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14 | 13th - 19th June 2014 | utILItY WeeK Special report are above the Planning Act threshold, but underlines the Conservatives' ambivalence towards onshore wind – being officially in favour of it and unofficially against it." For Renewable UK, the proposed plan- ning tweaks are minor compared with the subsidy threat. "We are being told that nothing that is not already consented will get financial support, so frankly what they do with the planning regime is largely irrel- evant," says Webber. "We are not calling for a massive overhaul of the planning system, just the opposite. We want it to be timely and predictable and at the moment it is neither." When it comes to shale gas, the Conserva- tives are less conflicted. They like it. Prime minister David Cameron has promised he will go "all out for shale". The Liberal Demo- crat and Labour parties also support explo- ration, albeit with some reservations. As North Sea oil and gas fields dry up and the last few UK coal mines limp towards closure, the government is keen to find new domestic sources of fuel, both to limit reli- ance on imports and to replace the substan- tial tax revenues generated. Proponents cite the great fracking boom in the US, where gas prices plummeted on the back of new shale supplies, cutting energy bills and boosting industry. Shale gas has also displaced coal in the generation mix, leading to lower US carbon emissions. (US coal, in turn, was exported to be burned elsewhere, so it is hard to say whether the environment has benefited on a global level – but that is not America's responsibility). In the UK, shale gas is not expected to have quite such a revolutionary impact. The gas is there, but it will be harder to extract, for reasons of geology, regulation and indus- try structure. The British Geological Survey (BGS) esti- mates the Bowland shale holds 38 trillion cubic metres of gas and the Weald 4.4 billion barrels of shale oil (see map). A third survey, of a shale belt across central Scotland, is due out this summer. For reference, annual gas demand is in the region of 100 billion cubic metres. If 10 per cent of the Bowland gas were extractable (as in some US shales), it could meet UK demand for nearly 40 years. Not least among the obstacles to shale gas extraction is the planning regime. Brit- ain is a densely populated island and there will be plenty of people taking an interest in developments near their homes. Campaign- ing website Frack Off already lists 130 protest groups around the country, who are making ready to block test wells. Alongside getting environmental permits, fracking operators must prepare to win hearts and minds. The government set up an Office for Unconventional Oil and Gas in Decc to help smooth the path for fracking operators, rationalising the environmental and planning consent process. Last month, it announced changes to trespassing law so that individual landowners could no longer block fracking beneath their properties. This was sweet- ened with a £20,000 voluntary community payment for each lateral well, on top of the £100,000 plus 1 per cent of revenues already promised by industry for each well site. Decc has reserved the power to intervene if the industry does not honour that commitment. It is early days for the UK unconventional oil and gas industry and it is 20 years behind onshore wind in the business of winning local support. To date, only one UK fracking site has got planning consent, a Cuadrilla test well at Preese Hall in Lancashire. It was passed by a planning officer in 2009 and went more or less unremarked upon until a minor earth- quake in 2011 made the wider world sit up and take notice. The BGS investigated and found it "highly probable" that Cuadrilla's fracking had caused the tremor, of 2.3 mag- nitude on the Richter scale. However, experts advised that more serious quakes were unlikely and it was safe to resume activity. Catherine Howard, planning lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills, says: "It shows what a light touch was applied for unconventional oil and gas generally until 2011, when there was the earth tremor. Since then, we have seen a light shone on the consent process." The mini-quake set off a ripple of aware- ness that was only amplified last summer when Cuadrilla started test drilling for shale oil in Balcombe. Hundreds of protesters descended on the West Sussex village to picket the site, including Green Party MP Car- oline Lucas. A carnival atmosphere prevailed and the media seized on the punning oppor- tunities afforded by the term "fracking". Last week Greenpeace activists, with their usual flair for the publicity stunt, donned hi-vis vests to "frack" outside the prime minister's Oxfordshire home. The term "fracking" has become so loaded that Wrexham council turned down a coalbed methane exploratory borehole in March over fears it might lead to fracking, despite developer Dart Energy's assurances to the contrary. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", describes the technique of pump- ing large volumes of water, sand and chemi- cals at high pressure into a well to break up the rock and allow gas to flow out. Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK Onshore Operators Group, plays down the novelty of fracking. Onshore drilling for oil and gas has been going for about a hundred years, with 120 operational sites, he says, and fracking techniques have been used at outLine shaLe Bgs centraL resource estiMates Jurassic Weald Basin study area 4.4 billion barrels shale oil Carboniferous Bowder-Hodder Shale study area 38 trillion cubic metres shale gas Carboniferous Midland Valley of Scotland study in progress Study due out this summer Source: The Carbon Brief ➊ ➋ ➌ Roseacre Wood, Lancashire. Shale gas exploration well Cuadrilla: planning application expected Balcombe, West Sussex. Shale oil exploration well Cuadrilla: permitted for flow testing; site of protest camps last summer Preston New Road, Lancashire. Shale gas exploration well Cuadrilla planning application submitted