Ministers launch fracking study, paving way to end moratorium in England

theguardian.com:

Ministers have paved the way for a reconsideration of the moratorium on fracking in England by commissioning a new study to examine safety concerns about the controversial practice.

In an effort to decrease Britain’s reliance on imported energy given spiralling costs, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said it was “absolutely right that we explore all possible domestic energy sources”.

The Conservatives promised in their 2019 manifesto they would not support shale gas extraction “unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely”.

A moratorium in England was placed on the process in November 2019 after protests, legal challenges and planning rejections.

A row emerged on Tuesday night, after the Daily Telegraph reported that the Treasury had rejected a request by Kwarteng to spend millions of pounds to reduce bills by making homes more energy efficient.

No 10 and Kwarteng’s officials were pushing for the Energy Company Obligation scheme to be widened beyond people who receive state benefits.

The proposal was for the Treasury to put in about £200m a year extra of taxpayers’ money into the scheme, which uses money raised from a levy on energy bills to pay for home energy efficiency improvements for the poorest households.

However, the Treasury was said to have told the department it had to stick to its three-year spending envelope. There were also concerns about a repeat of the ill-fated green homes grant, fearing more money would be wasted on a scheme with little take-up.

Some Tory MPs have pushed for fracking to be part of the government’s long-delayed energy security strategy, expected to be published on Thursday. But others have predicted it would lead to electoral oblivion in those parts of the country