Quite a few different environmentalist groups are up in arms due to the efforts of the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, to escalate the nation’s gas and oil production.
Because of the fact that Europe is battling the monster of rising energy prices in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Truss started to push the government to increase fossil fuel production and to set up the goal of making the country a net exporter of energy by as soon as 2040. The new Conservative Party government being led by Truss also made moves to kick out a coming rise in the corporate tax rate, cut the overall basic income tax rate down to 19%, and started to open discussions about various special economic zones throughout various regions.
“We will get Britain moving by cementing our status as the best place in the world to do business,” Truss expressed via an opinion piece over the weekend. “We are putting our money where our mouth is in encouraging businesses to invest, create jobs and grow.”
Due to these changes, many green activists rushed forward to raise concerns about the newly explained economic agenda, which would require the dropping of a few environmental standards in the investment areas. The leader of marine conservation efforts for the group The Wildlife Trusts, Joan Edwards, stated via a social media post that “cutting red tape” is just a thinly veiled excuse for “polluters” to poison “our rivers and countryside” and made the argument for going in the exact opposite direction by strengthening wildlife protections in the investment zones.
“As our landscape is increasingly damaged by climate change — as seen by the wildfires, drought and flooding of this summer — we cannot afford not to protect our wild spaces to our best ability,” she expressed. “For the good of future generations, we must reject deregulation and enhance nature protection instead.”
All the while, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds issued the argument via social media that officials of the British government “launched an attack on nature.”
“We are angry and we are mobilising against these proposed plans,” the group claimed. “Our most vulnerable waterways, wildlife and green spaces across England are facing one of the greatest threats in decades.”
Truss officially announced a new series of oil and gas leases for the area of the North Sea and removed the country’s moratorium against shale gas production — which would include the practice of fracking, which is the process in which pressurized liquid is injected into underground rocks to extract fuels. The ban was first set in place back in 2019 due to concerns about earthquakes.
“We are cutting off the toxic power and pipelines from authoritarian regimes and strengthening our energy resilience, stated Truss in a speech given to the United Nations General Assembly. “We will ensure we cannot be coerced or harmed by the reckless actions of rogue actors abroad. We will transition to a future based on renewable and nuclear energy while ensuring that the gas used during that transition is from reliable sources including our own North Sea production.”
