, own nothing and be happy” fame) Rishi Sunak is reversing Truss’s order, and reinstating the fracking ban.
During his first prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the new UK prime minister told MPs that he “stands by” the Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto commitment that halted fracking. The moratorium was briefly lifted by Truss during her brief period as prime minister. -FT
The 2019 manifesto – which followed a 2.9 earthquake caused by private fracking company Cuadrilla – reads; “We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.“
As such, former PM Boris Johnson’s government announced that all new fracking wells would be banned, and the country’s only active site in northwestern England would immediately shut down.
Truss’s reversal was set to increase North Sea drilling, a renewed focus on accelerating offshore wind farms, a pre-announced £400 energy bill discount and the removal of green levies costing £150 – capping the typical household energy bill approximately £1,971.
Sunak, however, is still advocating for offshore wind plants “and more nuclear,” adding “that is what this government will deliver.”
UK NatGas production had been notably declining since 2000.
The news brings clarity to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Tuesday resignation. Rees-Mogg, a fracking advocate, was placed in charge of the UK’s energy strategy by Truss. He notably warned against ‘climate alarmism’ and said that he wants cheap energy for his constituents “rather more than I would like them to have windmills.”
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said Mr Rees-Mogg was the “last person who should be in charge of the energy brief,” adding that “appointing him to the brief now suggests the Tories have learned nothing from some years of energy policy incompetence.”
The Greta will be pleased, we’re sure.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 10/26/2022 – 12:23
