This week the Scottish Government is expected to launch its long-awaited public consultation on fracking. It has been a painful process getting to this point. When Scottish Ministers declared a temporary moratorium on fracking for underground shale gas exactly two years ago, it seemed like a radical move.
But since then other political parties have been bidding to sound more anti-fracking than the SNP. Evidence of the health and environmental risks – such as the study on noise pollution we report today - has mounted.
That has put ministers in the difficult position of having to defend the moratorium, while not being able to rule out a green light for the industry in the longer term.
Part of the problem is that some ministers like the money they think a new onshore gas industry could bring. Others think it’s a potential pollution nightmare.
Now, at last, they have promised to make a decision. With ministers split and heavyweight companies pushing to frack, it’s not easy to predict the outcome.
But one thing is clear. One of the world’s primary threats is the chaos caused by climate change, which ministers are committed to tackling. Experts they commissioned have warned that environmental regulation is not strong enough to prevent fracking causing climate pollution.
As such it seems difficult to justify opening up a new fossil fuel frontier by fracking, particularly when the country is trying to decarbonise its energy supply. Science is not on the side of fracking in Scotland, and in an age of 'alternative facts' the truth should be heeded.
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