Guest column: David Gorton – why Fracking in Lancashire should happen

David Gorton, partner at accountancy firm PM+M, on why Fracking in Lancashire should happen.

I am firm supporter of there being significant trials of fracking in Lancashire.

I believe that it is likely to be completely safe, a significant help in the battle against climate change, commercially successful, a great source of employment and local business development, beneficial to our national and local economies and beneficial to our national security.

There is an argument over the safety of fracking. It has never been done successfully in Lancashire and until it is up and running at the necessary scale there will continue to be uncertainties. But progress requires dealing with uncertainties and managing them. The barriers based on safety uncertainties erected by some opponents are literally insurmountable – only when proof is available that commercial scale fracking across Lancashire is 100% safe can the first drill site start operation and without field based evidence there is always uncertainty. Personally, I think we should be trying several fracking sites and measuring the effects as carefully as we can and then deciding how we progress.

I hear many opponents arguing that we should instead be pushing for renewable energy sources. I don’t accept this either/or renewables/fracking choice.

There are presently no credible sources of reliable renewable energy of an adequate scale for UK energy needs and security. Solar (while becoming more effective at an incredible rate) will take a long time to be credible in the UK, especially in the North, and it is at its least effective at our time of peak energy need in winter.

Wind power is not sufficient without a reserve supply source (pending storage improvements) and there doesn’t seem to be a rush of Lancashire villages agreeing to local onshore wind farms as a sign of their commitment to clean renewables. It will take 30 years at least for renewables to become adequate for our national energy needs and in the meantime we need to burn fossil fuels.

Another element of the renewables/fracking argument is about the availability of capital funding and that an investment in fracking would prohibit investment in renewables. Again I don’t recognise the distinction. The investment in fracking is readily available from businesses with experience in the sector who expect to make a profit on the activity. The funding for renewables is presently not commercial and needs government subsidy.

Investment and focus on reducing energy usage, improving flexibility of usage, improving electricity storage options, and improving the efficiency of renewable generation are all vital things. They are just irrelevant to the question of whether fracking in Lancashire in 2016 is appropriate.

The development of a significant fracking industry in Lancashire will generate a lot of jobs, will encourage local engineering and support businesses and will allow our local universities to develop specialities in energy sectors which will stand them in great stead for supporting exports.

The potential margins on gas extraction in the UK could generate very significant profits for the businesses concerned (with corporation tax payable in the UK – it is hard to pretend that gas extraction is actually happening in the Cayman Isles) and lead to large local investment funds allowing diversification of industry and a much stronger economy going forward.

The UK economy will benefit significantly from substantial investment in gas extraction both from capital investment and from the operating expenditure of the gas extraction businesses. Given the current weakness of sterling and the concerning trade deficit of our country it is, in my opinion, a genuine matter of national importance that we produce as much gas as we can here rather than importing it.

Progress requires change and many changes generate opposition – many people in Lancashire opposed the building of railways for the disruption they were expected to cause (suggestions that cows in fields near steam trains would produce stale milk) and later others opposed the closure of coal mines in the 1980s as government over-reach. Now, however, coal fired stations are considered the worst mainstream option environmentally.

I firmly believe that we have to try really hard to make a success of fracking in Lancashire, maximising the benefits and controlling the risks and proving that we are an innovative, brave and progressive region.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and not the official position of PM+M.