To continue to allow oil and gas extraction in West Sussex – in a way that adds significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere – or to conduct a formal review: that is a decision West Sussex County Councillors will be faced with this week. The five-yearly Assessment of the Joint Minerals Local Plan is on the agenda at this Friday 26 May’s West Sussex County Council meeting (Item 11). Despite the fact that it is clear that climate change is escalating and is affecting West Sussex in many ways, the accompanying officer’s report concludes that the plan remains effective and that no formal review is needed.
Cllr Sarah Sharp (Green, Chichester South) will urge councillors to oppose this recommendation and call for an urgent review into the Joint Minerals Local Plan, particularly Policy M7 on hydrocarbons, which does not take adequate account of the urgent issue of climate change, and will continue to allow oil and gas extraction in the county in a way that adds significant emissions to the atmosphere.
“Only in the last week the news has included the update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicting we are likely to exceed 1.5ºC within the next five years, a significant milestone for climate tipping points,” says Cllr Sharp. “We hear more and more about extreme weather, including droughts and catastrophic storms and the recent devastating floods in northern Italy. The consequences of these are getting closer to us; they include consequences on our food supplies, and we are starting to feel these already in our shops.
“Therefore, the need to reduce emissions has to be an essential part of planning policy generally, but specifically the Minerals Policy because it includes policy on oil and gas. Scientific opinion is quite clear that it is the use of oil and gas that is the main driver of climate change, so much so that in 2018 the International Energy Agency warned that there should be no more investment into new oil and gas[1]. In the light of this urgency, it is unacceptable that the present Minerals policy does not include a need to consider climate change as part of the policy.”
The officer’s recommendation that no formal review is needed is even more surprising as the strategic objectives in other parts of the policy, such as Policy M19 on Flood management and M20 on transport include the objective, ‘To minimise carbon emissions and to adapt to, and to mitigate the potential adverse impacts of, climate change’. However, there is no similar strategic objective for the extraction of hydrocarbons.
This is important for a number of reasons as local Green spokesperson Ann Stewart explains: “The singleton oil site in West Sussex flares by far the largest amount of methane of all the onshore oil sites[2]. Flaring means that methane (the gas used in our heating systems) is burned in a flare and turned into carbon dioxide. Including a requirement in the minerals policy to collect and use this gas rather than waste it would reduce local emissions as well add to our national energy supplies.
“However, by far the greater climate impact comes from the use of oil and gas. While there is no doubt that we will still be using these hydrocarbons up to 2050, our national net zero target date, we have to dramatically reduce their use in that time; if we are to keep within the Paris climate target we have to reduce emission by about 50% by 2030, seven short years from now.”
Elsewhere, councils are becoming involved in legal actions over their planning decisions. Recently residents of Balcombe won the right to appeal against the Government’s decision to overthrow the WSCC decision to refuse further drilling at the Balcombe site[3].
Surrey County Council, has been through the court system over their decision at Horse Hill, and the case has now reached the Supreme Court where it is due to be heard this June[4]. This case is based on the need to consider all the emissions from any new oil production, including the use of the oil.
“A minerals policy that does not include climate change as part of the policy on oil and gas is likely to result in legal challenges in the future,” says Ann Stewart. “The sensible course of action is to review the policy now.”
References
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/radical-change-needed-reach-net-zero-emissions-iea-2021-05-18/
[2] https://drillordrop.com/2023/03/09/offshore-flaring-halves-in-four-years-but-onshore-hits-record-high/
[3] https://drillordrop.com/2023/05/07/residents-get-go-ahead-for-court-challenge-to-balcombe-oil-test
[4] https://news.sky.com/story/amp/horse-hill-court-battle-could-set-precedent-that-triggers-beginning-of-the-end-of-new-fossil-fuel-projects-in-uk-12881348