Energy debate in The Herald

The Herald newspaper, more than other, is reporting the current debate on Scottish energy policy.

On Monday, having reported that permission has been granted by SEPA to Greenpark Energy to begin shale gas exploration in Scotland, in its leader it called for a proper public debate of the contribution of shale gas to Scotland's energy supply.

Today the Herald kindly published my contribution to that debate:

Your call for a proper public debate on the contribution of shale gas to Scotland's energy supply is well timed ('Exploiting fossil fuel will harm renewable targets', Leader and 'First fracking project in Scotland', November 7th).

The problem facing the Scottish Government is that they have 'bet the bank' on renewables. Should the promised relatively cheap and plentiful supply of shale gas comes to fruition our excessive dependence on expensive renewables will become even more of an albatross for Scotland.

Targets for renewables are designed to meet emissions targets set as part of our ''world-leading' Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.  It is becoming increasingly clear that the scientific 'evidence' on which that Act was based relied excessively on models, alarmism, false claims and flawed science.  The evidence for a human induced global warming catastrophe is looking increasingly threadbare.

A proper debate will include consideration of suspending the emissions targets enshrined in the 2009 Act.

Cllr Cameron Rose
City Chambers,
Edinburgh