Prime minister says ‘enough is enough’ over payments for energy source and
says put them in planning system
Patrick Wintour, political editor
David Cameron claimed on Tuesday the public was “fed up” with onshore
windfarms and said the country did not need any more subsidised turbines on
land now that the energy source was capable of providing 10% of UK energy.
He said: “Let’s get rid of the subsidy, put them into the planning system.
If they can make their case, they will make their case. I suspect they
won’t and we’ll have a reasonable amount of onshore wind, we’ll have safer
electricity supplies as a result but enough is enough and I’m very clear
about that.”
Cameron’s remarks to the liaison committee of MPs are at odds with polling
conducted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change that suggests
onshore wind is popular.
Cameron also waded into green groups , claiming environmental campaigners
opposed shale gas with a religiosity. “My objection to the green groups is
that they don’t want to hear any of these arguments, because they can’t
bear any new carbon-based energy source coming on stream,” he said.
He said he believed the debate would be resolved in favour of fracking and
the industry would be seen in a different light once the first pods were
developed, starting next year, and it emerged how little disruption they
caused.
He told MPs: “I think there are some myths we need to get over – the myth
that fracking would be a disaster for the environment, the myth that GM
technology means we are all going to be eating fish-flavoured tomatoes, the
myth that nuclear power is inherently unstable and we shouldn’t pursue it.
“These are myths that we need to confront if we are going to be a
successful science-based country in the future.”
He surprised green groups by claiming fracking was not subsidised : “We are
not subsidising fracking with a guaranteed pence-per-kilowatt hour. What we
are saying is, as we stand today there are no unconventional gas wells in
Britain and yet the Bowland shale, some of the other shale reserves, have
the potential to provide gas for this country maybe for as long as 30 years.
“It’s a nascent industry. We are not giving it a subsidy, we are just
saying effectively that there should be a tax regime on this industry that
encourages it to get going and, crucially, encourages it to get going and
to reward local communities.
“This industry is going to have to make a profit in order to succeed, but
the way you tax a new industry is different to the way you tax an existing
industry.”
He also refused to say if he would publish an unredacted version of the
March 2014 government report into the impact of shale gas on the rural economy.
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