Douglas Carswell's Blog

Frack away!

Gas and heating prices are rising. Many of my constituents are struggling as a direct consequence.

Why? Is it because of the beastly energy companies? Or perhaps because of rising demand around the globe?

Not really. Energy prices are rising in the UK largely because of wrong public policy choices made by successive governments

In pursuit of "green energy", hefty subsidies have been added to every energy bill. Targets and quotas have forced companies of comply with what officialdom decrees, rather than invest in giving the punter what they want. 

Like the Eurozone crisis, high energy prices are a man-made problem.

The solution? As so often in human affairs, technology comes along and re-writes many assumptions. 

Just as North Sea oil appears to be running out, it turns out that we are sitting on billions of tonnes of gas trapped inside shale rock.   Vast, almost unbelievable amounts of the stuff, I'm told.  Allow entrepreneurs to use the new technology, and get officialdom out the way, and it will be like having several North Sea oil bonanzas all over again.

In the United States, where there are fewer one-size fits all bureaucratic rules, this shale gas revolution has transformed things. America's shale gas revolution is transforming her economy, giving her a massive new source of cheap energy. Geopolitical assumptions are changing too, since she is less dependent on various nasty regimes around the world.

It is great news that the UK government has given the green light to fracking – the process for extracting shale gas. France, on the other hand, has apparently banned the process entirely.  Guess who is going to be more likely to prosper?

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