Unconventional oil and gas consultation: analysis of responses

Footnotes

1. http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/onshoreoilandgas

2. Note however, that as part of the analysis, all references to other independently published research have been collected together separately and given to the Scottish Government.

3. Note that one of the responses received by post included a model with instructions for assembly.

4. Note that standard campaign texts did not usually specify which consultation questions they were addressing. Decisions to interpret certain campaign statements as relating to particular consultation questions were taken by the analytical team during the analysis process.

5. A small number of standard campaign responses (mainly those submitted through the Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace campaigns) were from organisational respondents. These organisations are not included in the figures shown in Table 2.5, nor are they listed in Annex 4 of this report.

6. This list is derived from a map of shale and coal bed methane deposits in Scotland, reproduced in the consultation paper. Note that, based on mid-year population estimates for 2016, 57% of the Scottish population live in these 13 local authority areas. See: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/population-estimates/mid-year-population-estimates/mid-2016.

7. In this chapter and the remaining chapters of this report, the term 'fracking' is used interchangeably with the term 'hydraulic fracturing'. In their responses, respondents almost always used the term 'fracking' instead of 'hydraulic fracturing'.

8. Health Protection Scotland (2016) A health impact assessment of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland.

9. Ricardo Energy and Environment (2016) Understanding and mitigating community level impacts from transportation.

10. Note that there was no separate question on the transport implications an unconventional oil and gas industry but respondents often discussed issues of transport and traffic in their responses to Question 1.

11. Some respondents made reference to a specific US publication: Concerned Health Professionals of New York, (updated 2016) Compendium of Scientific, Medical and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking (Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction). See http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/.

12. Some respondents offered comments at Question 2 relating to their views on the general community impacts of an unconventional oil and gas industry. Within this group, some simply said 'There will be no benefits to the community'.

13. Note that the draft Energy Strategy was also the subject of public consultation concurrently with the Talking 'Fracking' consultation. This is discussed further in Chapter 7.

14. District heating is the supply of heat and / or hot water from one source to a district or a group of buildings / homes, rather than each building / home having its own supply.

15. Note that some of these impacts can also be thought of as 'community impacts' and have been described in Chapter 4.

16. Hydrogeology is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquifers).

17. Note that given the current policy of a moratorium on unconventional oil and gas, the draft Climate Change Plan does not consider the potential role of, or emissions from, unconventional oil and gas.

18. The consultation paper gives a multiplication factor of 25, based on estimates provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (page 46). Respondents gave other estimates, some much higher than this, of the multiplication factor.

19. 'Scottish Government Observations on the Evidence' (page 53).

20. Fugitive emissions refer to the unintended release of gases or vapors through the use of pressurized equipment in industrial processes.

21. In their comments, respondents identified numerous specific cases (often local) where they perceived that there had been failures in regulation.

22. The argument was that Scotland could substitute domestically sourced gas for imported LNG; the imported LNG could then be substituted for coal stocks elsewhere in the world ( e.g. China)

23. There were repeated references to the First Minister's statement that: 'Unless it can be proven beyond doubt that there will be no risk to health, communities or the environment, there will be no fracking or unconventional oil and gas extraction in Scotland'.