West Sussex County Council Refuses Celtique’s Application

The shale gas debate in the United Kingdom is likely to continue over the summer. On Tuesday, two events did indeed pave the way to further confrontation. 

The West Sussex County Council refused London-based Celtique Energie’s application for Wisborough Green, explaining that the applicant did not prove that the site represented the best option. 

“There were simply too many highways issues and other issues of concern for any decision other than refusal in this instance… We have noted the objections of the local community and I felt that the debate today was a full and robust one,” Heidi Brunsdon, Chairman of West Sussex County Council’s Planning Committee, commented in a note referring to the 3-year application. 

Also on Tuesday, Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health released a report about shale gas regulation in the UK, suggesting that it is not adequate. In other words, the country does not have laws to protect public health.  

‘Regulation of the industry in the UK is currently inadequate, although it is stricter than in the US, thus somewhat reducing the potential for local environmental impact by comparison. With technological advances and an improved regulatory environment, groundwater contamination risks could conceivably be reduced to an acceptable level, although there is much to do to reach that point. Furthermore, the requirement for vast quantities of freshwater (expected to become scarcer under climate change), which require road transportation, is unlikely to be resolved. Confidence in the practice is undermined by a series of disingenuous claims made by both the Government and industry,’ reads the analysis by the independent UK-based membership organisation of about 900 natural and social scientists, engineers, IT professionals and architects.