FRACKING: HARVIE URGES MINISTERS TO ADOPT TOUGHER LINE
Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow, today (30 Sep) used Topical Questions at Holyrood to urge Scottish ministers to adopt a tougher line on fracking.
A vast swathe of Scotland, from Argyll to Aberdeenshire and from Ayrshire to East Lothian, has been earmarked by the UK Government as ripe for the controversial gas drilling technique.
Last week the UK Government agreed to pass laws to let fracking companies drill below people's homes without consent, despite a consultation showing that 99% of responses oppose such a move.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"Drilling for gas will add massively to the existing stocks of fossil fuels - stocks we can't afford to burn. The recent climate summit in New York has reminded us of the profound threat we face if we keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
"Communities across Scotland are rightly alarmed at the determination of the Tory-LibDem coalition to allow fracking. Today I urged Scottish Ministers to take a tougher line, given their recent description of fracking as an opportunity and their failure to ban it with the planning powers they already have.
"I welcome John Swinney's commitment not to replicate the UK Government's approach to drilling without consent, if the power to take action is devolved to Holyrood. However he has still not ruled out allowing fracking itself to go ahead in Scotland, and if we're going to protect communities and the environment we'll need both the power to legislate, and the political will to do so."