Task Force on Shale Gas
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This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project |
The UK Task Force on Shale Gas is an industry-funded group set up in October 2014.
In its own words, it aims to be 'a transparent, trusted, independent and impartial platform for public scrutiny, discussion and information about shale gas exploration and production in the UK”.
It is headed by Lord Chris Smith, a Labour peer who is a former shadow environment secretary and the former chair of the UK Environment Agency.
The task force's first report, on the local impacts of shale gas, was published in March 2015 and a second report in July 2015.
Contents
People
- Lord Chris Smith is the founding chair of the Task Force. He served the Environment Agency as chair from 2008 to 2014 and has been chair of the Advertising Standards Authority since 2006. He is a former shadow environment secretary.
- Professor Ernest Rutter. Professor of Structural Geology at the University of Manchester School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences. 'His research includes studies of natural rock fracture and flow through field studies, plus laboratory-based experimental rock mechanics and petrophysics, aimed at understanding rock behaviour in nature and under engineering conditions. The latter has implications for the stability of excavations and boreholes employed in the exploitation of natural resources, and the flow of fluids though rocks'.
- Nigel Brandon. Director of the Sustainable Gas Institute at Imperial College London. 'His research spans low carbon heat, carbon capture and storage, energy systems, energy storage, fuel cells, and hydrogen. Previous roles include being senior research fellow to the UK Research Council's Energy Programme, UK Focal Point with China in Energy and Climate Change, and research positions with both BP and Rolls-Royce'. He is a founder and former CEO and CTO of Ceres Power, an AIM-listed fuel cell company spun out of Imperial College. [1]
- Emma Duncan, deputy editor of the Economist, writer for The Times, a non-executive director of Lancashire Holdings Limited, an insurance company, and a trustee of the George Orwell Trust. [1]
Former panel members
- Baroness Patience Wheatcroft was a task force member when it launched but had resigned by the following month, ostensibly to concentrate on other activities. [2] Wheatcroft is a former non-executive director of Barclays plc, which has financial interests in shale gas.
Advisory experts
- Stephen Tindale is a climate and energy consultant and associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform. He also runs the website Climate Answers. Previous roles have included being head of communications and public affairs for RWE npower renewables, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK and chairman of the Greenpeace European Unit, adviser to environment minister Michael Meacher, founder of IPPR Environment Group and adviser to shadow environment secretary Chris Smith.
- Professor Sarah O’Hara Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Geography at the University of Nottingham, where she is currently co-director of the University of Nottingham Shale Gas Survey which explores public perceptions of shale gas extraction in the UK.
Funding
The Task Force on Shale Gas' website states that 'it undertakes never to represent the views of funders, whether from industry or other stakeholder groups, to the government or the media'.
- Responsibility for ensuring impartiality and independence from funders is vested in the Task Force Chair, Lord Chris Smith. Funders receive a report of Task Force activities and progress from the Chair every 6 months.
The Task Force has so far received £650,000 in funding from these companies:
- Cuadrilla [3]
- Centrica [3]
- Dow (Until September 2015)[3]
- Total[3]
- The Weir Group [3]
- GDF SUEZ E&P UK Ltd[3]
Lobbying firms
Reports
- First interim report, on Planning, Regulation and Local Engagement, 25 March 2015.
Affiliations
Contact
- Task Force on Shale Gas Secretariat and Registered Office:
- 3rd Floor, Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT
- Registered company number 9171842
Resources
See: Fracking Spads
- Melissa Jones and Andy Rowell, Access all areas: Westminster's (vast) fracking lobby exposed, 29 April 2015.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 About the Task Force, Task Force on Shale Gas
- ↑ Email to Melissa Jones, Spinwatch from the Secretariat of the Taskforce on Shale Gas, 11 March 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Our Funding, Document updated 20 October 2014, Task Force on Shale Gas website, accessed 22 October 2014
- ↑ Register 1st September 2014 - 30th November 2014 APPC, accessed 29 January 2015
