EU told its new fracking rules may rob Britain of cheap energy

The European Union has been accused of killing off the prospect of cheap shale gas, which Britain sees as the key to cutting rising energy bills, with expensive and "reckless" regulation of fracking.

MEPs yesterday voted for EU legislation requiring that exploration for potential deposits of shale gas must involve the same degree of environmental regulation as a full-scale oil drilling or fracking installation.

Struan Stevenson, a Conservative MEP who sits on the European Parliament's environment committee, warned that the new industry could be killed off if the EU requires that shale gas exploration can only go ahead after a full environmental impact assessment (EIA).

"This would be a huge burden and will prevent the exploitation of Britain's massive shale reserves," he said. "Targeting exploration in this unnecessary way amounts to stifling the potential benefits at source. We must stop this overzealous attempt to place a dead hand on the process of exploration before it even gets going."

The rules for shale gas exploration will be discussed by Europe's environment ministers next week. David Cameron has warned that Brussels red tape must not block exploitation of the cheap energy source. "No regulation must get in the way," the Prime Minister said at an EU summit earlier this year.

The use of fracking technology means the United States is paying half the European price for wholesale gas, driven up by expensive imports at a time when state subsidies for renewable energies are pushing up energy costs across Europe.

Alessandro Torello, of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, said the EIA for exploration would create a costly and cumbersome regulatory process that would make the industry think twice about exploration.

Ed Miliband has insisted the lights would be kept on if he won the next election and implemented his freeze on energy prices.

But the Labour leader sidestepped questions about whether the energy firms would raise prices in the months between now and the 2015 contest in order to avoid the impact of the policy.

He accused the energy giants of "profiteering" and dismissed claims that they would not invest in new infrastructure, potentially resulting in blackouts, as "scare stories". Asked on BBC One consumer show Watchdog to promise the lights would not go out as a result of his policy, he said: "Absolutely."

From: The Daily Telegraph