There is a public consultation on petroleum licensing (closes 12th April ) being held by the Department for the Economy. We need to make our views known. Those of you who have been following the events over the last number of years will know that the only long term solution to banning fracking is to prohibit granting of petroleum licences.
There is an unofficial moratorium in place currently, in that the Department announced it would stop any further activity on the granting or otherwise of petroleum licences. This was to provide a safe space whilst policy was reviewed and scrutinised via the Hatch Report. Shortly before Stormont fell in 2022, the then Minister for the Economy - Gordon Lyons - signalled a change in policy. However it only now with the return of Stormont that the public can have their say.
This consultation is pointing the way forward for petroleum licensing onshore in Northern Ireland. There would be an official moratorium introduced, which effectively signals an official change in policy being adopted by the new Executive. This would then be followed by a legislative ban. ( This part will be trickier but we will pass that bridge when we come to it). ie we have seen many instances where bills get changed and amended before being made into law which has reduced the effectiveness or the purpose of the legislative change.
We in Belcoo Frack Free have prepared a response which people can use as a template. The document is available here in various formats.
RTF format PDF format Word docx format
We urge people to download, add their name and mail it as an attachment to the Department ( petroleumpolicyreview@economy-ni.gov.uk ). If you download the docx or rtf format then you can edit the response.
Finally, it has taken longer than we had hoped, but we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However there are still hurdles to overcome and we have seen how the Westminster Government in particular has bent towards the Oil and Gas industry in recent years. Similarly we see issues both North and South with the proposed and actual build out of new gas infrastructure in the form of LNG terminals, Gas generating stations, Gas pipelines and Gas storage. The industry is like the Hydra in the Herculean fables - when one head is cut off - others grow in its place.
