In September 2012 the Chew Valley Gazette, the Midsomer Norton & Radstock Journal and the Somerset Guardian published articles by the local Member of Parliament on hydraulic fracturing claiming that the UK has a 360 year national supply of gas from both onshore and offshore sources. The volume of shale gas available in the UK is contentious because: i) there are no reliable national estimates because there is little data to go on, and ii) there has been a lot of confusion about gas-resources and gas-reserves, and about shale-gas and coal-bed-methane.
The basic figures used in the local press articles originated from a Reuters article on the 17th April 2012, which was followed almost immediately but a welter of related articles and blogs talking up fracking but with little or no credible evidence to substantiate their claims. The common denominator between all of these subsequent postings is Matt Ridley, seeing as he writes for the Times, the Wall Street Journal and the GWPF - who all republished the article. The very next day, 18th April 2012, Ridley published articles on fracking in both the Times and on his blog.
A cynic might think that this was a coordinated piece of fracking spin to get up-beat reports on fracking published no less than 6 times in not much more than 24 hours.
Timeline
4th May 2011
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The Global Warming Policy Foundation publishes
its second report entitled The
Shale Gas Shock by Matt Ridley.
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17th April 2012
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The
Reuters article was published on both sides of the Atlantic.
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17th April 2012
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On the very same day the Reuters article was re-reported by:
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18th April, 2012
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Matt Ridley publishes Opposition
to shale gas is a storm in a teacup / Time
to Start Fracking in The Times and on his blog
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19th April, 2012
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The Carbon Brief publishes 1,000
trillion cubic feet of offshore shale gas? “Don’t believe the
figures,” says geologist which debunks the Reuters article
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October, 2012
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Mr Rees-Mogg MP publishes his article in the
Chew Valley Gazette
quoting the Reuters article and embellishes the figures, despite
them having been debunked in April. Similar articles by the MP
appear in the Midsomer Norton and Radstock Journal and the
Somerset Guardian.
|
The Carbon Brief were on the ball and had debunked the original Reuters report by the 19th April 2012. Unfortunately the un-debunked version was subsequently used to bamboozle the electorate of North East Somerset via the local press and in relation to a coalbed methane / shale gas planning application.
There is a debate to be had about shale gas in North East Somerset but the electorate will not appreciate being fed spin and misinformation by either the GWPF, Matt Ridley or their local MP.
Who are these people?
Matt Ridley is a popular science writer and climate sceptic who makes regular contributions to the Times and the Wall Street Journal (both News International) and GWPF reports. He is on the GWPF's Academic Advisory Council - although the GWPF has no academic or educational credentials. He is also a failed banker who resigned as non-executive Chairman of Northern Rock in 2007 when the bank had to be bailed out by the government - see The Economist, New Scientist and The Guardian.Lord Lawson set up the GWPF in 2009 and is a well known climate sceptic whose views on the environment and climate change were recently described by David Attenborough as being "up a gum tree". The GWPF cherry picks and re-publishes climate sceptic and anti renewable-energy news articles and its own light-weight non-peer reviewed reports. The GWPF has come under stinging criticism from government departments and the science community - for example see Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP is the Member of Parliament for North East Somerset and is on record as finding the opinions of the GWPF "attractive", being in favour of scraping carbon emissions targets, being in favour of hydraulic fracturing and for embellishing shale gas figures. The Timsbury Environment Group has published a report on his views on climate change - see TEG Meeting with Mr Rees-Mogg MP and here.
