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THE CONTROVERSIAL PROCESS of “fracking” will be halted in England due to the risks of triggering earthquakes when trying to tap shale gas reserves, the UK government has announced.
The announcement comes after a report by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) found it is not currently possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes linked to fracking operations.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he had “very considerable anxieties” about the issue of shale gas extraction.
And the UK government now says it will end its support for the process, and further proposals to change the planning process for fracking sites will no longer be taken forward.
Fracking has caused damage to communities in other countries, such as the US, resulting in water contamination and the death of animals, as well as having negative impacts on peoples’ health.
The UK government’s new stance on the issue follows that of both Labour and Liberal Democrats.
However, the Liberal Democrats said that while a Government “moratorium” on fracking was welcome, it did not mean that the practice would be banned.
“Liberal Democrats back an immediate ban now – given the evidence we are now in a climate emergency,” Lib Dem former energy secretary Ed Davey said.
“The law Liberal Democrats passed to protect communities from earthquakes and seismic tremors caused by fracking has done a lot to prevent the Conservatives pressing ahead with fracking,” Davey said.
“But this belated, eve of election policy pause won’t distract voters from the Tories’ shocking record on the environment – not least the Prime Minister’s, when he lobbied to relax air pollution laws.
The Tories are about as eco-friendly as a dustbin fire.
Fracking had been expected to feature strongly in the campaign for the 12 December UK general election.
A recent report by the National Audit Office found that government plans to establish the shale gas industry in the UK were taking longer than expected amid public concern over the effects of fracking on the environment and public health.
Protests have resulted at sites across the country and are estimated to have cost public bodies at least £32.7 million since 2011.
Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “After reviewing the OGA’s report into recent seismic activity at Preston New Road, it is clear that we cannot rule out future unacceptable impacts on the local community.
“For this reason, I have concluded that we should put a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect.”
The UK government says it will “take a presumption against issuing any further Hydraulic Fracturing Consents” and this will continue unless compelling new evidence is provided”.
Ken Cronin, chief executive of UK Onshore Oil and Gas, on behalf of the industry said: “Hydraulic fracturing stimulation is a long-standing technology used around the world and in a number of industries, including the oil and gas, water and geothermal sectors.
“Going forward, we are fully committed to working closely with the Oil and Gas Authority and other relevant regulators to demonstrate that we can operate safely and environmentally responsibly.”
Ireland’s issues
The UK’s news comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday said the Irish government has not made any decisions about backing Ireland’s first LNG terminal in the Shannon estuary in north Kerry.
The government has faced criticism in recent weeks from opposition parties in the Dáil, as well as high-profile actor Mark Ruffalo, in relation to the project which would see fracked gas or liquid natural gas (LNG) imported to Ireland.
Ruffalo has called on the Irish government to withdraw any support for the project.
The Hulk actor said Ireland has become an “international leader on climate change” by introducing a ban on fracking when legislation passed in the Dáil in 2017.
While the ban stops any fracking taking place in Ireland, it does not prohibit the importation of fracked gas for use in the Irish energy market.
A couple of weeks ago, the project was under the spotlight due calls for the minister to remove it from a list of priority energy projects in the European Union.
Last week, Minister for Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton said the government will not support any grant application for EU funding by the Shannon LNG project until “a security of supply review has been completed and considered by the Government and by the Dáil”.
The Shannon LNG project, which has been held up in legal challenges, has been criticised by the Green Party, Solidarity-People Before Profit, as well as Friends of the Irish Environment.
Critics have said it is hypocritical for the Taoiseach to allow fracked gas for importation after his announcement that Ireland will ban oil drilling in Irish waters.
Includes reporting by Press Association and Christina Finn
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There’s something unsettling about watching the tea turn a milky colour while the teabag is still floating in the cup.
“Still JANUARY”???? Surely Sinead you can’t have been asleep for months, it’s now AUGUST!
Remove tea bag. One sugar, stir. Add milk, stir. Bobs your uncle.
Now continue on with your lives!!
NO. Add milk before sugar, we are not savages.
My OCD gauge is starting to twitch ….
No way jim, sugar before milk otherwise it’s not hot enough to dissolve the sugar and you end up with a mess at the end of the cup.
You’re missing out on the warm lactose combining with the sugar to give a lovely caramelised smoothness. More stirring is needed of course but the good things are worth the effort. Maybe I should relax with a cuppa now.
prep tae and then add bainne of course. how hot the tae is obviously determined by amount of bainne. . bainne before tae can lead to super cooling affect which in turn could lead to melt down which could lead to all out ructions !!
Tae
Tea bag in the water, let it sit for three mins, stir a few times.. Don’t squeeze the $hite out of it, tea becomes bitter. Then add a drop of milk nice and strong
I like my tea like my men, black, strong and just a little bit sweet.
Tea so black, it axed me a question.
They say breast is best?
have we gone back in time or forward in time to January! that is a shocking lazy copy and paste job!
Milk in Tea? Go way ya big girls blouse, Tea should not have milk in it!
warning: Heracy Alert! I don’t take milk in my tea!
putting sugar in tea is just wrong, and always pour the tea in first and then milk.
The perfect way to make tea…
Swirl the cup with hot water
Fill it 80% with 95 degree water
Add a tea bag for 1 min and 50secs
Remove
Add approx 5 tea spoons of room temperature fresh milk.
Toss it down the sink and pour yourself a cup of life affirming, caffeinated coffee like a normal person, sit back, drink and ponder the concept that at this moment in time everything is as close to perfect as humanly possible.
I don’t put milk in tea at all.
Black tea is nice actually! Have tried it once or twice
You put lemon into it?
No I haven’t actually! Do u?
Have put orange juice into tea and coffee lol.
From a pot, milk first.
From individual mugs, milk last.
It’s tea making, not rocket science!
the longer you leave the teabag the stronger the tea Will get. adding milk Will stop the infusion of the teabag, that way by adding milk after you make it as weak or strong as you Want
mrs doyle this is a very milky cup of tea
I’m sorry but the only article I’m interested in reading about tea is that they have discovered a way to give it in an IV….. And also Jamaica ginger cake…….
No option for don’t drink tea?
Don’t drink tea? Tell us of this new planet you’re from
Coffeland lol.
depends how lazy I am. sometimes I drink the tea with the tea bag still in the cup. sometimes I add the milk then the tea bag then the hot water. If I was a perfectionist I would put the tea bag in the cup then add hot water, stir and squeeze out the tea bag then add the milk. It really depends on my humour. ..
this madness frightens me
Is that you mrs Doyle?
We need to get you a teamaster.It really takes the misery out of making tea.
You know how hard it is to find a tea spoon in my house! Hence everything gets thrown in together. . sometimes though ido burn my fingers when I dip the teabag in and out of the cup pinched in between my thumb and index finger.
@sonny black: Perhaps I like the misery.
Lily I don’t know what blaspheme or Devel worship you practice. But I’m calling the Garda. To ask, can they contact me the Ministry of good tea making and have you expelled from the country.
At what barometric pressure do you boil your water at, lol.
But what about green tea then lol.
I don’t take milk in tea, in my opinion it ruins it!
Why would you take out the tae bag, eh?…
This may sound really pernickety of me, but the answer to this actually depends on the colour of mug that I use. If I’ve used a black mug, I always put the milk in first. If it’s a white mug, then it’s the tea bag out first, then the drop of bainne.
Milk then tea bag. How else are you to know if it’s too strong or not. :)
Prior to the discovery of quality china clay in Britain only the upper classes could afford quality China .Mugs or cups made from lesser materials was liable to crack when hot tea was introduced.Thats why whether you add the milk first or later is still seen as an indicator of class origin
its more the fact that adding milk first stops the tea from staining the inside of the cup. i have my dustin the turkey cup 10 years now from carrolls on o connell st.not sure if it is made of porcelain
None of these options are correct.
The goal of making tea is to make an emulsion, not what most people make – a mixture.
The correct way to make a up of tea is to add the milk, then the bag and then the hot water.
This results in an emulsion.
The wrong way is to add the milk last.
This will result in a mixture.
You can taste the difference.
Guy Martin explains it here:
https://youtu.be/a0845Vgy99E?t=1m3s
It’s all to do with the molecular interaction between the hot water and the milk.
Got it?
What about adding the milk before the water or the tea, Guy Martin style. It’s the emulsion way of making tea, try it and you won’t ever go back.
Add the milk before the hot water and the tea bag.
Fascinating poll
Put simply….you don’t.
I leave the tea bag in cos the tea gets stronger the nearer you get to the bottom
Needs another option, mild first, then drop tea bag in, 30 sec add water. Remove tea bag.
ALL WRONG. Brown sauce would batter milk any day
half tea half milk, after removing tea bag
I leave my tea bag in until I finish the cup
Milk increases the viscosity and would prevent effective convection through the teabag. I’m not quite sure about the effect on dissolution of sugar crystals though.
I don’t put milk in tea or coffee
With coffee you can heat the milk with the coffee in it and put it in the microwave, can you make tea with hot milk instead of water, just a thought, lol.
Milk in coffee?
What fresh hell is this?
No water just milk used to make coffee…
Only way is to do it, add sugar and tea bag, then add the milk, mix briefly to dissolve sugar, finally the boiling water. Makes for a smoother brew!
have your say