Response to Scottish Government Addendum Consultation on Fracking

In our response to the consultation of October 2018, we expressed our support for the Scottish Government’s preferred policy position of no support for unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG), and urged that the policy should move forward as soon as possible to finalisation on this basis.

Noting that views stated in response to the October 2018 consultation are already being taken into account, we limit our comments here to two areas covered by the Addendum, of particular interest to FoES, in which new information is either provided by the Scottish Government (the ‘Policy, Not Legislation’ section), and / or new information is also now publicly available (Aidan O’Neill QC Legal Opinion, UKCCC Advice on Net Zero GHG emissions to the Scottish Government).

We explain why it is necessary that the Scottish Government goes further than a policy approach to implement a position of no support, and works with the Scottish Parliament to legislate to prohibit UOG. The Legal Opinion we commissioned from Aidan O’Neill QC supports our position, and is attached as an Annex to our response.